Gizzat Weekend 2015

Two posts in a month.  Try to contain your excitement.

I had such a good weekend the other week that I feel like I had better write about it.

When I arrived at Virginia Tech in 1995, I didn't know a single person.  I moved in two weeks before most of the students so I could try out for the marching band, but I didn't even make it through the first round of cuts, so I didn't have time to make any band friends.

I was painfully shy at that time, and when my dorm had the first big social event after the rest of the students moved in, I was standing alone under a tree, wishing I had somebody to talk to.  There was a group of kids from Northern Virginia talking nearby, and I will never forget that Jenny D. looked right at me, and said, "You can come stand with us if you want."  It's funny how easy it can be to make friends for life.

That group, with Justin, Bobby, and Adam contained some of my best friends through all of college, and was the core through which I met almost all of my college friends.  In a few years, Justin, Bobby, and I, together with a variety of others would live together in a townhouse that we called The Good Gizzat (jiz'-aht).  It was a special place to all of us, and a lot of my favorite memories happened there, or with those people, and the people who claimed honorary membership.

One really unique feature of living at the Gizzat was that Bobby volunteered to do all of the grocery shopping for the house, and cook dinner at least three nights a week with the stipulation that we all had to eat together around the dining room table.  We did that for three years.  I don't know if I appreciated it as much then as I do now.  Besides getting home cooked food most nights, we spent time together almost every day, even when we were all busy.  It made us feel more like a family.  I felt more at home there than anyplace I've been since.

Dinner at the Gizzat during my regrettable shirtless phase

I'm not much of an initiator, and I would probably never see any of those guys anymore, except that Justin is a natural born organizer.  He has planned almost every Gizzat event we've ever had, including all the ski trips we used to do.  Years ago, he and Adam started planning regular golf weekends in Blacksburg with Bobby, Adam, honorary Gizzat member Paul, and myself.  Since I got hurt, they've been coming here instead.

The Gizzat weekend this year was May 28th to the 31st.  Even though Justin recently moved to the Raleigh area, and bought a house 20 minutes down the road from me, I still don't see him much.  A job and 2 kids will do that.  Bobby and Adam drove down from the D.C. area.  Bobby has 5(!?) kids now so I don't know how he ever gets to leave home.  Paul moved to Texas a few years ago, so he can't really come anymore, but we did patch him in on Skype to say 'hi' and get an extremely detailed walking tour of his house.
 

We did a bunch of fun stuff over the weekend.  My favorite was dinner at the Angus Barn.  It's a fancy local steak restaurant, and sort of a local landmark.  I have wanted to go since I moved to the area in 2000, but had never had the right occasion.  The waiter recommended something called The Tomahawk Chop, so we got two of them to split 4 ways.  It's a 42 oz. rib-eye that comes with the entire 18-inch rib bone.  It was easily the best steak I have ever had.  It had a ridiculous amount of marbling, and was perfectly seasoned.  Plus there was enough of it for all of us to really injure ourselves.

Not pictured: pain

Saturday, we went to a Durham Bulls game.  I don't much care for baseball, but I do like beer, peanuts, and awesome weather: three things we had in abundance.

Take me out

Afterwards, we got some pizza and wings, and spent the evening drinking margaritas, and playing Speed UNO.  It's UNO for grown-ups, and it's a lot of fun if you have the right group.

Uno!

I had more fun than I've had since the Gizzat weekend last year.  I hope one day I feel good enough to travel up to Blacksburg to do a proper Gizzat weekend.  I know my friends would like to see the campus, and eat at The Home Place, among other things.  I would like to do those things too, but as much as I love Blacksburg (and I really do), it took me a long time to realize the most important thing about it was always that it was where my friends were, and wherever we're together, that's a pretty special place too.

You're Welcome

Spring is in the air, and I have heard  your cries.  You have demanded free  high-quality entertainment from your  favorite crippled blogger, and a  glimpse into his exciting and glamorous  life.  I can ignore my adoring public no longer.  Grab a snack and get comfy.  This is what you've been waiting for.

