Tag Archives: Jerrod Balzer
Health update – great news!
I just got back from the blood doc and all is well on that front! My levels are in great shape, no problems – YAY!
That still leaves the question of what happened a few months back but perhaps there was something that hit me and was gone before they could catch it (I dunno). Anyway, I’m healthy now!
I’ll always have good ol’ Conversion Disorder, though. In fact, on the way home, I had a seizure that nailed just my right arm, but every single muscle in it. It curled up before I knew what hit me and was locked that way for several minutes. It still hurts like hell so I’m getting off of here for now. I just wanted to let everyone know the good news! Woohoo!
lol, when we got home, both of our dogs were hiding in the bathroom because we have Amish folks working on the roof. They didn’t know what to think of all the stomping around while we were gone. Poor things. They’re feeling nice and brave with us home!
Thanks for the Birthday Wishes!
I just wanted to thank everyone on Facebook and everywhere else for all the birthday wishes! I turned 37 today, yay! Yesterday, my mother took us to eat Chinese, which was awesome.
Fun fact, I was a breech baby, born one foot first with the other tucked under. There was a joke back then that I was hanging out with the stork too long. Also, my very first B-day gift was a beer with a bow on top. I still have it!
Back then, I looked like this:
KHP kicking ass in Starhawk!
Even if you don’t follow the Starhawk game (I intend to get it, just can’t on day one) this video is incredibly well done. Follow the link below and the video stars Adam J Whitlatch, Louise Bohmer, S.D. Hintz, and Kh Koehler and you can create your own with friends from your Facebook list.
Quick Medical Update
I just walked in the door and I feel like I’ve had the crap kicked out of me, so I’m afraid I’ll need to keep this short.
Went to Columbia early this morning to see the blood doctor. Just before lab, I had a long and nasty dystonic seizure so I got my blood drawn in a Benadryl haze. They found that my blood cell count was getting back down to safe numbers, which is great! They took me off of the prednisone because it’s awfully hard on diabetics (raises blood sugar) but it was nice while it lasted, and they’ll continue to check my blood each week for a while. They wonder if I’m having a bad reaction to one of my meds, but none of them are new (these problems are) and… which one?
As we were leaving Columbia, I began having more severe digestive problems, similar to what got me into the hospital last week, and we stopped to call the doctor. He said to get my butt to the Columbia ER. So I spend the afternoon there, where I had another nasty seizure. It was there that they ran some tests and found that my liver is getting better, so that was good to know. They’re getting me hooked up with a GI specialist next, but discharged me because there was really nothing else they could do since everything else is improving.
Had another seizure in the car on the way home, about an hour ago, so I’m sore, weak, and exhausted. That’s not bad news, really. I’m just not feeling it, is all.
Found my third fan music video!
First, I wanted to thank everyone for their extremely kind thoughts and well wishes here, on Facebook, and elsewhere for my recent health problems. It means worlds to me and really does help me get by that much easier.
I think the new meds are helping the seizures because I haven’t had any today (doc said that might happen). They’d gotten so much worse this week, though, that I’m having a hard time walking. I’ll deal with that over the actual seizures – hell yeah! Day’s not over yet, but you count your blessings by the hour, sometimes by the minute. Enjoy every moment that you can tolerate, lol. I mean, my normal meds aren’t touching my migraines or muscle pain in the stomach, legs, etc, but I’m sure it’d be tons worse without them, so it could always be worse. Chest keeps hurting, especially, but I think it’s from lying on my side a lot. See, my right shoulder wouldn’t stop twisting and jerking while in bed, and it kept waking me up, so I turned over and put my weight on the damn thing to keep it still.
Anyway, on to the blog post’s subject: I had a rough time getting to sleep last night, probably adjusting to new meds or whatever, so I searched through a bunch of VHS tapes. There were these three old music videos that I’d made in the 90s using two VCRs and a CD player, just for fun, and I’d found two of them, already. Well, I’d about figured the third was lost but finally found it. So I transferred it to digital and uploaded it to YouTube. I joke on each that shrooms were involved, as well, and yeah, I ate a lot of them with friends back then. Hallucinogenic mushrooms grew wild in the surrounding cow pastures down there and they were legal, at least at the time – don’t know if they are now. We’d pop in movies while music played and often times we’d notice how something would sync up so well like Pink Floyd and Wizard of Oz. Our favorite was Obituary’s “Cause of Death” CD with Evil Dead 2.
