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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Feb 18, 2009 - 08:48pm PT
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Lisa nixt the male prostitute option, gay, bi, post op, remote or otherwise....
But you knew that.
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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Feb 18, 2009 - 08:49pm PT
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Gezz, Roy what can I say....at least I can relate. Been through the pain of the body with Dan. If I can help at all shout out Bro. If you need medical equipment or any kind of medical stuff please email. It would be great to just help out. That's all. Sometimes ya just wonder about the trip on this planet. Maybe it's more about "after" ....Lynnie
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Mimi
climber
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Feb 18, 2009 - 08:49pm PT
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Will ponder squeezing this trip in, but a donation to da man is forthcoming regardless. Cheers to the other Stonemasters for putting on this noble event.
All the best, Roy.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Feb 18, 2009 - 09:01pm PT
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Thanks Mimi, Russ, Lynne et Al.
I really can't sit here and respond vigorously to ideas and questions.
My arms are already pretty fried today from getting this thing off the ground. I've undertaken these few detailed responses, in an elective sense, to a certain degree, because I think people deserve some detail from me in terms of what's going on with me and in light of what's being asked ... and of course I wish to express my gratitude.
If you have any suggestions please know that I'm reading them, but I may not be fielding thoughtful responses on a routine basis.
Cheers,
Roy
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Flanders!
Trad climber
June Lake, CA
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Feb 18, 2009 - 09:37pm PT
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Roy,
like many here, I had no idea you were in trouble. What can the docs do to help you? And the biggy; what are we talking re: dollars on this? I know talking $'s can be uneasy for some, but it's easier to get your mind around a problem if you know what it is. Hope that asking this isn't to ackward.
Doug
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Feb 18, 2009 - 09:45pm PT
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the show sounds cool, but i'm stuck up here until june.
11.5? bummer, dude. at least they ain't taken yer skis yet!
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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Feb 18, 2009 - 09:51pm PT
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Kerwin, get ye asz down here for this one!! It's a drive back home and what a chance to see a bunch of knuckleheads... all at once. Would be gooood to see you again! And schit yo get to help out the Roy Boy! See ya there!
Peace
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Feb 18, 2009 - 09:56pm PT
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Hey Tar-
We have never met. Jusy want to say as a wanker, when I first jumped into the Taco pool with my first thread, your's was one of the posts that helped me feel comfortable swimming amongst the choss and stellar rock that makes up the pool. Your threads always draw my attention. Thanks in so many ways.
I'm there! Looks like JT is already pretty booked up.
Good on all for getting this going!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Feb 18, 2009 - 10:10pm PT
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Okay Flanders,
I will go straight at that:
$25,000 well-documented, over the last four years, out-of-pocket, paid upfront to practitioners.
(Yes I have had throughout this ordeal and currently maintain health insurance.)
Plenty more cash, paid out-of-pocket, not so well documented, during the previous seven years.
Well over three times the amount noted above currently in what I would call cash debt, so approaching $90,000 in current burden, due to the experience in total: medical bills, opportunity costs of sifting through different work, retraining for work, and now flat out being out of work.
All falls into a home equity loan as a debt consolidation plan after these amounts cycle through temporary low interest revolving credit. We own our home free and clear, which is huge, but we can't continue to leverage it any further.
The medical establishment, either mainstream or alternative can do nothing for me. Lisa and I will extend ourselves no further in seeking a solution.
I absolutely have to find a way through this which addresses and incorporates my condition as is.
Thanks for asking the obvious,
No problem,
Cheers,
Roy
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Feb 18, 2009 - 11:04pm PT
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Wow, had no idea, and would never have guessed.
Sounds like you need someform of sales / support / remote teaching position you can do with a headset and minimal keyboard / mouse requirements. Not sure what the state of haptic devices currently is, but there are touch screens and devices like Microsoft's 'Surface' that are, or will soon be, available. I know there are outfits that hire folks in rural areas to [url="http://share.skype.com/sites/us/2008/11/wyoming_town_goes_big_skype.html" target="new"]teach English in Asian countries like Korea[/url] - maybe one of them...
Also, can you characterize this condition any further? Is this just totally unfathomable? Some known condition / syndrome along the lines of what Jello is battling? Or, last, something brought on by climbing / work?
