That's better....

I get home from work. I am dripping with sweat, sore, and the skin is a little crispy. I say, "JOB WELL DONE!" I forgot how much I missed this. In no way, shape, or form is my job a luxurious one. In fact it is quite the opposite, but I really do enjoy it. Here is a picture of me putting the finishing touch on a clients yard. ;-) Yep, it sure is good to get back to work. Now, I wonder if things will stay as they are. I am speaking about my health status. If it does, that would be totally awesome. There is a good chance though, that my body will not like all the new physical labor. I did my part though, what ever is gonna happen will happen. I will just continue to pray for the best outcome. If that is HIS will, then great. If not, I will figure it out as I go.

Something kind of scary did happen today. Almost made me jump out of my socks. We mow a retirement home. The middle of the building has an open area with mulch beds and grass, I forget what is the name for it.........running a blank. Anyways, STEVE the preacher was push mowing, and I was weed whipping. I looked out of the corner of my eye and see this employee running full steam towards me. I'm thinking, "jeez Mikey, you screwed up on the first day back?" Come to find out, she was running at me because the truck and trailer were parked right out in front. And one of the residents was having health issues, she needed me to move the truck A.S.A.P.! I did, and it wasn't a big deal. BUT, I was worried for a second. I give today 2 thumbs up because I got my job back, I worked hard, and feel good.

Also, I gave Jay Rozelle a call today. I just wanted to touch base with him, let him know I got my job back at Vision Scapes. He was glad to hear that, and seemed glad for the update. I feel like I am really going out of my comfort zone by attempting to make the new relationship possibility work. Most of my friends are the direct opposite. BUT, I am getting sick of being around people who influence me in negative ways. It is such a relief to talk to someone who carries the same values as me, and acts on them. It's good. He said he will give me a call next week sometime, and maybe we can hang out or something to that effect.

Also, I have actually been doing a lot for people and the Stem Cell Cause for someone "not doing anything." I hope I will be able to keep my level of commitment to the people who have reached out to me, either for guidence, or what not.

well, I got it.

Today I get a phone call at like 8AM. I didn't even pick it up, I just went back to sleep right away. I didn't get up till like 11. Once I got to getting around and checking voice mail, I found it was a call from Mark Nolot(owner of Vision Scapes). I called him back and he asked me if I had found a job since I left Vision Scapes. I told him that I hadn't. So, he told me that worked had picked up because of the rain we had been getting, and that if I wanted to come back to work, he had plenty of work for me to do. So, tomorrow morning at 7AM. I report to Vision Scapes. This whole time I didn't even need to do anything. LOL. thats how it goes. The grass could stop growin again. ;-)

It's Monday, time to update ya'll.

It is very hard to judge where you are at health wise with Multiple Sclerosis. One way people think that M/S can be moderated is by having an MRI done, and looking at the lesion activity. CLICK ME and read the communication between Denise_F & ally. You will see that sometimes lesions in the brain won’t really mean anything until further evidence is found supporting the initial belief; which could be really wrong or really right. As you can imagine, this gets really frustrating. Especially when the Doc. wants to put you on a medication that has less than desirable side effects.

In order to explain why MRI’s aren’t the most productive way to judge the current condition/status of M/S. I am going to attempt to explain how Lesions in the spinal cord or brain show up, “AS I UNDERSTAND IT.”

1.) Things happen in an order
Although breakthru's in science are happening all the time, bringing us closer to finding what causes M/S, to date the exact factor is unknown. It could have something to do with genetic's, or it could be due to environmental factors. In either way, the good function of the body to protect itself, becomes corrupted. The symptoms of M/S come into view when the destruction of the myelin starts to occur.

2.) Immune system acting out of wack, T cells becoming corrupt

A dysregulation of the immune system results in the body attacking its own nerve tissue. Certain defence cells, called T cells, are activated and trigger these attacks. Normally these T cells are involved in defending the body against things like viruses and bacteria.

3.) T cells attack brain cells

Once the T cells are activated, they can penetrate the brain with its countless nerve cells. In the brain the T cells are stimulated to attack the nerve cells. The attacks cause damage to the myelin layer, the part that acts like insulation for the nerves.

4.)Now the Macrophanges take over

The T cells in the brain are to blame for the damage to the myelin sheath, since they turned on another group of defence cells called macrophanges. The macrophanges eat up the myelin sheaths surrounding the nerves. Now there are holes in the myelin that lead to a slower transmission of impulses along the nerve fibre pathways. The slower electric signal being sent throug the nerves is what generates the typical symptoms common in MS.

Once the macrophanges have had a chance to nibble on the myelin for a bit, you can see below how much of a hit the nerves can take.