I had created a special part of my site for sharing things like videos and pictures. I don’t have much on it yet, but it should be a fun distraction for myself and I can hopefully share some laughs and fun memories with all of my friends, possibly scar a few minds, LOL!
Here are the specific links to the videos if you’d like to check them out. If you like them, by all means – Share!:
Home from the hospital, but shouldn’t be.
I just got home from the hospital which would normally be a good thing, but this time… not so much. I have a lot to tell, though, so bear with me.
Keep in mind, that I’m no expert in the field and I’ll be explaining things in very basic terms to the best of my understanding, so if you know more about it than me and feel the urge to correct me or whatever to show how smart you are, please don’t. However, if you’d like to share knowledge or experiences, that’s completely different and welcome. If you don’t know the difference, then all I can say is 
Some may know of some issues I was having with higher than normal hemoglobin in my blood. It’s been a long time since I’d mentioned it, so no biggie if you didn’t know. For some reason that the doctors couldn’t figure out, my bone marrow is making too many red blood cells, close to the danger zone but not quite, so they’ve been keeping a close eye on it with tests about every three months.
They say if the blood count ever crosses that line, the doctors will have to draw blood out on occasion to take off the excess. Sounds like a plan, should it come to that.
Well, it came to that, and then some.
At the beginning of the month, my blood test showed my hemoglobin count to be just hair below the danger zone, so my family doctor said to make an appointment with the specialist in Columbia, MO again (3 hours away). They were able to schedule me in for the 29th. However, all these problems started on the 10th and I went into the ER. Many tests later, my doctor discovered that not only did my hemoglobin suddenly shoot through the roof, but also my white blood cells and I developed Idiopathic Hypereosinophilia.
Basically, my bone marrow not only produced a dangerously high amount of your average red and white blood cells, but also these special white blood cells called eosinophil that are used to fight infections. The “Ideopathic” part of my syndrome means there is no known cause for it to happen. It just did.
But when you get too many and they don’t have things to attack, they find things to attack. In my case, they went after my nervous system, causing my seizure activity to worsen. Then they attacked my digestive system so it wouldn’t work correctly and it hurt all the time. Then they attacked my liver. It’s enlarged now and in reaction to it, it’s currently pumping way too much iron into my blood.
If left untreated, it is fatal and it’s because they eventually go after the heart. And yes, they found damage starting on my Aorta valve – lymph nodes to be specific – but the doctor said not to panic because he believes it’s been caught in time and he began treatment immediately.
Here’s the game plan: To filter out those nasty bastards, I was started on Prednisone right away. Then he wanted to transfer me to Columbia where some gastro-intestinal and blood specialists to care for my digestive system and still-damaged liver, and also drain out some blood and get my iron count down.
Instead, he had to discharge me against his will.
Why?
Medicaid gave me the boot. They refused to approve staying longer than today. So once again, thanks to all those wonderful people who delayed healthcare reform via bickering so that people who need the help are still waiting for it to kick in.
Anyhoo, my doctor really busted his ass today. He’d been sending tests everywhere, so he got the results so quickly by hounding the Mayo clinic, etc, to hurry up and tell him over the phone while he waited. Then he told Columbia to bump up my appointment at all costs and at least got it to Tuesday morning. He wasn’t allowed to show it, but I could tell he was upset.
He’s been awesome with helping me get to the bottom of Conversion Disorder and now this, and whenever government/financial BS gets in the way, he comes through for me, nonetheless. I joked with him that I get a certain sadistic joy out of throwing him all these curve balls.
The hospital staff were great, too, and gave them some wild scares with my CD seizures. They knew epileptic seizures, but this is so much different and they lasted a long time. I felt terrible seeing their panic and not being able to say it would be okay. They were strong, though, and did what was necessary. Boy, I went through a lot of Benadryl while there!