Probably best to attack this chronologically.

I can't remember as far back as February.  My Google calendar mostly shows appointments with doctors and physical therapists, so I think that's when my back was seriously jacked up.  I think most of that month was spent in tremendous pain, and I had a hard time getting out of bed.

That wasn't fun, and I was especially appreciative of the ridiculous quantities the Food Fairy continues to pile into my refrigerator.  Every time I get another delivery, I just stare at it and giggle.  I am thankful when things are going well, but when I could barely move it was unbelievably awesome.

Looks like I got the back pain under control sometime around the end of February.  I still don't understand how or why my back gets better or worse, but it has pretty manageable through March, April, and most of May, though the last week has been kinda iffy.

Here's something interesting that happened around the end of February or the beginning of March.  We got maybe 2 inches of snow one night, maybe less.  A day or two later, my neighbor invited me to the new Mexican restaurant here in my neighborhood (Mi Cancun - it's fantastic - try the carnitas).  Since I had a chaperone, it seemed like a good opportunity to see how I would do in the snow.

Right outside the front door of my apartment, there was a little patch of mostly melted snow about 1 inch thick and 8 inches wide.  Something you wouldn't even notice while walking.  It was on the gentle ramp from the front door down to the main sidewalk, and I was able to use a little momentum to roll over it.  I was pretty pleased with that result, so I decided to turn around and see if I get back over it going back uphill.  There was no way I could have gotten over just that little patch going uphill.  There was just no traction at all, and if I did manage to get up into the middle of it, I'd have been stuck right there until it melted.  If I didn't have somebody to push me, I would never have gotten back in my building.

Even on perfectly flat ground, it was impossible to move on any sort of snow or ice which means that if I want to go outside next winter, I'm going to need some sort of snow tires.  I have some ideas for that, but the ideal thing to do is probably to throw a bunch of money at another set of wheels with some mountain bike tires.

   

Here's one idea I saw

In March, my Martinsville friends came to visit, and like most Americans, I did my taxes.  That was fun and tedious, respectively.  As far as my calendar is concerned, that's all that happened that month.  I don't remember anything else, so there probably isn't anything else to tell.

In April, my mom came to visit for a week, and to help with whatever I could think of.  We got a lot done.  I set up as many appointments as I could since I had a ride all week.  One major goal was to get to the DMV and do the driving test for hand controls.

The rules for hand controls in North Carolina are weird.  In order to purchase the nice controls that mount permanently to the vehicle, you have to have a hand control endorsement on your license.  In order to get the endorsement, you have to take a driving test at the DMV on your own hand control operated vehicle.  The DMV does not apparently see a paradox here.

I think the way people normally navigate the process is to get driving lessons through vocational rehab, and then they can use the teaching vehicle to take the test.  I didn't go through that rehab, and I wasn't about to pay someone to teach me to drive, so I bought what are considered "portable" hand controls, and used them to take the test.

Basically a couple fireplace pokers attached to the pedals

I've been using them for months now, and I find them to be pretty intuitive, and not at all difficult, so I felt confident I would ace the test.  The day before the test, however, I started wondering how I'd do if they asked me to to parallel park.  I had no idea what they would test, so I thought I'd better be safe and practice.

I found some household items to serve as makeshift traffic cones, and I headed out with my mom to practice parallel parking.  It was quite the high school flashback.  Naturally, I nailed it.  I'm amazing.

We got to the DMV 30 minutes before they opened, and there were already 15 people in line.  Fortunately, they got to me quickly, and before I knew it, we were on the road.  Turns out the test is basically the same road test they give teenagers though I don't think they nit-pick every single turn signal because I missed a few silly ones that they never said anything about.  I think they're just making sure you have adequate control of the vehicle.  I was almost disappointed they didn't test the parallel parking.  She said they don't even test high-schoolers for that anymore.  That doesn't seem fair.

