Study in Shapes, "The Egg" - Albany, NYc 2006 Curt Miller
My First Year With Myasthenia Gravis
The Daily bLog
At precisely 7:35pm, one year ago tonight, I stood up to address an audience about digital photography. My mouth felt like it was full of cotton balls on one side and I had tremendous difficulty speaking.
Thus began a year of tremendous struggle, personal pain and no small bit of accomplishment. The first two points are easy to understand, the third boggles my mind, yet, as a fighter, I guess it stands to reason that I would still pursue my goals, even when stricken by a demon.
On the downside, I underwent every type of test and scan known to man, saw all sorts of doctors and was prescribed all sorts of useless medications. Six months later, thanks to the astute observations of a physician's assistant and her ENT supervising physician, I was directed to a neurologist. That recommendation probably saved my skin. By that time, my inability to chew and swallow were so affected that I had lost 35 pounds. So many times when I did try to eat, the food would lodge in the back of my mouth, causing choking and sometimes regurgitation through my nose. Awful.
On the positive side, I pursued my lifelong dream to ride a motorcycle and took the safety training course, with lots of advice and encouragement from my dear friend Tom. In addition to the 20,000 miles I've put on my car in the past 365 days, I logged 14,500 miles on the motorcycle between commuting from May through October and travelling across eastern Canada and through New England. I also kept busy with my duties as vice president of the Adirondack Mountain Club (adk.org), becoming it's president on January 1, 2006. I love ADK, it's mission and it's people and believe I draw vital and sustaining energy from this wonderful organization.
Oh, and I've learned a lot of new stuff in my lifelong love, photography. This blog forces me to make pictures (almost) every day.
