February Update
Hello All,
Since my December Update things are going smoothly. My physical condition is holding without degeneration. That is a good thing. I am also not improving. I would like to continue saying I am happy with my new normal. Unfortunately, I believe I am left wanting. It happens occasionally. It is not a full-blown bout of depression, as I know it. I realize I have been down in the dumps, for a bit longer than usual. So I would definitely call it depression.
This month, I would be getting ready to go on our annual golf trip. A group of us golfers would take a weeklong trip to Myrtle Beach. There was about twenty of us, who gathered there from all up and down I-95. It was a fun week of men gathering, golfing and drinking. Getting up the next day and doing it again. I was a part of the group for over ten years.
They are continuing the tradition. I received an email last month from the Group Leader. His annual update and invite. Instructions for the hotel and hospitality room. Instructions for the courses we would be golfing. So, we would golf Wednesday through Saturday for fun and position. Sunday, depending on you scores through Saturday, would put on certain teams per handicap. Sunday, we played for the annual trophy and bragging rights for a year.
Due to my MS damage, I am unable to join them. This is not the first year I will be absent. It is however, the first time I am really missing the group. We only saw one another, once a year anyway. We did become good friends, as golfers who share a hook in the pond or a shank in the woods do. I am truly missing those guys.
I know this feeling will pass but felt I would be remiss if I didn’t honestly share it in my update. Other than this, I have been doing well. The new year was brought in at a wedding of the daughter of family friends. We took a plane to Baltimore. I am still able to navigate this with minimal discomfort. I can still wall walk, or in that case, ceiling walk to and from my seat on the plane. I allowed everyone to exit, so they were not in my way, or vice versa.
My wife and I continue to entertain. We have cut back a lot because we were running ourselves ragged! Such is the case of early retirement due to disability.
FEB
2020
About the Author:
A little about myself: I was born Carl Levon Jones in Conway hospital in 1959 to Hazel Elizabeth Jones. I am the third of four children. My mother never married. This today would be normal but in the old days, it was different. Maybe it was the beginning of the change in view. I was raised by my grandparents from the age of 1 when we moved to Maryland. My mother was still a big part of my life, as she and a few sisters had moved to New York to try to make a living instead of the depressed south. I lived and grew up with my grandparents, brother and sister and cousins until I entered the military at 19 years of age. I spent 12 years in the Army learning to be an electronics technician, just to have computers take over the industry. I, therefore, had to relearn electronics with computers being the main focus. No, I am not talking Windows and Microsoft, but Fortran and different flavors of UNIX creating GUIs. I rose through the IT Field from the bottom, to be a Manager at different DOD Contractors. I was married to my wife, Patt in 1981. We have been together ever since, 38yrs. We had one son, Carl Levon Jones II the following year while still serving in the military. I am a man who believes strongly in family and relatives. I am as close to Patt’s family as I am to my own. Closer in some cases. Unfortunately, my rise in IT was interrupted when I contracted the Autoimmune Disease, Multiple Sclerosis in 2012, diagnosed in 2013. I had to leave work in late 2014. I have been dealing with the nerve damage(Neurological) the disease caused. I went to Clinica Ruiz in Puebla, Mexico for a procedure called Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT). It is not offered for my type of MS PPMS in the United States. A battle we have been fighting for some time now. This Blog is about my; MS Journey, my thoughts (Poetry) throughout the years, my experiences and my friends and family (Photo Gallery). Hopefully, this Blog will help at least one person in their decision to conquer the MS Beast, and help to get this procedure available in the United States and covered by the Insurance we pay so much for.