WHO TO GIVE THANKS TO ON THANKSGIVING!

Who to give thanks to is not a difficult question depending on the size of family that you have. I have a rather large Italian family so to choose who we should start with would be your closest - parents or grandparents, then siblings, sons and daughters, Godparents and your aunts, uncles and cousins.  All of the elders will be the first in line to give your thanks to - second in line, your cousins and - third your in-laws, sometimes they be first in line depending on the respect that is given to you too by them all year. Your wife or husbands cousin in-laws as well. Friends are big parts of people’s lives as well, sometimes we are closer to our friends than our family which we call Bros and Cuz’s (Cousins). Most of us have them, grew-up with them and love them like brothers and sisters!   

While today’s Thanksgiving celebrations would likely be unrecognizable to attendees of the original 1621 harvest meal, it continues to be a day for Americans to come together around the table.

     The main thing that I have to be thankful for though is to be alive.

Living from one day to the next is the hardest part of our lives, with all that is happening in the world today - war is a never ending battle because there will always be others unhappy with their lives and anyone who is happy. But what can we do, bow down and let whoever win the fight? or stay strong, rise and battle every battle that comes our way? My own family is alive and well and mostly don’t have to fight the wars that an Epileptic has to - thank God because it’s a never ending battle! I fight through all my battles and wait to see what tomorrow has in store for me and so should you!

There are many other things as well to be thankful for while we are alive and well. Do as much as you can with the time that you have with each other, whether it be playing sports, watching movies, listening to music of all sorts - like Vinyl records which has become my favorite - collecting/reading books, writing and/or raising pets like my Sammy who licks me everyday to check-up on me and make sure that I am still alive and wake up from short naps. Sammy is a dog, what else can he do to show affection?  These are just some hobbies that I have as well as taking RC monster trucks to a rather large park or track for fun and enjoyment with my wife, Michelle.

There is so much more in anyone’s life from family and friends to pets and hobbies to be thankful for. A few things that I would like to have in my life which is beginning to look promising is a DNA blood test covered now by Medicare, and possibly other insurances as well with no hospital stay necessary. Just a simple blood test which used to cost $5,000 and will hopefully be done in 3 months once it is approved. I will keep you informed of the results and what they find. I am hopeful it will lead to great things and possibly the right medication.

Be thankful this Thanksgiving. Never give up and be thankful for everyday that you have with loved ones!  

EPILEPSY AWARENESS MONTH

Focusing on care, advocacy, research and education

to prevent epilepsy, seizures, bullying, ignorance, 

injury, barriers, burdens, and early death!

One million Americans like myself are still praying for a cure that may never be found. Hope as well as strength is our best chance of surviving from this epidemic. This is a fact for all epileptics to keep up the good fight and to knock out all of the badness trying to hurt us, and hurting us is working to a degree, but, I am still here as many of you are and I plan on it for a long time, God willing. I fall, but I get right back up and back to work. I’ve been injured so many times in so many different ways, but death has not taken me away yet nor do I want it too till we find a cure!

We have good weeks, we have bad ones. I myself am still waiting for that good month to occur as well as back to back weeks, therefore two good weeks over my 26 years have yet to come.

This walk for Epilepsy I would love to do, but, I am here in New York and that walk is in Pasadena, California on Sunday, November 22nd during the Rose Bowl which I could care less about other then these here epileptics of course. A Walk + Run to End Epilepsy, if it only was that simple yet a $500,000.00 fundraising goal can be made. I only wish that there were more individuals like myself, which there are, to share their stories too and possibly more people will care to help because you will never here a thing on the radio or television about it.

As much as this month they say is for Epileptics you will never see an athlete wear a purple ribbon promoting it like they do for breast cancer patients on their sneaker, sock, wrist, chest or collar and there are and have been forever way before cancer started epileptic victims have been dying and it bothers me so. I know that everyone has a mother or family member with cancer and for that I am sorry but, every family has a member as well or few with Epilepsy or Seizures and if not well then you have a very lucky family. 

Advocating for Change that Improves Lives!

  The Challenge:

• No voice for people with epilepsy

• Need statewide advocacy

• Support passage of bill so students with epilepsy can have access to seizure rescue medications in school, and we continue to support implementation with educational material

• Host Epilepsy Awareness Day and educate legislators about epilepsy

• Send delegation to D.C. for Epilepsy Public Policy Institute / Advocate for more funding for epilepsy research and programs

• Ongoing legislative advocacy to protect rights and live
  
  FINALLY -  we need to spread the word to Fight Against Epilepsy and...
  
