Jeff,

After a dinner party last night where the topic of personal information came up, I googled my name Dave Todnem and I found two individual posts from the blog on the internet. One was"Days of our lives or not" from 5-21-08, and the other was"Dear Verizon" from 6-7-08. They were both within the first 10 pages under my name. There was a minor reference to my and Melody's health in one which I don't want in general distribution. My own posts (or e-mails) are for only the people I...

Don't seem to be getting any comments through.

Dave

Melody has started her new job, and though she's in hospital orientation this week, it still looks good. She has been gone for what seems like a LONG time, however. I've been working on her bookshelves, and hopefully will have them ready to mount today.

My legs have been a lot more painful lately, and the chiropractor says I indicate a yeast infection in one kidney and my spinal cord. I'm not at all sure you can get yeast into a spinal cord, but anyway I have yet another med to take...

For those of you afflicted with migraines:

"The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the intraoral vasoconstriction (IVC) device for treating migraines. Migraine patients often have an inflamed area above the upper molar teeth. Chilling the area reduces pressure on the maxillary nerve and relieves migraine pain in less than one hour in 80% of patients."

source: Headache

Google IVC device or dental IVC device for more information.

Dave

Lisa: You are not going to want to hear this, and if you are truly enamored, nothing I say will make any difference. But I'm going to go on record anyway. I did some checking on Visalus. I went to their website and watched about half their video until I got nauseated, but I also went to the scam warning sites and blogs and I urge you to do the same. This is simply a multi-level marketing scheme, similar to what Melody got into. In practice what that means is the only people who ever make any...

First I couldn't post more than one thing at a time, then I couldn't log on at all, and now everything seems to be working normally. It's the consistency of computers that I really love.

Our temperatures keep struggling toward 50 (on the better days). It was nice in Seattle this weekend, I was over trying to get some work done on the boat. Back home now and it's cold and overcast. Some time back, Jeff asked about GPS and Iliterally haven't been able to respond till now. Magellan was...

When I responded to"Dear Verizon" everything went as normal. When I tried to respond to"Saturday Fun" I could get no cursor and therefore couldn't type. Tried it again with the same results.??

Dave

The carport roof is now tarped and finished for this stage, eternal thanks to Dick. Got the tarps on in a breeze just before it poured rain today. The last night they were here, I went down to Mom's to have dinner with them, and coming back that night got stuck in the driveway right beside the garage. The melt-freeze cycle had created a glacier down the driveway, and Bubba wasn't going to cooperate. Backing down off the steepest slope (of course Bubba has no back-up lights) I once again...

I think it's time that I stopped focusing on what I can't do yet, long enough to appreciate and be grateful for what I can. We saw the Swedish physiacal therapist the other day and she basically contradicted everything the OMC therapist told me. She thought I had about 90% of normal function and gave me a whole set of exercises for the last 10%. She said I could exercise without it hurting the nerves and it would in fact encourage collateral nerve development. She said I don't have to give...

The day after Christmas, I wasn't feeling very chipper and Melody was still in Seattle working, so I jumped on the ferry to Victoria, B.C. As we waited to unload, the crew took a couple guys in wheelchairs off first and I started looking at my future. As I looked at the city and the hotels, and the people scurrying about, I began to realize how profoundly different and separated from them I now am. I am walking better than ever (post MS) but nothing is automatic. I concentrate on walking...

Hey Kjetil,

It occurs to me that since multiple sclerosis is predominanty a high-latitude northern Euopean descent disease, that Norway probably has a considerable incidence of MS as well. If that's true, what kind of treatment protocol do you use there? I'm not wild about drugs that compromise your immune system, but that seems to be the only choice here. Are there any alternative teatments used there?

Dave

Well, there I was beginning to come to grips with defining my life with MS, starting a new trading program, and feeling like there was life ahead, when the Dr. e-mailed me to ask if they had done an antibody test for neuromyelitis optica (NMO). I was pretty stunned since NMO was her first guess (prior to MRI) and what had me planning my funeral before she decided the next morning that it was MS. NMO is much more aggressive than MS, without remissions, usually leads to blindness in one or...

I suppose I'm being a typical patient and not dealing with this well at all. One of the things that helps me is to write, so this is more for therapy than anything else. If it keeps you informed, and helps you understand, fine, but realize that no amount of pity or sympathy, or even understanding makes the slightest difference in changing this disease.

We see the Dr. again next Wed. (12th) and will hopefully get a better assessment of my future. I am not the least bit concerned with...

Well, symptoms continued to worsen. My right leg was all but useless, the flexors wouldn't work at all, I had foot drop and numbness. The left leg continued to function, but was exhausted and numb from the rib cage down (in front) and the shoulder blade down in back. My right hand was completely involved to the point where I could neither close nor extend it, couldn't write, hold a spoon or take the lid off the toothpaste. Bowel and bladder were also screwed up, et. etc. ad nauseum. I have a...

While the present is dark and the future seems iffy, there is still much to be thankful for. I have a wife more wonderful than I could ever possibly have deserved. I have three cats of which I could ask for no more, including the most extraordinary animal I have ever known. We have a terrific boat, which is almost done. We have a beautiful house in a gorgeous location. I have been able to live my life pretty much as I damn well pleased without shackles by society. I have a career which will...

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all-where ever this finds you. You all know by now how we are doing. Caught between not believing the changes Dave is experiencing and being freaked out with not knowing what it is! I hate neuro-it never makes sense. We are frustrated by having to wait until Monday to see the neurologist-thats because of the long holiday weekend and she seems to be fitting us in or we would be waiting much longer for anyone else. The good news is Mom is cooking dinner and my...

I'm not sure there would be any way to make this sound real positive, but I will be as objective as I can with the facts. As you know, at the tail end of Aug. I developed an eye (optic nerve) problem. After a lot of money and anxiety, we determined there was absolutely nothing medicine could do about it, but at least I wasn't going to go blind. In the investigation process, we discovered the tumor, which led to still more money and anxiety. We tried a naturopath who seemed to offer some hope...

I haven't written for so long it's a little hard to remember what all has transpired. Just when I got all positive, the universe decided to test me, I guess. We rented (ka-ching) a Bobcat (skidsteer) with an auger to dig the holes for the posts for my carport. This was my attempt at doing things the easy way instead of my normal. When I started up the incline by my woodshed, it tipped over backward, sitting on the rear wheels and counterweight. This was a somewhat awkward and unpleasant...

Jeff and HeatherDawn,

I'm trying to get our new Dell laptop up and running, but, as usual (at least for us computer illiterate types) it's not going smoothly. Outlook Express has started popping open with an error message Ox800ccc32. The logon has our password already filled in, which it says is incorrect. When I re-enter it, it still says it's incorrect and won't go anywhere. When I control alt delete (because I can't go anywhere) the message says it can't end the program because it...

Exactly when he came into my life, I don't know, but he was an integral part of me for a long time. He wasn't very big, but turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to me.

Because of him I had people I know at work and elsewhere coming out of the woodwork with hugs and prayers and expressed good wishes. A young nurse at work to whom we gave money when her husband was seriously injured, who has young kids and is facing her second thyroid cancer surgery, gave me a...