Where is the light….

I believe we all have some sort of illness we are dealing with or fighting.  It doesn’t only need to be called a disease to affect our bodies, but can be many other things.  Struggling to pay the bills, hardships, family issues, finding employment, paying for college and living to find a purpose in life.  Many of us deal with this everyday, we get up and face every challenge head on.  Following all the rules, honesty, integrity, helping others, and always having a smile on our faces.  We are frightened and feeling nauseated thinking where is our next meal coming from or how will I pay the rent or mortgage.  Keeping it all inside which creates an atomic bomb in our digestive system.  Our commitment and faith in knowing God understands our obstacles we face each and everyday.  He will light the path and if you choose to follow it, all of our struggles we be lifted.  Its starts with respecting yourselves and believing we are worth more than what we have.  Not the material things, but spiritual thoughts and love.  Your faith in God must be genuine and pure which in turn will cause effect in everyone you speak to.  His words and teaching help us find the cure we all seek.  The Lord God works in mysterious way, bring the right individuals or personnel  in an organization which will create change for you.  You don’t have to look so hard, the signs are all rounds us.  If we put our hands in his, wonderful things will begin to happen.  I hear everyday, someone got an increase, or a better job, and their application was accepted to help with their college debt or he completed his reliability treatment all good stuff.   Continue reading →

Acupuncture it really helps..

I’ve had ALS ( amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) which is called SOD1 familiar disease.  Diagnosed May 2013, for there is no cure. Genetically transmitted from my Father.  He passed-away and was only 52 years of age.  And I’m only 50 and fighting this terrible illness.  I was healthy, didn’t smoke and exercised daily.  Loved baseball and played unit 48 years young.  It was the greatest thing, my son and I played together and how many Dad’s can say they turn a double-play, and batted after their son in the line-up, AAA division hardball an adult league.  Priceless, is the only way to describe it.  So as I was saying very healthy.  I’m not knocking western medicine, but those pills made me feel like a zombie.  So my beautiful wife, looked into alliterative treatments.  So acupuncture was the discussion of the evening.  We found a Doctor in San Jose, California,  Dr. Zhu’s Acupuncture medical & Neurology Center.  Now for someone who has never had needles touch his body or head, you could imagine the look on my face when we arrived at his office.  Everyone including his assistance had needles in their heads.  If someone could have taken a photo of me I believe they would still be laughing.  I looked at my wife and said, what were we thinking?  I looked up and saw all his patients with needles sticking out of there heads.  I said not me, my wife bless her schedule 4 section over the weekend so I said needles here I come.  Now with this illness, your entire body feels tight and the fasciculations which caused so much fatigue for me, it has affected my legs, some may experience different parts of their body.  I would say I walk like Frankenstein.  So there I waited for my turn, I didn’t want anything sticking out of me when I left his office.  Dr Zhu, called me in they took my blood pressure, the Doctor asked me if I was always overweight, which I thought I felt good at 191 pounds.  I just laughed and said yes.  After all the medical questions the acupuncture began, he started on my head and then work his way to my legs and arms.  Felt like a pin cushion looking down at my body.  It really didn’t hurt or sting, but what did happen is I felt electrical shocks going through my body as the needles were placed with precision.  Now that the needles were placed, they brought in heat lamps and placed them over my body, which I felt using the heat from the lamps were transmitting the heat into the needles, like radio antenna’s.  The process lasted for about an hour and a half, which felt like to me more than that.  I have to admit for the first time after the treatment I felt more loose and not as tight, after the session I walked out of his office with needles sticking out of my head, and was smiling.  I truly felt something while lying on the bed.  I told my wife later that afternoon, my body felt like it was floating it was the strangest feeling, but very pleasant.  For everyone fighting an illness give acupuncture a try, keeping  an open mind to things and believing this simple procedure may help you feel a bit better and when you feel better your family does too.  And we all just want that.

The Pros and Cons of an illness..

I had a thought, having an illness and living with it, what would be the pros and cons.  So here I’m writing out my list:  I feel its important mentally and physically to understand where you are spiritually.

Cons-

• unable to work out
• unable to run
• unable to walk without use of a walker or cane
• unable to exercise because of fatigue
• low energy levels
• muscles constantly twitching which leads to fatigue
• muscle loss and weight loss
• unable to write with pen or pencil
• unable to make the peace sign with my fingers both hands and raise my fingers individually
• unable to wiggle my toes and bend them
• unable to lift my legs straight up from sitting down or walking
• unable to perform my job duties
• unable to drive (this one suc@s)

Pros-

• massage to relieve stiffness
• acupuncture to body and relieve soreness, and increases flexibility
• able to walk with help from family and friends
• able to get dressed
• able to take a shower with use of a stool
• taking supplements and vitamins to increase energy levels
• gluten free- diet
• able to type
• able to put on shoes and socks
• my WIFE the Rock 100%
• wonderful support team
• wonderful young man, my boys Gus Jr and Kenneth Christopher
• My family
• My faith in Christ
• able to read wonderful books
• staying positive
• healthy and feeling great
• able to grow my beard which I love
• thoughts from the front lawn:
• sharing inspirational thoughts
• sharing good words of faith and love
• a beautiful home and Tanky our dog

So as you can see the pros WIN hands down.  So the message here is before you start kicking yourself and having a pity party, take the time and make your list.  It’s a marvelous feeling when you write it out, and compare it side by side.  Creating an environment which is conducive to your situation.  “YOU CAN IF YOU THINK YOU CAN”

What is your purpose….

Continue reading →

When diagnosed with this ALS, I thought about many things.  First was my family, and would this illness affect them in the same way it has affected me.  Of course it’s affected them mentally, simply because they observe what this illness has done to me.  Using a walker, or walking stick, and needing help getting things.  With my body feeling sore, tight, and fatigued, what was I going to do?  My wife, and I say this with my heart, she is the best thing that has ever happened in my life married for 32 years.  A good friend of hers suggested trying deep tissue massages, she mentioned it helped her father with neuropathy due to diabetes.  I’m 50 years old and never had a massage in my life.  If my muscles were tight and I was stressed I would go run or workout.  That was my remedy to relieve my tension.  But, things have changed because I can’t jog, run, or workout, or even walk without the use of some kind of device.  That’s where deep tissue massage comes in.  After the first session I was truly amazed.   After 2 hours of working all my muscles and tendons, I felt, as if, I had worked out or run 5 miles.  I thought this is it, and found what would keep me walking and keep me out of a wheelchair.  It’s wonderful stuff.  I have been doing this now for the last 10 months, four times a month.  No wheelchair for me.  That along with  acupuncture, of course.

Recently my massage therapist added to my massage, acupuncture.  This technique uses the figures as needles and applies pressure to the specific points on your body.  Its does hurt a bit, but as the process is being done they rub it out as they apply pressure.   It feels great, but I am a little sore.  Anything that will give relief and bring back flexibility to my arms and legs is a plus.  Not to mention your blood flow, so give it a try.