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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Feb 18, 2009 - 11:12pm PT
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Got it Roy, I think. Life and all it's exigency has come together to make life havoc.
People may not agree with this and that's ok. But what I have learned over my past year of loss is this. Unpremeditated acts of love and caring beautifully and simply carry the person dying from hurt, loss or grief (whether it be from sickness, death, finances or whatEVER) across the river to recovery. It really is that simple.
We need to think about how to practically help our sista's and bro's....but we also need to give loving acts of charity that keep them in the arms of hope and peace and joy. Tonight and always Lynnie is watching your backs like Yo did mine. :))
This is what you Dudettes and Dudes did for me to make me whole again. Still working on it, but it be happenin'. Peace lrl
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 18, 2009 - 11:35pm PT
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Great to see the ST community rallying so quickly.
As to Russ' question regarding the gear/memorabilia auction. If you have an idea for an auction item, drop me an email, but don't send me anything other than the email at this time. I'll make a list of the stuff that will be auctioned and post it up later.
Rick
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Feb 19, 2009 - 12:08am PT
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Joseph Healy,
You asked: can I characterize my condition any better?
OK, understanding that you read carefully what I said above.
I have two systems which fail me bilaterally.
Since the early 90s and through about 1996, I suffered chronic lateral tendinitis, both arms.
Throughout that time, I knocked off climbing to about one day a week tops, sometimes lowering the intensity to about 5.6.
Yes I worked with my hands. I did production and custom sewing and worked very very long hours. No doubt stressed my adrenals to the limit. This can exacerbate inflammation cycles.
About 1997 I had experienced remission of the tendinitis for six months. During that summer on one particular day, having migrated from sewing to a physical line of work requiring less persistent use of small muscle groups, namely working in theater, I had rapid onset of bilateral muscle failure in the medial muscle bellies of the forearm.
Something like an episode of compartment syndrome. But I have definitively been diagnosed as not troubled with compartment syndrome. Talking about what I’ve tried and who I’ve seen, I can handle that in another post. It’s all set out in a Word document.
From that day forward of experiencing that pump and stiff fatigue in the forearm, up until present I have essentially been pumped and sore throughout that region. Any clutching, grabbing, scrubbing, sorting or fiddling brings about fatigue which spreads from that area all away through to the end of the wrist.
It feels like a weariness of the tissues, a suffocation if you will. Not so much weakness, but a nasty fatigue, and if activity persists, the entire area including the tendons feels overwrought.
Fine motor skill activities bring this on quite easily.
In contrast, during this last 11 years, as I had lowered my climbing output to one day a week largely consisting of fourth class, with 5.6 being my limit until just a few years ago, and adding to this the fact that I’ve been pushed out of work requiring repetitive use, and now out of work altogether, some of my power has returned.
So imagine this: if I rest for one week solid, I might be able to lead one or two pitches of 5.9, but I can get pretty pumped out sorting the gear for the lead, because this is a fine motor skill work involved in sorting the gear. The lead isn't so much a problem, because larger muscle groups are involved in a more dominant fashion.
But I can't perform too many of those leads.
On the other side of the arm, I now have latent and quite easily provoked bilateral, sharp, persistent tendinitis. What most easily brings that to the fore is anything repetitive; especially mouse keyboard or holding the steering wheel of a car.
Mousing hits the classic tennis elbow area.
Holding the steering wheel of a car causes severe fatigue in the tendons more on the top of the arm, those in the region of the brachio radialis.
To do this post I am using voice-activated software.
A lot of the editing can be done through voice, but sometimes if I want to position the mouse and call for a click, as I often do, I have to push the mouse across the table as though it were a pack of cigarettes and then make the call for "mouse click".
Just doing that action of pushing the mouse around, but not clicking it and calling out a click, that can totally fry my tendons. As they are right now.
Not sure what you can do with that; I'm still a lot stronger than a lot of the doctors I talk to!
I just can't use it very often...
I mean, there's no way they can do a V1 plus highball and I can, as long as it's a carefully isolated event.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Feb 19, 2009 - 12:31am PT
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Tar, thanks for that rundown, never heard of anything like it - sounds way out there from carpal tunnel which is fairly common in my business. Is this something that expresses autoimmune antibodies of any type? I would guess, on just hearing your plight, that it likely would in some big way. Don't know whether you done those blood tests and seen a rheumatologist or not (I'm guessing you probably have). I'm sure not a doc, but the only other things that pop off the top of my head are Lyme's and Cipro-induced tendon tearing. Sounds like you're at the end of the 'why' of it, though, and trying to move on to 'what now' - can't blame you, past a point you're left with dealing with it.
