And the diagnosis is...

After four months of constant bloating and belching I've been officially diagnosed with Celiac disease.  This nasty sounding ailment means gluten does damage to my colon which is causing the bloating and also has other long range effects if not treated. 

 

The only treatment is removing wheat, barley and rye from my diet.  Yeah.  That sounds easy until you walk into your pantry.  There were only four items in mine that I could still eat.  Four!  The refrigerator wasn't much better.  There are tons of Celiac websites to help those afflicted with this malady.  Tons of recipes.  Links to sites, restaurants, and manufacturers so that I can know what items have gluten in it.  All great stuff and I'm extremely grateful. 

 

But while my family and friends are very nice to help me look on the bright side, and it is very nice of them, don't let anyone fool you.  This is not easy, not even close, it is heck!  First the mental aspect of living with the fact there are favorite foods of yours that you will never eat again - ever - is a real head trip!  Once you get past that you, or your spouse (sorry dear), has to get down to figuring out the meal plan.  Cooking gluten free can be done but it boils down to cooking from scratch to avoid items with gluten or buying expensive grocery items to help the process along.  Ugh.  Luckily I'm a meat eater because most, but not all, meat is ready to eat.  That helps for when I go to restaurants.  That alone can be tough.  I've been to places where 99% of the menu is off limits.  Sure glad they had mashed potatoes...  No fried foods, no breads, no this, no that.  It is maddening.  You would not believe the many different types of food which I cannot digest.  Good news is there is gluten free beer...

 

This isn't on woe is me post.  It is a fact of life and I'll deal with it.  It just isn't easy at age 44 to completely retool your diet while saying goodbye to some of your favorite foods.  I will get through this though.  First and foremost I'm glad it wasn't more serious.  The docs had a whole list of things I could have been suffering from and some were much worse than this.  Thank you God.  It is also good to know what I'm dealing with.  After months of having no idea I can at least attack this head on now.  Will I cheat?  I'm sure at some point I will but thanks to the long term possible ramifications those times will be kept to a minimum.  But it will happen... 

 

I must also think of my family.  I want to be around a long time to harass them and my grand babies of the future.  My daughter has been suffering stomach ailments for years but has put off definitive testing for fear of what might be found.  This may be exactly what she is dealing with and I have stepped up the fight to get her to testing.  She is starting college and doesn't want to deal with something like this but as an adult she needs answers and can then make informed decisions on how she wants to proceed. 

 

Bottom line is I now know what I need to do.  I'll do that and get the healing process started.  And things will get better, physically and mentally. 

 

Four Days...No Internet/No TV - I Survived!

This week the wife and I headed to a local lake for four nights.  It was an early wedding anniversary present to ourselves.  The cottage we stayed at was nice.  A single unit to itself, our back porch looked directly out onto the lake.  The picture above was taken Wednesday morning at sunrise from our porch.  We had everything you could ask for.  Satellite TV, stove, gas fireplace, frig, indoor bathroom and great view.  So we weren't hurting.  Before going out we knew there'd be no internet access so the laptops stayed home.  For the TV we decided we'd use it for the music channels and the weather channel.  That was it.  And I survived! 

While I'm the first to admit I can tie myself down to the TV or laptop I'm also not one who can't live without each.  I love to read but do have issues trying to work reading into my schedule.  We did a great job getting out each day and eploring trails.  Still I was able to finish two books in our time at the lake.  Truth be told if I have books to read I could do that for much longer.  I will admit I lingered on the weather channel a few times allowing myself to watch their random reality fair as opposed to just their forecasts.  But still that was minimal and we had a great time.  I did have some catching up to do tonight when I finally "reconnected" with the world again.  What news did we miss and of course I had to catch up on sports.  Still was a great week and I'm very glad my wife "disconnected" us from the grid.  I highly suggest everyone try it next time they get a chance.   

Want Darryl Dawkins at your Bar Mitzvah? Heck yeah!

Who wouldn't want Chocolate Thunder at their bar mitzvah, birthday party or wedding?  ESPN's Grantland recently posted an article on the website Thuzio.  Click here to see the article.  The bottom line is Thuzio allows anyone to hire athletes, the majority of whom are retired, to attend the aforementioned events, tutor you in their particular skill, talk on the phone, or play a round of golf with you.  Wow.

At first this just didn't seem right.  I can hire Rick Barry, Eric Dickerson or even Fred, THE CRIME DOG, McGriff.  How is that?  And isn't it sad that these athletes are reduced to being pimped out to fan boys?  Then I started thinking.  I can have Fred, THE CRIME DOG, McGriff attend a game with me for only $1500.  I love it.  My wife is shaking her head at me while I type.  She doesn't get it and I'm sure many folks don't.  I think this is awesome.  Can you imagine you and all the other managers are sitting around getting ready for your football fantasy draft when Todd Christenson walks in?  Youngins may not remember him but Raider fans will and they'd love it.  I'd love to spend some time with Dickerson or McGriff.  Would I pay the money they are asking?  I doubt it but I love the idea.  No matter what side you fall on I think it is a great idea.  Players get to make some money post playing days while fans get to geek out by meeting players whom they'd never have the opportunity to meet outside of an autograph signing session.  Great stuff.

