TheGeekSite

I have some geekish and non-geekish items to clear out (to make room for more of course), so I’ve added an auction section to The Geek Site.  I’ll post again once I have items listed.  In the meantime, check out http://thegeeksite.com/buyme and feel free to sell your own items if you so desire.  I don’t charge listing fees or make money off of other peoples’ sales.  What you sell your item for is what you get paid, no hidden fees or charges.  Try to get a deal like that on eBay.

• Post more frequently to my blog.
• Get at least seven hours sleep nightly.
• Exercise at least three times a week.
• Eat my vegetables.
• Treat my body better.
• Deposit at least $200 / mo. into savings.
• Have a more positive attitude.
• Sit at home less.

Wow!  A lot has happened since my last post in August.  I’ve really let postings slide as I’ve been focused on other going ons.  I’ll try to keep this post brief.

The mysterious pain in my right side went away on its own after several rounds of testing, leaving the doctors as baffled as ever.  The last theory being it was subdermal shingles, but there is no way to know at this point.  I have NAFLD and continue to work to adapt to a healthier lifestyle thus reducing the likelihood I will suffer liver failure.  A moment of weakness and temptation almost resulted in my taking a double shot of tequila last night, but thanks to the support and determination of my lovely wife the shot went down the drain instead of down the hatch.

In early October I spent a week in South Dakota on a spiritual journey.  More about that later.

Work has been evolving rapidly.  More about that later as well.

My bowling team, The Carnies, is sitting in fifth place and climbing as of the seventh week of the fall/winter league.  We were in last place after the first few weeks because a guy quit after the first week due to employment issues and we rotated through subs that hadn’t established handicaps and were less than impressive bowlers.  Now that the team roster has filled and we are back to full strength, we’re climbing the rankings.  I’m pleasantly surprised with my own bowling, showing marked improvement from the 2007 summer league (the last time I bowled due to scheduling conflicts).

Last Sunday we had unexpected guests as my sister and brother-in-law crashed here for the night during their move from Alaska to Ohio.  The missus was already planning on a big Sunday dinner, so it worked out well.  It’s a shame my brother-in-law wasn’t feeling well, but I’m glad we were able to offer them a warm, comfortable respite from the road.

Our annual Halloween party was tuned down quite a bit this year due to financial and time constraints.   Rather than our usual over the top shindig with costume contests, pinatas, drinks, movies, lot and guests, a Samhain ritual, and bonfire, we had a few close friends join us for an evening of movies.  It may have been less of a production but an enjoyable time was had by all and I don’t think anyone present missed the hoopla.

I’m going to do my best to post more frequently now that I’ve gotten through some very time consuming projects at work.  We’ll see how that goes.

Medicinenet.com has an excellent article on NAFLD:

http://www.medicinenet.com/fatty_liver/article.htm

I often get nauseated when I need to eat, even when I do not feel hungry before the nausea sets in, and experience sudden onsets of extreme nausea, sweating, and trembling often occuring late at night and waking me from my sleep.  I thought these were due to low blood sugar and they always seem to get better after having a bite to eat and a glass of water.  Due to these symptoms and my weight, I’ve had frequent blood glucose tests performed and all have come back as normal.  My doctor has diagnosed this as “mild” pre-diabetic hypoglycemia, despite the frequent normal blood tests, and recommended I lose weight.  As it turns out, these are all common symptoms of NAFLD.

Upon suspecting NAFLD, my doctor put me on a very strict diet:

• NO alcohol
• EXTREMELY LOW / NO fat
• VERY LOW sugar
• LOW caffeine
• Medication and pain killers at the lowest dosage possible when absolutely necessary

But this was just an initial suspicions based on the results of the ultrasound.  My doctor also gave me a prescription for a double strength dose of Prilosec OTC and ordered more lab work to get a second look at my liver functions and check my kidney function as well as the normal cholesterol, blood glucose, triglycerides, etc.

After a week on Prilosec my symptoms had not improved and my lab work came back, once again, normal.

This was puzzling.  A second doctor reviewed the findings and stated, “This is not a text book example of anything.”

I had begun to experience new symptoms, sinus pressure, a sore throat, and feeling flush, although I was not running a fever.

