I am going to have to start blogging again...

I guess this is not a bad thing; I used to blog, nearly, everything that happened in my life, but lately I have been a little "slack" concerning how I feel. But, I need to have a "record" of everything, and, since this is how I used to do it, it just seems suitable to keep blogging more.

Well, I have felt pretty good for the last 6 months or so since I last blogged. There are some problems, though. I have noticed a trend: whenever I do not get a nap, I get real weakness in my left arm and left leg. The other day I had a REALLY bad day; some of it is because I did not get a nap, and some of it was because I am just prone to have bad days. This past weekend (October 1-3) I had some balance and "spacey" troubles. I seemed to stumble a little more than usual, and actually fell over (although it was into a chair, it was still a fall).

Some of the problems that I deal with on a regular basis: I still struggle with Aphasia (words just do not seem to come to me). I have learned how to "deal with it" by pausing a little between words and using phrases like "what is the best way to say this" (the reality is, I don't know the right words and I am trying to think of it). I also struggle with using the right words. Sometimes I will find myself saying that "this probably is not the right word...I guess a better word would be". I still have some problems swallowing; not that I cannot swallow, but it takes 2 or 3 attempts to swallow completely. I have a pulsating sound in my right ear. Initially I thought it was just my heartbeat, but it is not a regular pulsing; it is an irregular type sound. I often find that my left leg just gives out on me. I have only gone to the ground because of it once, but I do have to rely on something else to gain my balance. My blood pressure is all over the board; it is the worst of situations: if I do not exercise, I can control my blood pressure pretty well but my cholesterol gets out of whack. Since I only have one artery going to my brain I cannot allow my cholesterol to go high; however, when I do exercise a lot to lower my cholesterol, my blood pressure plummets (from 135/85 to 108/68 in just a few days). So, here is the question that I deal with every day: do I keep my BP up and play roulette with my cholesterol, or do I exercise to keep my cholesterol down and play roulette with my BP.

I really do FEEL good, but I just wanted to share what I deal with internally on a day to day basis.