Been gone

Hi folks:
Haven't posted for awhile for various reasons, too complex to really
explain, but the overview is that I had a weird medical thing happen
right at the start of the Mongolia trip in June, and its put me way
off balance for awhile.

I'll spare the long story, reasons will be evident, but my right hand
and forearm basically died over a spell of a couple of days. Lost
almost all strength (but no sensation loss), most of my wrist
mobility, and ached like absolute hell for the entire trip. It was
impossible to cast my 8wt, and within a day, even my 4 wt. I finally
got off-river and saw a doc in Ulaanbaatar, another in HK, another in
Dubrovnik and several others in Maine, ran up thousands of $$ worth of
MRIs, Xrays, electrical tests, etc, and went from mid-June until late
September without even a diagnosis. But the pain and loss of strength
was enough that I could not type, fish, write, start a car, turn a
door knob, button a shirt...you get the drift.

Eventually, a doc back in HK diagnosed me with Idiopathic Brachial
Neuritis, and predicted about an 80% recovery in 3-4 months, and
possibly (but probably not) 100% recovery in a matter of years. In two
days I have my 4-month deadline, and I'm way less than 80%...probably
50%. It does not bode well, and although I'm back in the classroom, I
have noticed that the brain bone is connected to the nerve bone. I
feel like I've got a couple of short circuits...words don't flow,
thoughts jumble. Now I know how folks who have had a stroke must feel.
It really sucks. Of course, its because I know I'm 'mentally
distracted' by having a half-lame right hand that I have to
continually accommodate, but its enough that my daily routines take a
whole lot more time, and stupid as it sounds, its embarassing to
suddenly become semi-literate and lose a certain 'edge'.

So I'll probably make a few posts here and there, but I'm far from
back. My personal deadline (if we can impose such things on a healing
process) is March 1, when I'm taking 17 kids to NZ for a flyfishing
trip. Between now and then, I need to teach them the basics (knots,
simple casting, nymphing, terminology, how to assemble their rig, C&R
techniques,etc), so look forward to some posts about that process.
Along the way, I'll learn to cast left handed, but there are still
some important things (mending, reeling) that I have to see if my
right hand can do.


I'll let you know how it goes.

--riverman

On Thu, 18 Oct 2007 05:16:52 -0700, riverman
wrote:

Idiopathic Brachial
Neuritis

Wow! Please get the best of care, Myron.

And, stay in touch with roff.

Be well.

Dave

"riverman" wrote in message
ups.com...
...I had a weird medical thing happen
right at the start of the Mongolia trip in June, and its put me way
off balance for awhile....

Bad juju, Myron. Very sorry to hear about it.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Please do, and I'm sure I can speak for everyone here in hoping that the
news gets good.....and then better.

Wolfgang
all you guys need to cut out this aging ****......it isn't doing you any
good at all.

riverman typed:
snip
I
have noticed that the brain bone is connected to the nerve bone. I
feel like I've got a couple of short circuits...words don't flow,
thoughts jumble.

Hey, you're a lib, so this can't be too unusual. ;-)

I'm really sorry to hear of this, Myron, and wish you a full and speedy
recovery. After reading about this affliction, it seems the only thing they
know is that they don't know very much, but it *does* state that most
patients have a full recovery. I'll hope you fall into the "most" category.
--
TL,
Tim
-------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj

On Oct 18, 8:16 am, riverman wrote:
Hi folks:


Hi Myron. Sorry to hear about that. As others have already said,
best of luck to you on the hopefully quick recovery. I am such a
total feeb left-handed, I can't imagine having to deal with something
like that.

Any clue as to the initiating event? Is this just one of those things
that happens, or could it be in any way connected to your far-flung
travels?

Joe F.

riverman wrote:
...
Eventually, a doc back in HK diagnosed me with Idiopathic Brachial
Neuritis, ...

Idiopathic, I got one of those too, that's something only
an idiot would come down with. ;-)

I'll let you know how it goes.