You won't find Michael Jordan, Joe Montana, or Randy Johnson on Thuzio but there are still plenty of name players who true fans will remember.  You'll also find athletes who don't play the big three sports.  Not every player offers all the services.  Some are very limited, and expensive, like Dickerson while others are pretty open to anything assuming you are paying.  Each athlete also has a geographical area to where they'll go. I assume the area is near their current home. 

No matter what you think of the concept you have to check out the site which you can do by clicking here.  I just enjoyed seeing which athletes were on the site and what they cost.  The biographies can be funny as well.  The Grantland article points this out pretty well.  So at the very least check out the site and don't forget to look up Kavita Channe, ranked in the top 5 hottest sportscasters of 2012 by BR5's Daily Show.

This never happened before...

Wednesday was a day I'll never forget.  Late in the afternoon I was speaking to a coworker.  Just a conversation we have many times every day.  Just before we finished my heart fluttered, flip-flopped, beat weird, whatever you want to call it.  All of sudden I could see but couldn't focus.  I started to see stars as I felt light headed on my way to passing out.  Then it passed.  In all it lasted less than 30 seconds. 

My coworker noticed what happened immediately and was concerned.  I was able to get past what happened and finished out the day, concerned but pressing forward.  I had quite a bit on my plate to include a trip that was to start yesterday.  I couldn't worry too much about this.  It was prevalent in my thinking the rest of the day and on the way home.  Just before I got into town I felt sick and light headed.  Wasn't even sure I'd make it into town.  Nothing going on with my heart but I felt bad.  I knew immediately I had to go to the emergency room.  I called the wife, and stopped out the house but we were on the way to the hospital within minutes. 

The emergency room got me right in to a room and started a flurry of tests.  I can't name them all but they were pretty extensive.  Nothing obvious from the results but with me having two episodes they decided to keep me overnight.  I feel better as the evening goes on.  I think having the good test results helped as much as just getting over whatever happened.  The night went well and more tests were completed the next morning and again the results all came back well.  The bottom line is the heart palpitations I had, which are common to everyone, lasted longer than is common.  This led to not enough oxygen getting to my brain causing the light headedness.  What caused my heart to do that?  That they couldn't answer.  So they sent me home and tell me to rest.  If it happens again then they'll look at it differently with more tests on a different level. 

So on the surface it seems pretty benign and it probably is.  So why do I write about it?  Not sure but I felt compelled to.  For me is was a pretty major occurance.  When that first episode occurred I lost control.  I couldn't move and was left to wonder what was happening.  Was this a heart attack?  Would my last moments be this...me at work?  Sounds overly dramatic I know but in those seconds I really had no idea what was happening.  I want to use words like concerned or worried when I speak about how I felt immediately afterwards but they aren't true.  I was scared.  That is a word I don't use lightly.  To that point I don't know what writing about the episode does for me but here I am.  I know that over time I will become less concerned but I definitely won't forget what happened.  Thankfully life goes on. 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all.  I had a wonderful New Years Eve.  The wife and I hid out in a hotel in town for two nights.  Can't say we did much of anything other than just enjoy some quiet time with each other.  We did the same thing last year but only spent one night.  It is good for us as a couple.  We can get away from the youngins for a little bit which is always good for us.  One of the things we've enjoyed over the years is the Twilight Zone marathon on FX.  Easy fair that is fun to watch.  Some of those episodes were years ahead of their time.  I think every couple should get away from time to time to enjoy some time away from our busy lives.

Not sure what to expect of 2013 though there is plenty on our plate.  We have our three oldest living at home but we think that will change this year.  Our 17 year-old (mine) who lives with her mom close to here will be graduating from high school and moving on to college.  Her goal is to be a lawyer so we have our fingers crossed.  No matter what this year brings the our main goal will be getting each youngin ready for their next chapter in life.   

Personally I always strive to be a better person.  I'm pretty critical of myself with much of it deserved.  Just have to work on some of the little petty things to help me be a better husband, father, friend and human.  Pretty heady stuff.  Hopefully I can do a better job of it than I have in years past.  I wish the best in 2013 for all those I know and love.  I'm always optimistic (no matter what the wife thinks) so I have no doubt 2013 will be a good year.  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Slideshows...Just Say NO!

It is very common nowadays for a website to have a slideshow of this or that.  They are everywhere allowing us to see a group of pics that all relate to the subject of the show.  I think they are great...when they work.  My idea of a slideshow is the ability to click from one picture to another without actually going to a different page.  On many sites this is exactly how it works.  These are a couple of examples of when they work:

Bleacher Report
NBC Sports

There are many others that basically just move you from one web page to the next web page with a different picture on each.  This may be me just being a whiner but in today's day and age there is no reason for this.  Slideshows should be smooth without that hiccup as a new picture loads.  Again this is probably the most petty thing I'll ever complain about but it seems these are seen on every site out there and I have no forgiveness for those who can't join the modern world. 

Introductions

I’m Roy and as the title of this blog states I’ll promise you one thing and one thing only - randomness. I say that because my thoughts are all over the place. I am a huge sports fan so you’ll be seeing much in the way of one of my biggest passions. I will also open up on my inner geekness as I’ll speak on things I enjoy that might just fall under the heading of nerdiness. Pop culture in general will also be a target of mine as will anything from politics, small town life, and the world in general. As stated, I promise randomness, nothing more, nothing less. I hope you enjoy.

Oh and the gal to the left?  It is October.  Supposedly this was done for a t-shirt as part of a fundraiser for breast cancer.  I just think it looks cool.  Would love to have the shirt.