  FIND A CURE! 

WAKING IN A POOL OF BLOOD

Not something that I wished to be talking about, but coming close to death on so many events has caused me to be more cautious than a regular human being.

Cancellations are something that Michelle and I know well. Our honeymoon was a cruise, the Allure of the Seas by Royal Caribbean and the following year on our 1 year anniversary we did an Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Oasis of the Seas owned by the same company. In May of 2013 we needed to cancel our 3rd Anniversary cruise for the week of June 4th because of all that had happened to me that May. We haven’t been on a cruise since or a vacation at all for that matter. Michelle and I do take out insurance on everywhere we book, otherwise we would be charged for the whole trip even though we were not there - every airline, every hotel and it costs us each an extra hundred dollars. The cruise ships that we had chosen to take are too big to travel to New York with all the low bridges so they need to be taken out of Fort Lauderdale, FL. There are ships that can make it up to New York which docks in Bayonne, New Jersey which we will be taking in 2016 if that is possible.

Yesterday was no different, I had bought tickets to go see Steve Jobs the movie that just opened in theatres and the following day we had tickets to a Ranger game which all came to a deadly halt.

Michelle with her jacket on ready to go at 3:45pm for a 4:20 flick had me go to the bathroom one last time so that I’d be okay for the movie which we have done so many times already. I went to this place which seems to want me dead for some reason I’ll never know. As I stood up, pants down, 6 feet tall I came crashing down again face first smashing against the bathroom door side slicing my face beside my right eye (saving it once more) and my upper lip, same side along with my elbow and knees.

A river of blood came shooting out of the top of my face gushing out as I lay there, naked from top to bottom - face, arms, hands and legs covered in blood. Quickly Michelle put a towel for me to hold over my face to stop the bleeding, but because I was still in an epileptic trance, I didn’t hold it well as the blood kept running down. A forehead and face are not the parts of the body you want sliced. As I laid there I lost the second most amount of blood to the train tracks incident (that will be a future blog). I finally came to and held the towel over my face because I had not yet known where the blood was coming from and eventually I noticed.

As I opened my left eye and looked down at myself and the ground it was all red and the blood had even trailed into the hallway and onto the rug. Michelle had called my parents over which had taken more time than usual because my father had just came home from work and had to quickly change. Well Michelle started cleaning me and helped me get my pants up as I sat and waited in the bathroom chair. Amazingly though the bleeding stopped for the most part, so I did not need stiches. Michelle is very good at many things and one of them is being my nurse away from a hospital. As my parents waited for me in the kitchen Michelle and I went into the bedroom to get all of the blood wiped away from my body and I changed my clothes being very careful of all my wounds. My parents waited and were happy to see me return once more okay and almost totally normal again. The only good part of this true story is that it had happened on a Saturday which meant for me that Michelle would be home to take care of me, much better than my mother so that I wouldn’t have to bring cleaning products along with me but I would still wait for Michelle’s return.    

Michelle is very good with band aids and lucky for me she’s not afraid of blood or vomit like most wives are and that’s why I have her for a wife, nobody could do a better job of taking care of me when it is needed. God knows!

Although the question is “When will this stop?” You can say only God knows because there is no cure for Epilepsy, not yet anyway. I was so frightened last night that I don’t know how much more I can take so I started ordering books on Amazon just because for some reason it makes me feel better to read books all written by my epileptic friend, Fyodor Dostoevsky as well as I don’t know what tomorrow’s going to bring. Does anyone?  

My grandparents early that morning before this incident had called over my parents, godmother and my Aunt Lisa over to come at 7:30p.m. and they were calling us down for cake and coffee around 9. I said to Michelle “they must be crazy if they think that we are going down to visit too, I don’t want to be seen covered in bandages”. Michelle agreed. My Aunt Lisa came up, who I always have a fun time talking to, no one else came up until my mother had brought up a slice of delicious cake that grandma had made that looked like the entire cake. After my mother left, they kept calling Lisa back down, bugging her to have coffee and tea. She finally went back down to them, but gave me a hug like no other because nobody knows if they will see me again. I promised her that I would stay strong for her and the rest of the family.

I had Michelle go into our bedroom closet and grab my baseball helmet which is big , strong, new and cushioned, which I believe will work well for keeping my face from ever bleeding again, at least in our bathroom. More easy said than done, but I can at least try not waking up in a pool of my own blood!