As I understand, once all this happens and you have damage to the myelin, you STILL may not even see any new lesions show up in the brain or spinal cord. The reason is this. The lesions start to show up after the myelin has been damaged, then SCARRED OVER. Once the body attempts to create what you can think of as a "scab" over the damaged myelin, that is when it may show up on an MRI. From the first day Multiple Sclerosis shows up in your body, to the very first appearence of a lesion could take weeks, months, years, or a lifetime. I could have damage that occured when I was 15 that won't show up till i'm 30 years old!

In good ole America, the vast majority of the doctors believe that once the myelin in the brain is damaged, it can not be reversed or fixed. The Chinese see it differently, they believe that just like any other system of the body that the Stem Cells have created, they can regrow this myelin, especially when certain growth factors are in play.

~~CURRENT SITUATION~~

For about 4 month's before I left for China I was experiencing tremors in my fingers, arms, and legs. So much so that it would dissrupt daily life. Not to mention worry the crap out of me. I have been back from China for a little over a month. I have NO tremors. Personally, I thank the stem cell therapy. But, it could be due to a number of reasons. I haven't been physically active, and when I am intensly physically active, it always spurs M/S activity. Also, I have stayed on my Avonex, which I have had multiple exacerbations when I first started it. And lastly, we haven't hit the cold months. The cold months are the hardest for my body to cope with it seems. That's it, I think I have covered everything health. lol.

PS I applied for this "land management" company today called LML Estate. Seemed like a decent size company. Not 100% sure what they do exactly, but I would assume they take care of land???

soo tired, tired of waiting, tired of waiting for yooouuuu (you meaning a job)

In deed, I am sick of waiting for a job to come to me. So, I have made this decision. Monday-Friday I will find a new place to fill out an application at. New day, new job application. Tomorrow I have my new place to fill out an application at. I don't want to give the name away cuz I can't take the possibility of someone else finding it before I do. ;-)

So, today I talked my mom into coming to my church. I couldn't get a ride from one of the usual rides, and I didn't want to go to my moms church, so she agreed to come to MY CHURCH. It was really fun, and we both enjoyed the sermon, and communion. Today we ended the 10 week sermon about the Dead Sea Rules. It was really good, I wish I could have been there for all 10 weeks, but now I am hooked, and have a drive to make it to church no matter what the outside reason. Church has to take top priority. It isn't something you do on Sunday, it is a life style choice, and I have a drive to make that true for me.

Today was sweeet.

Today I met with Jay Rozelle. This is a picture of Jay, I found off the internet. We met up at Starbucks around 1, and it was pretty cool. We talked about all kinds of things, and I enjoyed it. Jay is a really good guy, devoted husband, father, and christian. He seemed interested in hanging out. We also talked about a really awesome organization called Young Life, which is dedicated to reaching out to high school aged kids all around the world. It was pretty cool to meet up with Jay. I remember him from when I was pretty young. Our mom's have been friends forever, and it was just kind of a cool situation. I am excited to see what will come of it. I know that it would be really awesome if I could surround myself with people like Jay and his friends. That is sooo what I need to grow up, become a man, and a devoted Christ follower.

The rest of the day I spent at home. The father ordered some pizza, and then I challenged my mind by watching the History Channel. ;-)

Learning to shrug is the beginning of wisdom.

When you are with friends and they are saying or doing things that you dissagree with you have a choice to make. Make your opinions known, or lead by example. Although the 2nd option is not always easy, and you never get to see immideate gratification, I believe it is best.

Tomorrow I am going to turn in 2 applications, one for East Allen County Schools, and the other for Fort Wayne Community Schools. I am applying for a custodial position, it's not a glamerous position, but I think I will be able to use some of the skills I have aquired over the years. Also, working around kids would be good for me. We will see if anything comes of it. I promised myself a couple of weeks ago that I would officially start looking for employment on the 3rd, after giving the bakery time to make a decision. I would say the decision was made.....I think anyways. I would really appriciate any prayers for finding a job quick and easy. I do hate this part ever so much. :-/

The real trouble with reality is that there's no background music.

Today, if I could have had background music through out my day today, it would have been up beat and kind of adventurous. I didn't even do anything exciting, I just felt like it though. It was soooo HOT today too. I painted the outside of the porch for my dad. Ya see, the squirrels in our back yard are half wood peckers. They tear up the side of the porch and my dad had to replace a bunch of wood siding. He hasn't had time to paint it, so I took care of it for him.

I painted the part inbetween the top screen, and the bottom screen. You can see in the lower left corner where I accidently dribbled a bit of paint....oops. I wrote Preston this morning. I hope he gets something out of my words. I put a lot of thought into it, and I want what is best for him, but he needs to decide it on his own. Through a friend of the family, I might be helping out with a High School out reach program soon. I am kind of excited to see where this will go. Ohhh, and I went to the BMV today and got everything figuered out. It is going to cost about....A LOT for me to get car insurance, and my license will be suspended for about 4 months. :-(

Could be worse though. A lot worse.