Sorry to hear about it Myron, I hope you have a complete
recovery and please do keep roff in the loop.

--
Ken Fortenberry

On Oct 18, 9:05 pm, rb608 wrote:
On Oct 18, 8:16 am, riverman wrote:

Hi folks:

Hi Myron. Sorry to hear about that. As others have already said,
best of luck to you on the hopefully quick recovery. I am such a
total feeb left-handed, I can't imagine having to deal with something
like that.

Yeah, me too. I can't even use a fork left handed.


Any clue as to the initiating event? Is this just one of those things
that happens, or could it be in any way connected to your far-flung
travels?

Joe F.

No one knows, but I guess it's possible that it could be related to my
travels, since I've been in some rather offthebeatenpath places. There
is a theory that it might sometimes be virus-related, and god knows
that HK and Congo are virus central. However, the cases that they
think are viral occur immediately after the patient gets an
innoculation, and I haven't had any shots in quite a while. And they
account for a very small fraction of the total cases, which in itself
isn't so many. That's part of the reason it took so long to get it
diagnosed, and all of why there still isn't any real idea of what to
do about it besides wait and see.

My guess is that, whatever the cause was, it was exacerbated by
casting a heavy 8-wt for a full day with all my strength (casting for
Taimen involves some serious hurling with very large, heavy flies).
Then, when it started really hurting, I was several days out in the
wilds of Mongolia so instead of getting immediate medical care and
resting it, I had to paddle 100 miles and live on dozens of aspirin a
day. Ken will appreciate that I went days on end with the paddle up
under my right armpit, steering with a sweep, and just drifting
through class 2 and 2+ rapids without taking any strokes.

I think if I had been in civilization, it might not have gotten so bad
before I gave it a chance to rest and recover. But then again, its a
mysterious thing and I don't have a control group to compare myself
to.

Meanwhile, if I can get my head wrapped around it and get it written,
watch the online version of Canoe&Kayak for an article about the trip.
They asked me to write one earlier this week, and I'm trying to get
started. I'll avoid any reference to my injury, but you guys will be
able to read between the lines when I make reference to layover
days...

--riverman

I'll let you know how it goes.

--riverman

Glad to have you back and hoping for a full recovery. As Wolfy said,
this aging stuff is for the birds. I just got an email from our
favorite Swede and thought about you.
Now that the bad news is out of the way, did you catch any taimen? I
understand this is akin to pulling the drowning man outta the stream
and asking about the bottom structure and where the fish were holding,
but inquiring minds wanna know.
Frank Reid
(whose doctor has just told him he's allergic to alcohol. Looking for
a second opinion.)

"riverman" wrote in message
ups.com...
So I'll probably make a few posts here and there, but I'm far from
back. My personal deadline (if we can impose such things on a healing
process) is March 1, when I'm taking 17 kids to NZ for a flyfishing
trip. Between now and then, I need to teach them the basics (knots,
simple casting, nymphing, terminology, how to assemble their rig, C&R
techniques,etc), so look forward to some posts about that process.
Along the way, I'll learn to cast left handed, but there are still
some important things (mending, reeling) that I have to see if my
right hand can do.

Best of luck with a full recovery Riverman.... I look forward to the TR when
you return from NZ.

Take care,
JT

In article . com,
riverman wrote:

Along the way, I'll learn to cast left handed, but there are still
some important things (mending, reeling) that I have to see if my
right hand can do.

I'm very sorry to hear it, Myron, but don't give up. At the age of
twenty five, I couldn't walk more than a hundred yards without a stick,
and I was given no reason to think that this would ever improve. At
much more than twice that age , I do long distances - was walking in
the Hindu Kush this spring (not very big stuff, but all the same) and
expect to be herding sheep up from the Camargue to the Cevennes in
France in the spring.

I learnt to cast left-handed just because of some stretches where it's
impossible to catch anything any other way. It's not impossible.

Human bodies are much tougher and more adaptable than we think.

Lazarus