A hypothesis was formed that perhaps the pain I was experiencing wasn’t being caused by the NAFLD.  Perhaps, just perhaps, I had a rare form of subdermal shingles (subdermal because I wasn’t displaying a rash or hives).  It matched all the symptoms (except for the fatty liver).  It could be that the pain was caused by the shingles and the ultrasound used to help diagnose the problem happened to detect the NAFLD before I experienced pain from the liver.  If that was the case, my doctor said the only thing was to wait it out.  I wasn’t satisfied with that answer and a CT scan was scheduled to get a better look at what was going on internally.

So at this point in the process it had been determined that I have NAFLD; I was on a very strict diet, which resulted in me essentially cutting out processed food and becoming a vegetarian; and two doctors were whiteboarding my symptoms like I was on an episode of House (oh yes, even Lupus was mentioned).

The CT scan was scheduled, I’ll post about it’s results in my next entry.

Although I was hoping to get a nice long update posted this past weekend, other items took precedence.

A month or so ago the missus underwent surgery and had a rather uncomfortable recovery.  That occupied my life for at least a couple weeks, but thankfully she is feeling much better now.

Just as she was starting to feel better, I made a trip to urgent care due to a sharp, unexplained, pain in my upper right side, just below the ribs.  At urgent care it was suggested that I had gall stones and several vials of blood were drawn to rule out liver problems.  The liver checked out fine and I was scheduled for an ultrasound of my gall bladder the next week.  In the meantime, I was given a prescription for Vicodin and told to lay off the fatty foods and caffeine since these can exacerbate the problem by increasing the release of bile.

A few days before my scheduled ultrasound, the pain became unbearable and my doctor had me go to the hospital for an emergency ultrasound.  The ultrasound revealed that contrary to belief I did not have gall stones or any inflammation of the gall bladder.  The pancreas, too, looked normal.  The liver, well, my doctor wanted me to come in to discuss that.

Introducing Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)!!!

But wait, weren’t the results of my liver function tests normal?  Why yes, yes they were.  FTW?

This is where things start to get really interesting, but alas, I am out of time tonight.  I’ll post part II in series in the next couple days.

I know I’ve been slacking in the blog area, but the truth of the matter is I do have some really good excuses.  I don’t have time to give a full report tonight, however one will be coming forthright.

As a bit of a teaser, I’m scheduled for a CT scan tomorrow.  Told you I have good excuses.

It started with a couple twitches of my left eyelid Monday afternoon and became more frequent as the week progressed.  This evening, my left right eyelid decided to get in on the fun.

Since one of the main causes is lack of sleep and I’ve had difficulty staying awake at work this week, I suspect I need to get a couple good nights sleep.

Staying awake has been such an arduous task that I’ve resorted to “energy” drinks (which I had never tried before).  So far both Rockstar and Starbuck’s Doubleshot + Energy have failed to prove beneficial.

Sleep, I feel, is the only cure.

Tonight I am meeting up with some friends from high school whom I have not seen in over 15 years.  Not a big beer drinker, a brew pub wouldn’t have been my first choice of locations.  Be that as it may, we shall be meeting at Rock Bottom Brewery on Fountain Square in Cincinnati.

The little missus has chosen not to go to this gathering, instead opting for a quiet evening at the house eating pizza and watching movies with the dogs.  That is, unless she dares venture across the street to the ‘rents place.

I am somewhat anxious; a more self-conscience anxiety than true nervousness.  While I’m not particularly apprehensive about seeing old friends again, what they think when they see how much weight I’ve put on has been weighing on my mind (no pun intended).  For the most part I suppose that is normal, but on the other hand I have been obsessing about my weight lately, so I’m certain I am blowing it way out of proportion.

In other news, we surprised the hell out of a long time friend and his wife.  After a year without even talking, I simply came walking down the sidewalk towards him as he got home from softball practice last night.  The look on his face was priceless.  He did the classic double-take.  Not being aware that we were in town, I’m sure seeing me at his house was quite a shock.  We sat and chatted with him and his wife for about an hour, then let them get back to their evening routine.

The geek and wife have headed south for a much needed, long overdue stint of R & R.   With a trunk full of wine and cheese, literally, we arrived safely in Cincinnati for a week of relaxation and two days of family insanity.  If all goes as planned the family insanity will remain confined to those two days and we’ll be able to relax and enjoy ourselves the other seven days.