April 20th a little late

April 20, 2009 Update

I had a productive weekend of recording. Songs are starting to shape up. I have the solid roots for 8 of the tracks down. I was starting to wonder when I would be able to put some good solid work in on the cd. The flare up that I had a couple of weeks ago, set me back some but things are starting to look up. You have a lot of time to think about all kinds of stuff when you can’t get around. I did some arranging in my head and heard a lot of parts and instruments that I imagined might sound good on the tracks. I have a clear idea of what I want this project to sound like. I hope that I can pull all of the instruments off. They sound so easy in my head but I know it will not be that easy. I broke out the Les Paul for some dirty tracks this weekend and it sounded great. I have been tracking the clean guitars with my Strat and this seems to be blending really well. I have also been using my Takamine for the acoustic parts. In the past I have stuck to one guitar for tracking but I have a whole new feel for this project. I am walking on my own now and feeling much better. I hope this was just a passing flare with my ms. The wheel chair and walker were driving me crazy. The overall pain has gone from a 9 to about a 4 on the scale of hurt. That is good for me and seems to be my normal number these days. 3-5 is my field of play for the last year. While talking to a friend of mine from future-link, I realized something. The way we deal with constant pain is through distraction. We try to keep our minds off of the pain and focused on something else. Music seems to be my something else right now.

without legs

A long week without legs

Last Sunday seemed like a normal day. I did some work in my yard on the fence, general weekend stuff. Then Sunday night the hammer fell. I started to get up from the couch after dinner. I went immediately down to the ground hard. I hit my elbow and shoulder on the ceramic tiled floor and head and neck on the bottom of the couch. I though I just made a goofy step or something. I was checking to see what was hurt and besides the obvious neck and shoulder my legs felt kind of goofy. I moved them so I thought no big deal. I started to get up and something was not right. I could not support my weight. This was kind of new but didn’t freak me out yet. It should pass in 30 minutes or so. I probably just over did it. Bedtime rolled around and I still couldn’t stand up. My wife somehow drug me to the bedroom. I was dead tired and had no problem going to sleep. The next morning came and still no legs. I could not support my weight still. Tuesday rolled around and I still could not stand. My neurologist had me come in that day. I called him that morning and was sitting in his office that afternoon. If things did not improve by the end of the week I was going to have a M.R.I. He also ordered me a wheel chair. This seemed like no big deal until I got home. Then it hit me. I don’t want to be in a chair 24-7. I lost it. I couldn’t even make it to all of the rooms in my own house. Now I had a walker at home and a wheel chair on the way. Wednesday I could stand up with the help of leaning on something. Slowly I could take steps as time went on. Kind of like Frankenstein. Slow dragging monster steps with the aid of a walker. Friday rolled around and I could walk with a cane and slowly by myself. I was ready to get outside of the house. I was going crazy stuck inside. I drove the car around the block with my wife to see if I could do it. I watered the yard and feed the dogs. Just from that I was beat down.
Saturday was better and Sunday also. I can walk without any help now. It’s just not as smooth as before and I get tired sooner. Just another fun filled week with ms. This is the short version of the week. I thought that I would spare you the details until another time.

EBAY signed copy of my book

I have had a hard time getting around to sign copies of my book like a lot of you have asked. I thought that I would stick one up on ebay and see how that went. If you are interested in getting one before I can get to you check it out:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190290372030

Recording day

I spent about 6 hours recording today. I am working on my second cd for those of you that are just checking in. My book sales for "Stop Hugging Me" are doing well so far. I am happy to get it out there. So far everyone seems to like it. I hope they come away with a better idea of where ms has taken me. I just started this blog yesterday and will try to catch up from the end of the book. That was my original idea for this blog. I will fill in the past few months since I started Tysabri , in the next few posting I put up. For now, Just a good day of recording.