I haven't taken a driving test since high school, and taking it again after all this time was pretty surreal.  I remember how nervous I was as a teen, and it was a little weird to do it relaxed and calm. The only thing I was worried at all about was that my back might start acting up during the test, but it did fine.

I'm still waiting for some of the paperwork to go through from my doctor, but I should very shortly be legally licensed to drive with hand controls, which I've been doing now for many months.  Driving still hurts my back after a short time, so nothing at all has really changed, but at least now it's done.

Another major project my mom helped with was to clean and organize my bedroom closet.  This apartment has very little storage, and I had a lot of stuff in my closet that I wasn't using, so we finally went through it with the attitude that if I hadn't used it in the 3 years I've lived here, I didn't need to own it anymore.  That project was a complete success, and we ended up taking something like 7 garbage bags of clothes and a box of books to Goodwill.

During that project, we were going through a shelf full of my old shoes.  If you've been following this blog, you know how hard it is for me to find shoes that fit me because of the way my feet swell.  I don't know if my mom suggested it, or if it was my idea, but I decided to try on one of my favorite old pairs of Sketchers, and they slipped right on.  I was flabberghasted.  I spent the rest of the day taking them off, and putting them back on and giggling.  I absolutely couldn't believe they fit, and fit really well.

Tee-hee!

So those are my favorite shoes now, and I wear them all the time.  I even bought some elastic shoelaces for them.  On my other shoes, I just tie the laces really loose so they can slip on and off without untying because tying shoes is really complicated the way I would have to do it, so they look kinda weird, and they fall off my feet real easy.  With the elastic laces, these shoes look normal, and as a bonus, they squeeze my feet like compression socks, and keep them from swelling.  It's pretty awesome.

So that was April.

I haven't done a whole lot in May besides celebrating the anniversary of my arrival on this planet.  If you spend your free time on Facebook, you may have seen what Gus gave me to commemorate the occasion.

Next year, I will probably get a shirt with this picture on it

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So that basically catches you up to the present.  Pretty exciting, right?
 

I'm sorry I didn't write for so long.  I know you guys get antsy when you don't know what I'm doing for five minutes.  This weekend, my college friends, Justin, Bobby, and Adam are coming to visit, so that should be interesting, and maybe I'll write something about that.  I have a few other post ideas lined up if I can force myself to write them, so stay tuned.

Christmas Present

After harassment ranging from mild to severe from each of my two remaining readers, I'm finally posting!  This is your belated Christmas present.  Enjoy.

I made it through the holidays in one piece.  My last post was before Thanksgiving, and for that holiday I made a successful trip up to my sister's house in Danville.  My brother flew in and drove me up.  The whole family was there, and the change of scenery was nice.  I'm still happy that I can actually get my wheelchair into that house, (even into the bathrooms!).  I also got to see my niece and nephew.  I got to see them at the fair in October, but kids are always nervous in an unfamiliar setting, even if it's the fair.  They were much more themselves at home.

I also got to make balloon animals for the kids.  Jessica gave me a balloon sculpture starter kit years ago to help me bond with the kids, and this was my first opportunity to show them what I've learned.  As I told them, I know how to make over 200 animals that all look like dogs.

I can also make this hat.

Right after Thanksgiving comes Christmas, and my parents and brother came down to stay with me for a few days just like last year.  We all had I nice time, and there weren't any murders or even attempted murders, so that was very nice.  We also had crab cakes from Timbuktu.  If you have never had a REAL Maryland crab cake, from Maryland, then you don't understand why these are worth the money to have them shipped.

I got my usual complement of Christmas cards from all my friends.

Except a few - you know who you are

Everybody who has kids sends the picture cards so you can see what everybody looks like this year.  Last year I kept all the cards up all year because I like having the pictures of my friends around.  I think it might be weird to send a card like that if you're just a single guy in his 30's.  I don't know; you tell me.  I think if I sent one this year, I would have used this picture.

