2023 Review/Health Update
With another year in the books, and given recent developments, now is as good a time as any for a yearly review/update.
The year 2023 was, overall, pretty decent. As far as the workshop goes, I didn’t get a whole lot completed out there. I made a couple of shop projects and only completed one other, the chess board, which was a well-received Christmas gift. I had ambitions to finally get back going on the hall bench, which I abandoned over four years ago after my shop injury, but that just didn’t materialize.
I don’t know if it’s my MS, that I’m getting older or both, but I just don’t seem to have the stamina to spend hours on end in the workshop anymore. I think the most time I had out there at any one time was maybe four consecutive hours. Usually, once lunchtime hit, I was simply done with working in the shop.
Finishing around Halloween, it took me almost four months to complete the chess board. I didn’t really run into any major problems with it, I just simply didn’t feel like spending too much time working on it all at once. Another thing that curtails me from working in the shop for very long is that my knees and back will start to hurt after a while. I use anti-fatigue mats now that I no longer have the runner floor tiles installed, but even that doesn’t make too much difference. I think I’m resigned to only working “part-time” in my workshop from now on.
My other hobby of writing a novel has been slow-going as well. I was thinking that I’d be able to split my day with working in the shop and reading/writing, but that simply hasn’t happened. As is the case for a long time, I am usually my freshest earlier in the day and up until around 1300. After that time, I start to drag and lose a lot of the energy I had prior to lunch.
I have made a little bit of progress on outlining my story. With re-reading Save the Cat! Writes a Novel a third time and Save the Cat! Writes a Young Adult Novel a second time, I was able to come up with a few new ideas and make some subtle changes here and there. I still have a little ways to go with outlining the “fun and games” part of the story, but I’m slowly making positive progress.
As for my health, there isn’t too much to report. I did not see my general practitioner (GP) this past year. The doctor I was seeing for a few years decided to step away during the pandemic in late 2020 and the following year I was seen by the practice’s nurse practitioner. Come 2022, I was then passed off to another doctor. After one visit with them, I was not terribly impressed and opted to forego seeing them this year. So, I am currently in between GP’s until I find a new doctor.
With regards to my MS, it is still currently in remission. My neurologist, Dr. G, did not have me get another MRI in 2023 and, honestly, I’m happy with that. I was able to make it through my last one in 2022 after failing one for the first time in 2021, which was the beginning of a long stretch of bad mental health for me. Tysabri is still working its magic for me right now, but there might be some changes coming with my form of treatment in the near future.
I have to get regular bloodwork done to check my JCV levels to ensure I am not at risk for PML, which is an incurable brain infection. My JCV levels for the last couple of years have been between 0.20 - 0.24, which is actually in the INDETERMINATE range. My goal is to be NEGATIVE at anything below 0.20.
I had one JCV test in April 2021 at 0.31 which raised some concerns, but another test a few months later showed me at 0.18, so all was good. My most recent test was at 0.33, my highest levels yet. While still in the INDETERMINATE range, that spike had Dr. G concerned. I just had another JCV test done this morning (1/3/2024) and will be awaiting the results in the coming days.
During my last office visit with Dr. G, he brought up the fact that I’ve been on Tysabri for almost 10 years now, but I could test POSITIVE for JCV at any time. With that in mind, he game me a list of other treatment options to look over should that scenario materialize. Well, that might actually come to pass in the next few weeks.
I’ve enjoyed my life on Tysabri over the last 10 years. I’ve felt “normal” for almost the entire time, and I’m not experiencing any issues with this treatment. I’m worried that another form of treatment is not going to be as kind to me or might lead me to relapsing, which hasn’t happened since BEFORE I was on Tysabri. There’s nothing left but to wait and see what the latest blood test results yield and proceed from there.
I must say that, overall, my mental health has been at a very good level since the end of the road trip in 2022. My visit to Malaika in December of 2022 wasn’t all that I wanted it to be as it was unfathomably cold and I couldn’t spend any meaningful time with her.
However, I was able to pay her a visit during my Christmas vacation in 2023 and that was perhaps my best visit EVER. I sat and talked to her and was able to even laugh a couple of times, like I was talking to my old friend sitting across from me. I made it through my visit without shedding a tear one time. Yes, I welled up once or twice, but those tears weren’t free-flowing like they were in 2021. I said previously that I’m finally at peace with Malaika, but I am feeling that way much more now than ever before.
All that being said, I had a small blip in my mindset in late November which set me back for a short time. Someone that I considered a friend said something which really didn’t sit well with me. I won’t get into the specifics of who it was or what was said (that is between us), but it’s leading me to believe that this short friendship is quite likely over. If that is the case, it will make me sad. However, as I’ve been told many times, some friendships just won’t last forever.
I really thought I’d found another friend for life with this person and, while they did help me with bettering my mental health at one time, what they said hurt me quite badly. I don’t think they meant for it to be that way. I have not responded to their last DM on Instagram and that was well over a month ago. As far as I’m concerned, the ball is in their court now on whether they want to try and rescue the friendship we had.
With this new year, I have decided to make one additional change. When I started on Instagram over four years ago, I was focused mostly on showcasing my woodworking projects and hoping to gain a following with other woodworkers/makers. My ultimate goal was to improve my skills to the point where I could maybe start my own business selling the things that I made.
In those few years, I’ve come to the realization that I simply don’t have the time and, most importantly, the energy to make that come to pass. With the desire to work on a novel growing stronger in me these last couple of years, that has only strengthened my desire to not accept client work.
With that in mind, I’ve decided to change my Instagram handle to reflect the direction of my account. For a couple of years now I’ve been posting more on my health and other things, aside from the little woodworking I’m doing. I’ll be keeping this website with its current name as I don’t want to upset the Google metrics I’ve accumulated over the few years its been active. The overall layout of this site will also remain the same as I like the way it looks and I’ve been told just as much by a few others.
I don’t have any concrete plans for the workshop or major woodworking projects right now. I do have Christmas presents already in mind for 2024 (never too early to start with those), but other than that, larger furniture might be on hold again.
Lisa and I want to get started on improvements to our house and property, and that will start to take up a bit more of my time (at least as much as I have the energy for).
The year 2023 was a pretty decent one. Let’s hope for another similar one in 2024.