Bummer to hear all this, I had no idea when I saw you down at Snow Creek and never would have guessed. My heart goes out to you; I'm nursing and rationing through the last of what's left of my shoulders. Like I said, will try to make it down and would love to help out here in PDX if the show does hit the road.
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Double D
climber
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Feb 19, 2009 - 12:42am PT
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Roy, reading about your condition makes me appreciate your posts and positive contributions all the more.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Feb 19, 2009 - 12:45am PT
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I've seen three neurologists board certified in EMG studies.
2000, 2004, 2008. They all sort of disagree on findings; but essentially I present no nervy, tingling, loss of sensation type stuff.
I spent the last year working with a doctor in internal medicine who specializes in systemic issues related to hormonal dysfunction and toxicity. He's ruling out things like Lyme disease, lupus, yet does note that I have impaired adrenals.
I underwent a lot of deep level blood work with this doctor. Life extension type stuff; very cool for finding out how you are aging. Essentially looking at all the nutritional constituents in the body and then examining various chemical processes.
I underwent a year-long program of various nutritional therapies to rebuild the stomach lining so that the immune system was functioning properly, elevate my triglycerides to mobilize toxins, bring protein synthesis back in line, support various energy cycles within the body such as the cytochrome system and Krebs cycles and on and on and so forth.
No results.
Mercury toxicity can lead to problems with the hands; but most people afflicted with this present with far greater systemic issues than I do.
I tried a series of glutathione and vitamin C IV's.
A leading nutritional researcher suggested this would flood my system with electrons, which is essentially an antioxidant therapy. Of course controversial, but some people with Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis respond.
The last doctor I saw, as directed by the last neurologist I saw, was a vascular surgeon, sort of poking around for thoracic outlet syndrome, which they already know I don't have, and looked into my complaints of cold extremities which I have in spades, and nevertheless just came up with nothing.
I tried a heart drug which lowers blood pressure in hopes that that might increase blood flow to the extremities; no dice.
I've been Rolfed twice; undergone probably 80 chiropractic adjustments, had tons of deep tissue work.
The leading Sports Medicine Center here in town, and remember this is Boulder, home of the well-heeled athlete and all kinds of resources to support them, they just referred me to a pain specialist who wanted to put cortisone in my neck.
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10b4me
Ice climber
Rustys Bar and Grille, Bishop
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Feb 19, 2009 - 12:47am PT
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good luck to you Roy
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hashbro
Trad climber
Mental Physics........
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Feb 19, 2009 - 01:06am PT
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Being the humblest of the humble, and most giving of the generous, it's time we give back (as a community) to zen master Roy in his time of need.
And plus we get to sweat palms over Dean's compilation of the best images of some of the best cragsman in the west.
This is an event not to miss.
Here's to Roy, the Stonemasters and of course the crags.
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philo
Trad climber
boulder, co.
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Feb 19, 2009 - 01:36am PT
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OK so just a thought.
Is there a Tacoland cyber jockey out there who could take the raw material of the JT benefit add in a healthy dose of Tarbuster photo-artistry and maybe a bunch of video vignettes of his pardners tellin' stories and a sayin' Howdy Roy. That should be a truly entertaining product you could burn to disc and send on the road easily. Then sell copies of the disc at the shows and/or online.
Roy is the greatest sort of folk you would ever want to share time with. And he has shared time with a hoard of the greatest sort of folk. That is an interesting story about one of the good guys. You know the ones wearing the white stetsons.
It would be fabulous to see this effort really benefit Mr Roy as this has been a real ordeal for him.
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Jaybro
Social climber
wuz real!
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Feb 19, 2009 - 01:56am PT
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Hyoh Mon!
I'll be in Josh the week before that, but my work calendar rules out that event, kids with special needs need me when they need me! Suffice to say, the check is in the mail, after the 28th, anyway. I hope this means you can come to Vedauwoo in August and stand up to our abuse of your boney self, we may be able to come up with a transportation grant, if need be....
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