Switching gears…

So, after a major delay, I’m finally on my way to New York. The flight was two hours late and the runways were closed at LaGuardia so we had to make a pit stop in Atlantic City. For a second there, I thought I was going to have to rent a car or figure out how to take the train as I have to be at NYU in Manhattan tomorrow morning for blood draw and subsequent PET scan. I have to say, I’m really sad to be leaving Florida as this was probably my best stint yet. I mean, I really had a great time from start to finish!

Big thanks to my buddy Mike for putting me up in his place until I’m able to transition into my new place. My condo is still bombed out and finally got word that the insurance is going to replace the windows, clean up the smoke damage, replace the duct work (and possibly AC unit) plus other incidental stuff. Hopefully once this is done, I can find a buyer for the place. We’ll see…

I did have something crazy happen to me yesterday and of course I have to document it ;) Mike lives on a canal connected to the intercoastal and he has kayaks. We went out one night on a tandem trip and it was really cool. He showed me this spot where these people have sunken green lights on the bottom of the canal to help them pull their boat in properly at night. Turns out, there’s these fish called Moonfish that really dig these lights and will swim on their sides in circles all night around them! The fish are a little larger than my hand but they are bright silver and have this really cool fin coming off their dorsal. It’s really quiet out there too and you can hear the birds singing, very peaceful.

So, with that experience a couple nights ago, yesterday I decided to take the 1 man kayak out by myself to the same spots, by the mangroves but during the day. I was having a great time, drinking in the nature, sunshine and relaxation. I saw a pair of really sweet blue herons and managed to get some shots of them. I was just kicking back enjoying myself floating down the canal when all of the sudden my body started to go into convulsions! It started with my calves. I can’t describe the pain but liken it to being shot (as I’ve written on here before). Normally when this happens, I’m in bed and all I have to do is somehow get out and stand on the floor and it goes away. However, being seated in a one man kayak, I unfortunately didn’t have this option. So, I tried to straighten my legs or pull my feet back and no matter what I did, another muscle would start spasming, it was horrific. I could actually see the muscle in the front of my shin pulsating. As I tried to reach down to massage the muscles in my legs, the muscles in my abdomen started to do the same thing then my hands then my back. I felt like I wanted to die. It was so bad, I had almost considered trying to step on the sharp rocks that were below me that would have surely tore up my feet something fierce. Luckily, I decided against that and secured the stuff I had with me in the boat like my sandals, otter box and hat and fell over into the water thinking maybe I could “kick it out”. Turns out, the spasms just moved to other areas of my body, ugh. I don’t know how long this lasted, seemed like an eternity, but I was almost screaming in pain. I managed to pull myself together while in the water and started to push the kayak toward the residential area of the canal where I saw ladders that I might be able to step on to hopefully relieve the madness. As I was doing this, I looked up and noticed all of the residents that owned these beautiful homes on the canal were out and asking me if I was ok. I can imagine it must have sounded and looked pretty scary to these people. I explained to one of the guys as I approached the ladder that sometimes I get these cramps and told him I just needed to stand up somehow. I then managed to get to the ladder, stepped on the bottom step which was full of barnacles (managed to not cut my feet somehow) and took one step up and the pain started to diminish immediately, thank God. I told the guy that I was ok and he joked back by saying “thank God I didn’t have to jump in and get you”, haha.


Just kicking back, enjoying the sun and beauty of the place!


Even spotted a pair of beautiful Blue Herons (the other one flew away after I spooked it)


Almost had to step on these rocks, glad I didn't...

So, I rested for a few minutes on this ladder and decided I needed to try and get back to Mikes place somehow which was about a mile away, major challenge. My hands were still severely locking up, to the point where I couldn’t grip the paddles except by rotating holding it with my thumbs then index fingers. I had to take a bunch of breaks and hold my arms, hands folded, over my head when I had a spasm. I tried to close my eyes and take deep breaths… I was so worried it was going to happen in my legs again and by now was quite traumatized to say the least.

I finally did make it back thankfully and almost kissed the dock when I was able to get up onto it. The cramps continued but nowhere near like they were while in the kayaking position on the water.

It’s weird as all the previous times this has happened (mainly in bed) I think I could attribute it to being under hydrated. In this instance, I drank a 64oz Gatorade while I was paddling. Who knows, maybe the fluid didn’t have enough time to circulate to my muscles. Maybe I was too behind on drinking for it to take effect. All I know is ever since then, I’ve been drinking tons of water whenever I can. I still had cramps this morning but they were manageable. As for my hands, they’re still locking up, ugh.
It’s really ironic as I just wrote in my last post how much stronger I fell and all that. Looking back, Murphy’s Law tells me I probably shouldn’t have written that post, haha. All I know is that I hope that never happens again, way too scary and painful…

So, like I said, I’m in route to Manhattan where I have to show up at NYU tomorrow morning at 8:20 for blood draw. I’m nervous as I can’t eat my pineapple because of the mandatory fasting 12 hours before the scan. So, the plan to try and get my platelets going is doing all seven or eight flights of stairs at NYU, then go in and immediately do the blood draw.

With that uncertainty looming, I then go upstairs to the second floor to prepare for my PET scan (which is a whole other pile of uncertainty). I need to go two for two tomorrow! Anything else is unacceptable at this point.

So, needless to say, I’m asking for all the good vibes and prayers I can muster ;)

All that said, I feel really calm right now and somewhat confident (at least for the PET scan). I know there’s still disease in there as I had a glass of wine last night and my back was on fire, right where my disease is located. It doesn’t seem worse than normal however and hoping for stable or better disease.

Should know the results by late afternoon and will post once I know.

Thanks for reading and in advance for the good vibes and prayers :-)

Chris