East Coast Happenings

[Diane Amberg]

 Small, but damaging tornado. Typical for here. Miles of straight line wind damage too, with big primary lines down. 24+ homes damaged in Robscott Manor. Kept Aetna busy with searches, live wires and trees into houses.   A few minor injuries. Our past chief was on the road coming home from work and saw it cross RT.40. He got on the radio and his voice was much higher than usual . Sure glad it wasn't worse. It may set up the same way on Thursday. Have a nice evening all.

[Ms Bear]

Hope you are still okay.

I talked to my son yesterday, he was in Pennsylvania and it was raining but not bad.

[Diane Amberg]

We're fine. But another line is setting up for tonight and tomorrow. I wouldn't want to be with my friend in Chicago right now. That whole area is in for some really evil weather,and east to western PA. It was a front name I'd never heard of before.
Where in PA is your son? The PA South Eastern Chester County line is just a skip up the road from us.  Have a nice evening.Al is at the fire house for a Directors meeting so I'm battening down the hatches again.
Dental in the morning. I hope the mess doesn't arrive here until I get home.

[Diane Amberg]

A beautiful day. I'd like to keep this one for all summer. The pool two blocks away did open, but it's been too cold to swim. It's OK now and I enjoy hearing the kids having such a good time The tennis court next door to the pool has a lot of business too.
  Al had to shoo a tiny garter snake out of the garage that tried to sneak in while he had the door up. The local snake must have hatched her eggs recently.
Al is really suffering from allergies and he still has back pain from time to time. He's a mess.

[Wilma]

Some sympathy here, lady.  He may be a mess, but his pain is real.  I know.  I have been hurting for two weeks now.  Ever since I started dragging hoses around again.

We have been having heavy rain for about five minutes now.  I wonder if a "Mud Run" ever gets rained out.  Our local one started just before the rain.

[Diane Amberg]

  Wilma, I do understand and get so frustrated for him. So many pain and allergy meds he can't take, as he has a very touchy liver. The Post Polio business makes it all worse too. There is so much he wants to do, but can't any longer and his stamina is lower. Heat helps his back for awhile and the TENS device does help too, but it's so complicated with one thing working against the other.
He can't rehab his back any further as he can't strengthen the muscle groups that were permanently damaged by the Polio. The ''good" muscles try to work for the damaged ones and then they get tired and painful too.
I'm so sorry you are having pain again. Believe me I get it. Hope the mud run was a big sloppy success.

[Wilma]

I had forgotten his polio, but I can understand that frustration.  There is so much that I can't do anymore, either.  I do what I can because if I give up and start having someone else do it for me, I would be done.  Besides no one can do anything the way I would do it and that would just add to my frustration.  I am just an old lady that no one can please.

My aches and pains depend a lot on the weather and today has been a doozy.  I kind of think that they stopped the "Mud Run".  I didn't hear as much roaring as usual.  We had some wind and a lot of heavy rain.

[Warph]

Diane and Wilma...

Get a TENS Unit, Wilma.  It work for me, hip, Knee, lower back and shoulder.  I wouldn't be playin golf without it... I wear when I play.  I have a EMPI Tens Unit... http://empi.com/empi_products/index.aspx  
http://empi.com/empi_products/detail.aspx?id=146
...that medicare and tri-care for life, paid for it.  
I know there's pro and con on it but, like I said, it works for me.  

Diane, Has Al had a Nerve Ablation for lower-back pain?.  My ortho doc is giving me nerve ablation at Mayo.  This involves heating tissue of the facet nerve to destroy it and sustaining that heat for about one to two minutes.  This deadens a length of nerve tissue, preventing it from transmitting pain signals to the brain.  He tells me I'm likely to experience a greater than 50% pain reduction.  So far, he's been right.  Unfortunately, relief only lasts on average, 6 to nine months.  It's not clear why pain often returns, but it's suspected that the nerve reconnect over time.  The procedure can be repeated indefinitely tho'.

Wilma...Info on the TENS Unit:
"TENS involves passing an electric current through the body via electrodes taped to your skin from a small battery-operated box about the size of a PDA. Some people like to think of it as the electrical equivalent of acupuncture. There are two theories about how it works, the gate theory and the endorphin theory. The gate theory says that by overstimulating nerves with electrical current, the TENS unit confuses the brain and blocks pain signals from getting through. The endorphin theory states that the TENS unit stimulates the production of the body's natural morphine-like substances, the endorphins."

[Warph]

A guide dog is being heralded as a hero after his quick reaction to an oncoming car saved the lives of his two trainers on Monday.

The 18-month-old Labrador retriever named O'Neil is seen on video turning to alert one trainer behind him of the oncoming car approaching quickly from the rear, while pulling the other trainer, who is blindfolded in the exercise, to safety.

Moments later, a car reverses at high-speed toward them.

O'Neil's early response to the car prompted supervisor Todd Jurek, the rear trainer who was not blindfolded, to grab the blindfolded instructor, Daniella Alvarado, and with the dog's help, drag her to safety around the corner seconds before the car would have made impact.

The car was being driven by a 93-year-old woman who, after barely missing the guide dog and his two trainers, crashed into a nearby building, the New York Daily News reported.

The elderly driver was not injured in the incident.

Police are still investigating the crash.

"Even from Day One he was special," Alvarado said about O'Neil.

The dog still has to take his final test at the Guide Dogs for the Blind academy, which according to Jurek shouldn't pose a problem considering his actions on Monday.

[Diane Amberg]

I'm not sure about the name of Al's TENS unit but it is a more complicated one and does more in terms of muscle stimulation as well as nerve, so it might be what you are using.
No nerve ablation as of yet. The Post Polio problem really  complicates that kind of thing. He already has damaged and dead muscle and nerve fibers.
Today is a good day and yesterday was miserable. Sometimes he has what we call a Polio Day where he is too weak to do much of anything. As it is he is on an ''energy budget." He does what needs to be done first thing and then rests or takes an afternoon nap before night meetings. It's been a slow decline for the last 12 years. The docs' goal now it to keep him on his feet as long as possible. He wears braces on both legs, uses a cane for balance and we have had a stair riser chair here for years. It was a demand by his doctor as soon as he was diagnosed at the ''gate lab" at Einstein Hospital 's Post  Polio Clinic in Philly. Two years ago he started having hand problems and was sent to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore to rule out Rheumatoid Arthritis, which is in his family. Thankfully it wasn't. It was just the Post Polio getting slightly worse and has not gotten any worse since.