Grants and Update

It has been quite some time since my last post, and a lot has happened. I was officially retired from the CHP on 1/1/10 and my Worker's Compensation case has come to an end. Two big things that are now behind me.

I had the second surgery on my eyes, and the double vision is gone. Strange feeling to go into surgery seeing double and waking up being able to see normal. I have a procedure on my bladder next week. My physical state has essentially stabilized and now I am able to focus on getting healthy instead of just maintaining.

The foundation has awarded a couple more grants. The information should be updated in the next couple days.

We have the Ventura Aquathon fundraiser coming up on April 10th. This is the third year doing the event and it is quite a good time.

Awarding grants

We finally are starting to make grants & donations to people. I definitely like giving stuff out rather than fundraising. We are granting a racing chair to an athlete in Canada who is trying to make their para-olympic team. We are in the process of donating $1000 to Seattle Adaptive Sports towards the purchase of basketball wheelchairs. $1000 was donated to "Best Day" foundation in Ventura that takes disabled children of all types and gets them involved in water sports such as surfing, kayaking, paddling, etc. $500 is being donated to Roy & Debbie Knickman whose son is battling bone cancer. Roy was a former professional and Olympic cyclist. $500 was donated to a fellow triathlete that I know in the Bay Area who was severely injured while training.

Our next event will most likely be a 5k run and Aquathon at the Aquatic Center in Ventura during the month of March.

For me, things are going fairly well. I have settled into a bit of a routine of exercising that is making me feel much better both mentally and physically. I have a second eye surgery upcoming and most likely a minor bladder surgery soon. My disability rating is going to be determined in the next couple of months. If I am not found 100%, things will have to change as it dramatically effects my income. Yes, believe it or not, being paralyzed with traumatic brian injury is on the fence. In the past, the system was abused with people with sore backs getting 100% ratings. Now I have to pay the price for them as they sit and collect their money. That can be a little stressful if I think about it too much. However, what ever happens I will just deal with it and move on.

Fundraising results and general info

We had the "Freedom Swim" last Sunday on (9/20) and it was a great event. Roger Staben, friend, neighbor, and foundation board member, was the organizer of the event. He did a great job of organizing the entire event. We had a great turnout and everything went really smooth. I haven't added up the pledges and donations, but I have heard that it is around the $6k mark. A very good result considering the current economic situation. However, keep in mind that this amount covers the cost of maybe 2 athletic wheelchairs. Thanks for everyones support.

Our next event is our dinner/party at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Ventura on Friday, October 23rd. Information and tickets are available online on the website. It should be a great event.

For me personally, I am up in Seattle right now. I am going to my 20th HS reunion tonight, my cousins bachelor party on Saturday, and then to another Seahawks game on Sunday. It should be interesting at the reunion as some knew me during my triathlon days and they haven't seen or heard of my situation.

I will be doing a little public speaking at a few places. I will be speaking at Amgen on Oct. 5 regarding my story, dealing with disability, and the foundation. On Oct 26th I will be at my daughter's middle school addressing issues of drugs and alcohol prevention. I have spoken to ages from elementary, high school, colleges, and adult settings. However, the middle school age group is one I have never spoken to. On Oct. 27th I will be speaking at Camarillo High School regarding the same issues. I was going to stop doing the speaking, but several people approached me at the swim on Sunday. They said their kids were impacted quite a bit by what I said. I wasn't sure if it really was making a difference, but having people relate that it changed their kids views was good to hear.

Health wise, things have been pretty status quo. I went back to the eye surgeon on Monday and we are going to wait another 6 weeks before we do anything. My vision started changing for the better in the last few weeks, so we are going to see how it goes. I can actually somewhat eliminate the double vision if I tilt my head back and look down my nose (as if looking through bifocals). However, I have to concentrate to do it and not really move my head or I will lose the single vision. But, I can watch things now in single vision even though it looks a little weird with my head tilted back. I continue to adjust my medications with my doctors to get myself in the best possible state I can. I am not sure if I mentioned this before, but I went on testosterone replacement therapy. Since going on it about 3 weeks ago, I have put on 7 lbs and my strength has increased dramatically despite not increasing the amount of exercise. I can see why athletes take it. Now that the kids are back in school, I am going to try and start working out more to take full advantage of the testosterone to increase my strength. This will help me improve my ability to move and get around tremendously. The dental work continues with another root canal (3rd) coming up. My procedure on my bladder/urethra seems to be making things better. No real big medical things on the horizon, so that is good.

That is it for now. If you are local (or not) you should really consider attending the fundraising event on Oct. 23. Thanks again for the support.

Update and more

It has been a little while since I last updated the blog. Medically, since the last update a few things have transpired. I went into the Urologist to get a "bulking agent" injected around my urethra in front of the bladder, however, I had a massive UTI so they couldn't do it. I just got it done on Tuesday, so hopefully it will help with the issues of "leaking" a bit when I exert energy or bend in a certain way. I might be able to start drinking enough fluids to be healthier instead of not drinking at all in fear of the dreaded leaking. My dental saga continues with most likely a third root canal on a fractured tooth I have. I go back to the eye surgeon to find out if they are going to attempt to correct my vision anymore. I still see double and it is actually harder to deal with now, because the images are much closer together. What is weird is that if I tilt my head back and look down my nose and concentrate, I can get single vision up to about 15-20 feet away. I was put on a testosterone supplement to increase my levels because my were so low. I inject myself once a week in the leg. Very good stuff. I have increased my power (not stamina) a noticeable amount without any working out (except physical therapy). Now that I am back from Seattle and the kids are in school, I will start working out more. It will be interesting to see what happens.

This Sunday is our "Freedom Swim" fundraising event at the Pleasant Valley Aquatic Center. There is a link on the home page for info.

On Oct. 23 we are having our annual fundraising party at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

That is about it for now.

"Freedom Swim"

As the link on the home page shows, we are progressing with preparations for our "Freedom Swim" on Sunday, September 20th from 8am-2pm. It is basically a swim-athon in which people collect pledges/donations for their swimming efforts at distances of 400 yards, 1.2 miles, and 2.4 miles. There will be food, and other activities for the entire family. If you are local, I hope you can make it out to the event.

Medical Updates

I had another 3+ hour appointment at the dentist today. He has been repairing all of my fractured teeth. Today was the third crown. Hopefully, this crown won't require the root canals the other two did. Once all the fractures, chips, and cracks are repaired, the restoration takes place along the front.

In regard to my eye surgery, the eyes are functionally and cosmetically better. However, they are not seeing correctly and I still have constant double vision. Now the vision is better, but functionally worse. Before, the double vision was so bad I just used one eye. Now, my mind is constantly switching between eyes trying to see a single image. This results in a dull headache all the time. I go back in September to have them evaluated again and most likely another surgery.

I go to the Urologist in couple weeks to continue chasing my problem of "stress incontinence", which is basically my bladder leaking when I put pressure on it (position, straining my body, etc). In the beginning a neurological bladder was thought to be the culprit, but that is not the case. He is going to insert small silicone implants on either side of my urethra to assist my body in clamping down to prevent the flow under pressure. Hopefully this will help, because the constant worry of peeing my pants really sucks.

That is about it as far as medical updates go. I have been getting off a lot of prescriptions lately and only take a couple prescriptions now, but a slew of supplements.

Eye Surgery-Photos

Check out the photo album with pictures from yesterday's surgery.