Pucker up

I got to go to a New Years Eve party at Cullen and Caitlin's house.  That was fun.  I even drove myself home afterward.  I have also taken a few more grocery trips with my neighbor, so the driving has gone relatively well.

I barely need to go to the grocery store though.  Brian and Kelly have been supplying me with more food than I can safely eat.  Here's a couple pictures of the last few food deliveries.  My biggest problems are trying to get through it all before it goes bad, and having to turn down invitations to go out because I have too much food at home.

They brought everything with a red lid

I am so lucky

Nothing much else has been going on.  Things have basically stabilized around here.  My back was feeling pretty good over the holidays, but the last week or so, it's been really uncomfortable.  I think that's just how it's going to be.

Mister Gus still stops by with Evelyn, maybe once a week for lunch.  That's nice.  I still really enjoy their company.  Evelyn is growing up so fast.  She can read and write now (when she wants to), and she's even starting to gain an appreciation for sauce with some foods (or so I hear - I'll believe it when I see it).

Anyway, I hope both of my readers have found this quarterly blog update satisfactory, and that it will hold you over to the next one.  If not, you'll just have to come visit.  :)

Oh, Hello

Oh, hi.  I didn't see you there.

Come on in.  It's been a while, hasn't it?  Too long.  How've you been?  How are the kids?  Good, good.

How've I been?  Oh, you know, same old, same old.  Takin' it a day at a time.  Blah blah blah.

You don't care about details, do you?  It's all boring.  Oh, you do?  Well, if you insist, here are the highlights from the last few months.


In September, I reacquainted myself with my old friend, candy corn.   Turns out I really like candy corn.  Like really a lot.  Too much, if I'm honest.  Fun fact: Jelly Belly candy corn isn't nearly as good as Brachs.

Dangerously affordable

I went to the State Fair with Gus's family and my sister and her kids.  We ate a bunch of food, and the kids got to ride some rides.  The weather was great, and I felt pretty good, so it was a really good time.

Georgia and Evelyn were incredibly cute together

 The Martinsville guys stopped by for a visit.  We had a lot of fun, and made a lot of noise, and probably irritated my neighbors.  I had been thinking that paralysis is like a full-time job except that you don't get to go home, and you never get a vacation.  This is as close to a vacation as I ever get.

I went over to Cullen and Caitlin's house for dinner and to carve pumpkins prior to Halloween. 

Mine is the sad, mentally challenged one on the end

I took a trip with Gus out to Greensboro to buy an interesting new piece of equipment.  I wanted it because it's supposed to be good for your overall health.  It can also provide you with some useful capabilities though there are some limitations.

The other big news is that I have been experimenting with driving the van with mixed results.  The actual driving isn't difficult since I installed a chest strap so I can't fall out of the seat.  I've taken a couple solo trips without a chaperone, and they went about as well as could reasonably be expected except that I've discovered that sitting in the driver seat messes up my back really badly.  On one 5 minute trip, it triggered my sciatica to the point that I was essentially stuck in bed for the next 2 weeks, and it took a month to get the pain back to the level it had been.

I'm continuing to play with it, but I'm reluctant to try anything longer than a 5 minute drive in case my back gives out.  I can feel the pain starting as soon as I get in the seat, but it usually takes a few minutes to become a serious problem.  I've done a couple trips with my neighbor to the grocery store.  It's a good arrangement because she can't drive due to epilepsy, and I can't reach the top shelf at the store or carry a lot of groceries back to my apartment.  I've been hoping for a long time that we could work together on this, and our two trips so far have worked out great.

So I guess I've been making very slow progress.  Pain is still the main thing holding me back, and it's still a huge problem, but at least I'm learning what to expect from it, and I've been able to do some fun things in spite of it.

Core

Here's something that happened recently.  I didn't notice it until late last week.  It's not terribly useful at the moment, but it's definitely interesting.

