To: llg-members@lojban.org
From: Bob LeChevalier <lojbab@lojban.org>
Message-ID: <56C2163C.8020700@lojban.org>
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2016 13:17:32 -0500
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Subject: [Llg-members] My health
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Long promised - let's see if I can keep this to the point.

I suspect that much of the community knows that I am severely obese, if 
only from pictures of me at Logfests.  But my heath was surprisingly 
good until 2014 despite this.  I contracted Type II diabetes about 5 
years ago, but it has been close to being under control.  I've lost most 
feeling in my feet from nerve damage that preceded the diabetes.  I also 
have had continuing problems with fluid accumulating in my legs from a 
combination of obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.

At the beginning of 2014, two things happened that changed this.  In a 
January ice storm the car doors and trunk were frozen shut, and in 
attempting to open them I strained my arm a bit (and broke off the door 
handle).  A few days later I was suddenly racked by severe muscle spasms 
in my back and shoulder.  After a couple months of physical therapy, the 
doctors decided that I had a torn tendon and needed shoulder surgery.

Meanwhile, I had an apparently-infected hangnail on my big toe on my 
right foot.  The doctor removed the hangnail and after antibiotics said 
that things looked good.  Occasionally thereafter I would feel a mild 
pain (remember that I have little feeling in my feet).  But when I had 
the foot doctor look at it, he found nothing.

The only other symptom was that my diabetes blood sugar was rising out 
of control.

The day that I was supposed to set my shoulder surgery date (end of 
May), I woke up mildly ill.  But noon, it wasn't mild anymore.  By 3pm I 
could barely walk from the car into the doctor's office, and the doctor 
took a look and called an ambulance to get me to the hospital as soon as 
possible.  I had a septic antibiotic-resistant infection in my leg (a 
few weeks later we found that the hangnail in my toe had not been 
completely removed and had grown much worse, which probably caused the 
infection).

I almost died from that infection, and was in the hospital for a week, 
then on IV antibiotics for a couple of months afterwards followed by a 
couple months of oral antibiotics.  There was minor kidney damage (but 
they feared kidney failure for a while), fluid in my lungs which caused 
them to treat me for heart failure, and I was told to follow up with a 
sleep lab test for sleep apnea.  Other than the infection, though, I was 
said to be OK by the time I was discharged.  But I was now insulin 
dependent with my diabetes.

Because of the infection, it wasn't until November 2014 that I could 
have the shoulder surgery, by which time all of the tendons in the 
shoulder had been torn or damaged.  People may recall that I couldn't 
type at the computer on IRC for more than an hour or so, without hours 
of pain afterwards.  Surgery recovery took a few months.

One long term result of all this was that I had gained another 40-50 
pounds while getting my insulin levels up to the point where the 
diabetes was again under control.  That's around 475 pounds.  Toward the 
end of last summer, I started having intermittent problems with 
shortness of breath when I was on my feet for a long time (e.g. shopping 
trips), and I was especially susceptible to high humidity.

In October, problems with shortness of breath got worse.  My doctor had 
me see a cardiologist for a heart scan, and a lung specialist to check 
for sleep apnea.  Those doctors noted that I had been treated for heart 
failure while in the hospital, even though it did not show on my 
discharge report.  For the next couple of months they were treating me 
as if the heart failure had progressed.  This is what was going on when 
the members meeting started.

The heart scan surprisingly showed no heart failure.  I have a minor 
thickening of the heart wall but normal blood flow.  My blood pressure 
is normal for some doctors, and high for others, apparently dependent on 
how they measure it.  But they've put me on medications used to protect 
the heart during heart failure.

The sleep apnea study showed that I have extremely severe apnea, with 
something like 100 events PER HOUR.  That is how often I am waking up 
when I am supposedly asleep.  The monitors showed me asleep for several 
hours that I thought I was awake, and then when I was in my deepest 
sleep period, my blood oxygen was dangerously low.

Since that test, I've been told to avoid sleeping pills and strong pain 
meds.  My breathing problems got more severe, but I have found that they 
respond to asthma inhaler and nasal decongestion.

But I have been perpetually tired, narcoleptic (dropping off to sleep 
with no notice while sitting at the computer).  Even when I am awake, 
I'm not very productive, and falling asleep in the middle of things 
doesn't help, especially when I suddenly wake up a short time later 
after a sleep apnea event (I don't get so many attacks when I am asleep 
sitting up).

All that said, I'm doing somewhat better this week.  I've been tested 
for a CPAP sleep mask, and the apnea may be largely taken care of within 
a couple of weeks (though the doctor said there may be several months of 
catching up from sleep deprivation).  Improved sleep may cure many of my 
other problems, and may enable me to finally lose weight.  (If not, I 
may need to consider bariatric surgery where they remove part of my 
stomach or bowel, but at my weight any such surgery is a bit risky, 
though the health improvement may be major as well).
--------------------------------

Bottom line is that I severely feel the onset of "getting old".  I so 
far don't have the energy to undertake new Lojban projects with any hope 
of followthrough, though this may improve.  But I've let a lot of stuff 
drop behind while trying to cope, so I don't think LLG should expect 
much increase in my contributions for a while (if ever).  Meanwhile, 
I've become really concerned with what happens when I am no longer 
around.  LLG needs people other than me to take leadership roles, and 
far better than me to follow through on them.

I can't expect people to lead the organization in functions that they 
aren't much interested in, which is why I asked you-all to discuss what 
you want LLG to be doing as an organization without input from me.

It is time that LLG transition to an organization that doesn't rely on 
lojbab.  Someone needs to step up and eventually take on the job of 
president.  I want this to be a smooth transition, allowing whoever 
takes this on to accept a level of responsibility and activity that they 
can sustain.  I want to be sure that the organization continues when I'm 
no longer able to continue.  And I think we all would like these 
meetings to go smoother and much faster.

If my health holds up, I can probably manage one more year if you 
want/need me to.  If so, I'd like the upcoming year to be my last as 
President.  If I suddenly get a burst of health and energy, there are 
Lojban projects that I would like to do (like my Arabian Nights 
translation) that would be a lasting legacy.  My legacy as president 
right now is one of merely hanging on in hopes that someone else will 
take over before I disappear from the scene.

But enough.  Feel free to comment, ask questions especially if they are 
relevant to my continued role in the community.  And consider all this 
in electing the Board for the next year, making sure that there is 
someone on the Board that can and will take over if/when I cannot continue.

lojbab

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