Segwayman Meets Gate

The 8th Tysabri treatment was given to me at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Lexington this past Tuesday. Everything went well, until …..

We were leaving the hospital, via our usual route, which takes us through the front entrance, complete with a revolving door (I love to ride through a revolving door and never miss an opportunity to use one). I was engrossed in the beautiful day we were having as I glided happily toward the parking lot with Wanda walking beside me. I felt like all was well with the world.

The entrance to the parking lot has a standard gate which goes up whenever a car enters. As we came to the entrance of the lot I turned to her and said “Hey, I wonder if I can make this gate go up”. Sure enough, as I glided up to the gate, the gate went up. I then turned to her and said, “Wow, that was neat, look, I made the gate go up”. I eased the Segway forward and about that time the gate came down crashing on my head and face. OOPS! Wanda was laughing hard at what she saw, until she noticed the blood coming from my lip. That, and a few scrapes on my hand were all of the injuries I incurred while showing off. However, I did hold on to the Segway throughout the incident and didn't let the gate knock me off.

The experience did teach me a lesson though, as to what might happen when I decided to show off while on the machine.

Faith Baptist Childrens Sermon

I had been asked to do the children's sermon at Faith Baptist Church featuring the Segway. I agreed to do it providing someone would 'talk' for me. I was fearful of having trouble speaking in front of a large group so David Fraley agreed to be my voice during the event. He did an excellent job telling the group about my MS, why I use the Segway, as well as relating some funny experiences about me and the machine. The church group has been so supportive of me and my use of the machine that I looked forward to appearing with my 'pimped-out' Segway complete with the Segseat and spinners during the service. David even asked me to slowly glide up and down the aisles of the sanctuary to show the congregation what the spinners and the seat looked like up close. My three little grandvarmits were in attendance which made the day even more fun for me. I would like to further express my thanks to David Fraley for helping me during the service. Thanks, David!

P.S. - At the end of the session, David Fraley gave out slips of paper with this web site address and encouraged members to take a look at it. He stated that he had read every blog entry and after he spoke so knowledgably about it, I could tell that he indeed had.

Faith Golf Scramble

Bob Fox, Pastor of Faith Baptist Church, asked me last fall to be a part of their annual golf scramble. He said he needed someone who didn't play golf to perform certain tasks like 1)get everybody started, 2)collect scorecards at the end, and 3)assist whenever needed. He said he felt like me and the Segway could help out a lot. I was glad to do it and ended up having as much or more fun than the golfers as I flew around the golf cart paths at top speed.

At the scheduled evening dinner devotional, I expressed my concern at hearing someone joke about trying to knock me off the Segway with a golf ball. Sounds funny, but not to me! After seeing a lot of them tee off, I soon saw that any worries I might have had were groundless ;-), especially as long as I kept moving.

Seriously, there were some excellent golfers in the group and we all had a lot of fun being together.

Pictured above, from left to right are 1)Pastor, Bob Fox, 2)Me and my Segway, 3)Lee Carter, and 4)John Bartlett.

I was very glad they invited me and I already look forward to going next year.

Hospital Birthday Party

My older daughter, Melody, had her birthday on Sunday while I was in the hospital. She and Mike (son-in-law) were kind enough to bring the three little grandvarmits to the hospital cafeteria for a party. Melody and my wife went out and picked up some ice cream for us to have after we ate our pizza. (How's pizza for a hospital patient on a heart-healthy diet?)

Pictured above are my daughter, Melody and grandvarmit No. 2, AnnMarie. It wasn't home but I was real happy to be with all of them.

P.S.-Notice the Segway perched against a post in the background.

Georgetown Community Hospital Stay

This past Friday evening as Wanda and I were visiting a new restaurant in town, I began feeling bad with a terrible case of the sweats and palpitations in my chest. So, to the hospital emergency room we went. I was admitted and ended up staying 3 days.

Wanda and I had Courtney Simmons, (who lives with us) bring the Segway to the hospital. As usual, it got quite a bit of attention. Wanda went out and bought me some PJ's because as I told one nurse, "I don't think anybody wants to see me riding around the halls in the hospital gown (open at the back) with my butt showing".

The nurses were great and like to ride the Segway. Pictured above is Diane Smith, who was my night nurse. She took very good care of me. She was interested in her daughter possibly using one when she goes away to a big college campus.

Bottom line, after seeing a heart specialist as well as daily visits from my GP, the thinking was that my sweating and palpitations may have been caused by taking Provigal (a drug used to give people with MS a boost in energy). After an ultrasound of the heart, we're using the 'wait and see' method to see if my strange symptoms return. The Dr.'s said that the drug, which I had been taking for a couple of weeks, speeded everything up, including my irregularly beating (normal for me) heart.