Celebrity Playlist: CFA

This is what I've been grooving to lately.

Gemini to Baby Lion's

Here's a few pictures from the weekend. We rode Gemini Bridges in the morning with snow at the trailhead, and rappelled in the afternoon with bitter winds. Never a bad day for adventure!

The crew at the bridges - Mick, Tyler, Arlee, Sterling, Jed, Mike, Chris, Chris.

Where are we? 

Jed was our shuttle driver, and at the trailhead he just decided to follow us. We had truck support on Gemini Bridges! At the end I suggested we ride with Jed through the flat and uphill. He dropped us off at the top and we bombed down to the parking. Sweet!

Chris just got a new static rope so we can go canyoneering. So Mick took us to the top of Baby Lion's Back in his Jeep to test out the new rope on the rappel up there.

Crotch shot

That night we were too tired to do anything, so we let Dumb and Dumber play while we napped on the couches.

This Time

This time last year I had a machine breathing for me
I was put in an induced coma so I could not move and possibly cause more damage to my lungs

I was on more drugs than you can count on two hands

For weeks no-one knew why my lungs were hemorrhaging
I was in the Intensive Care Unit at St. Mary's for 13 days

I regained consciousness a week after I was supposed to be running the Canyonlands Half Marathon. I couldn't sit up by myself and it took effort just to talk. I was 25 pounds lighter than I was one month before, in my peak physical condition. It took a long time to get my body back. "Taking it easy," "not overdoing it," physical therapy... I had to be reminded to be patient.

I could've died. Miraculously, I live without lasting impairments. Life means so much more now. My physical body is the greatest gift I've received.

Now, I have been training for months. I am ready to run the Half Marathon that I missed last year.

This time this year I ran the Canyonlands Half Marathon.

Banff Mountain Film Festival

Monday night I took Ivy to the Banff Film Fest here in Moab. After picking up the free posters and stickers from Petzl, we entered the auditorium and joined the crowds of adrenaline junkies waiting for the show. It started off with two sweaty-palm-inducing, on-the-edge films where you feared for the athelete's life. I got an rush just watching the incredible feats these people accomplish. Dean Potter was featured in the flim "Fly or Die," where he free BASED (climbing with no safety equipment besides a parachute) the north face of the Eiger, a 1,000 ft peak in Switzerland that more than 60 climbers have died on. After successfully topping-out, he leaped from a ledge and flew to safety.

Luckily for my adrenal glands not all the films were this intense. This was one of my favorite films they showed:

I hope someday I can grow a beard like that. After the show I felt like BASE jumping, or treking across a large desert, or something crazy like that. Sponsorships, anybody? Hmm, maybe I can get a camera crew and helicopter to document my float down the daily...

p-ANCA Vasculitis

Today marks the one-year anniversary of entering Allen Memorial Hospital for my illness. I had been coughing sputum with blood for about a week previous and was being treated for pneumonia. Finally I became bed-ridden for two days and it was apparent that the antibiotics weren't helping. I went to the ER and within 24 hours I was sedated and flown to St. Mary's in Grand Junction. Five days later I was tested positive for p-ANCA+ vasculitis. Only about 3 in 100,000 people have this condition.

What it is:
periferal-Anti Nuclear Cytoplasmic Antibody -- immune system attacks itself

Positive -- tested positive for p-ANCA

Vasculitis -- inflammatory destruction of blood vessels

with

Pulmonary -- lung

Hemorrhage -- heavy bleeding

In my case, the ANCA affected the large blood vessels in my lungs, but did not affect my kidneys. There is no known cause for this condition.


How I've been treated:
While I was hospitalized I was on and off too many drugs for me to keep track of. After I came home I was taking Predinsone (steriods) and Cytoxan (chemotherapy, which interferes with rapidly dividing cells that make antibodies), both immunosuppressive drugs to stop tissue destruction from attack by my antibodies. I took Bactrim to protect me from infections because my immune system is suppressed by the steriods and chemo. I see a nephrologist (kidney doctor) periodically to monitor my immune system to make sure it's not going haywire as my drug doses decrease. Kidney specialists tend to see more cases of vasculitis than lung doctors do, so this is why I'm under the care of a nephrologist.

What this means long-term:
Since I recovered from my hospitalization, I have been very active and suffer from no ill effects of this condition. If all goes well, I will be weaned off all medication soon. It is possible that I can have a recurrence, but this is improbable and can be treated quickly.