Anyway, I’m hungry! Talk to you later.
Hospital – Thursday update
Hello! Here’s a quick update with what I know before I hit the sack. I’m still at the hospital. My mother is looking after Robin.
For the most part, I won’t hear much news until the morning when I see the doc again. Today, he said there was definitely something strange going on because my white blood cells, blood sugar, hemoglobin, and something that goes up during allergy attacks, they’re all through the roof. And yet I’m not dehydrated, which I’d assumed I would be.
My digestive system is so out of whack that he put me on a full liquid diet and injections of insulin. They did an ultrasound of my gall bladder and liver and they’ll do a CT scan of my abdomen and pelvic in the morning.
Despite my lack of knowledge until the morning, one good sign is they took me out of isolation, meaning they no longer see me as a contagious threat. I think they must have received the results from the lab turned in last Monday. So Maybe I’ll hear good things tomorrow.
I had a nasty seizure right after supper today, and the Benadryl really zonked me. That plus, I have my Ambien in me now, plus my CPAP machine from home, so I should sleep well tonight.
Gonna hit it now. Thanks for hanging in there with me 
In the hospital
Typing this up real fast. Had to go to the ER last night and they kept me. Stomach pains wouldn’t give up, hadn’t eaten or drank in a day, and then the seizures kicked in hardcore. I’m typing from the hospital bed now, but on 3 hours of sleep and still a lot of pain. Didn’t get my Ambien last night and without it, the CD twitching doesn’t let me sleep. Anyway, I’ll try to type more later.
Murphy’s Law: Just when you think it’s safe to fart, a nurse will check in on you and you’ll both pretend it’s not there.
If I’m being a douche…
…somewhere, anywhere.. I apologize. I don’t mean to be. Well, maybe I do. I don’t know.
Spoiler alert! Gross stuff!
In addition to the usual seizure stuff, I’ve been worried about my hemoglobin being unusually high again, and I have an appointment with the cancer center about that. It’s not cancer related but that’s where the doctors are. But since Saturday, March 10th – that’s nearing two weeks – I’ve had these horrible stomach pains and everything goes through me. I was put on four days of a clear liquid diet last weekend to no avail, I’ve lost about ten pounds (not complaining about that) and I’m overall weak, miserable, and very grumpy.
We hope to hear back from the hospital lab soon and, one way or the other, I see the doctor again on Friday. One positive thing (sorta) is that my muscles are too weak to have such constant seizures, but when I do get enough food in me to get some strength, they start up and twist my guts around and…
When this is over, I am soooo hitting a buffet.
Spending the last hour in paralysis
I’m just typing this up for sake of keeping records or whatever.
A little over an hour ago, I went to my desk to do something and I was stuck there for a bit. I couldn’t get back up from the chair, so Robin helped me return to the recliner. From there, my legs slowly went dead. I could feel them but they wouldn’t move at all. I could still talk and move my arms enough to drink my coffee and type, though. Then I could only type. Then all I could do was talk. Eventually, my head drooped to the right and my speech was slurred, eyes half open but I was still hanging in there.
My right arm was killing me because my wrist was on the mouse pad and fingers still on the mouse, elbow was really needing a stretch. You know how you need to move your position to get more comfortable? It was getting more and more like that, except I was unable.
Then the back of my neck began to tighten a bit and my eyes rolled back so it was harder to see. My eyelids started closing the rest of the way, anyway, so it didn’t matter. My equilibrium started going wonky because I felt like I was being tipped backwards. I wanted to reach out and grab something but… you guessed it. Couldn’t.
Robin was there the entire time, dabbing my lips with a wet cloth to keep them from drying out. Occasionally, it became difficult to breathe deeply which was scary, but about forty-five minutes later, I was finally able to open my eyes and slowly stretch. The relief of the stretch, causing a strong emotion, set off another spell so I spent another fifteen minutes with paralysis, but then I was okay.
So now I’m chilling out, listening to music and recovering. I’ll probably hit the sack early tonight. Whether it’s paralysis or full-body muscle spasms (been having them more frequently), it takes some time to recover. At least the former is less painful.