Voodoo

The last time I posted to this blog, I was in a LOT of pain.  My lower back hurt, and was spasming uncontrollably.  The pain in my posterior was the worst it had ever been, and it felt like someone was electrocuting my leg continually.  It was the most pain I have ever experienced, and I was not particularly happy.  I had just started seeing a new physical therapist, Jon Weinberg at Team Care, for my back pain, and I was cautiously pessimistic about whether he could do anything about the butt pain that has kept me in bed for the last year.

Skip ahead a few weeks, and I'm feeling a LOT better.

I think physical therapy is voodoo.  This is the second time that a PT has told me that a terrible pain was actually coming from a nerve problem in a completely different location.

At some point in the first year of my injury, after I began sleeping on my stomach, I began waking up with extreme pain in my elbows.  It was bad enough that I could barely use my arms to sit up in the morning.  I tried everything I could think of to take pressure off my elbows while I was sleeping, but nothing seemed to work.  When I finally told a PT about it, she said, "Oh yeah, there's a nerve in your armpit that is causing that.  Find a sleeping position that takes strain off your shoulder, and it should clear right up."  She was dead right.  My shoulder and armpit weren't bothering me at all, but that was the source of the problem, and once I took pressure off it, my elbow pain went away as if by magic.

For a year, my butt has been getting worse and worse, and nothing I did seemed to make it better.  Jon comes along and tells me I need to stretch my back to make my butt better.  I told him I didn't think that would help, but that I'd try anything.  He's got me doing these twists to try to straighten out the disks between my vertebrae.  The theory is that I've got multiple bulging disks bulging in different directions, and it will require a variety of weird stretches to improve the problem.  It has already helped tremendously.

The problem I have is that with my engineering background, I tend to think in terms of problems and solutions, and I like to solve my own problems.  I've been very successful when it comes to improvising mechanical solutions to problems, but when it comes to problems with my body, I'm missing key knowledge about how things work.  If a problem isn't caused by the thing that hurts, you can work on that thing forever without making any progress.  It's that detailed knowledge of how things work that makes PTs so effective.  I guess I can't solve ALL of my problems myself.

I'm certainly not pain free, and I have to take frequent breaks to get in bed and do my stretches or else the pain comes back, but the progress I've made in the last couple weeks is nothing short of amazing.  I'm feeling better than I have in over a year, and I'm  able to spend a lot more time up in my chair.  I'm already thinking in terms of doing more stuff, although I don't want to get ahead of myself.  I need to get the pain control a little more consistent than it is right now before I try to go too far from home.  It still fluctuates quite a bit from day to day.

It doesn't help that I need assistance to really do this stretch properly.  Gus helped me rig a strap around my bed to help me do it myself as best I can, but I don't think it's as effective as getting someone to help me do it.  Ideally, I'm supposed to do it every two hours, so if you want to stop by and give me a hand, here's the procedure.

I don't know where we go from here, but the fact that there has been any improvement is both unexpected, and very exciting.

Food Fairy

Two posts in two days?!?!?  I KNOW!!!

Brian and Kelly, dropped off more food this morning.  They have given me a ton of food the last couple weeks, and  I can't even express how much I have appreciated having it when the pain has been so bad.  It has been so great not to have to prepare anything when I get up, and to be able to get back in bed as quickly as possible.  It doesn't hurt that it's all amazing.

2 weeks ago: ravioli, chicken, roasted veggies, meatballs with glazed pineapples and onions

Today: Italian pasta salad, chicken and crispy onion sliders with chipotle honey, ginger sesame chicken salad, honey mustard pretzel chicken, broccoli pasta salad, jalapeno corn slaw

Between this and a couple Taco Bell runs, I have been well fed for the last couple weeks, and will have a hard time getting through this before my mom arrives in a week.

Dinner tonight including cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, gnocchi, pistachios, probably some other stuff.  Delicious!

I can't believe I have friends who do this for me.  I'm still the luckiest cripple I know.