We had a great ride today on the trike, it was hot and sunny and I made sure I had sunblock on because last year I didn’t and got totally burnt up and under my eyes didn’t get sun and I looked like a raccoon all year except I had white all around my eyes instead of dark circles. I am so happy with the trike and I feel more secure now even though Bill has always been a very safe rider and we never take chances, but still because of a lot of friends wrecking I of course worried.

Bill’s been riding for 45 years and he’s a very safe and cautious rider and I feel totally at ease when I ride behind him. When they stopped the helmet law, I decided not to wear one and so did he for awhile, but then he felt he was sending a bad signal to his son who also rides so he decided to wear his helmet again. He worries a lot about his son, even though he’s in his 30’s and a very safe rider himself because Bill taught him.

When I was younger and rode with my friends I don’t remember ever seeing the bikers acknowledging each other with a hand gesture as they do now, but Bill tells me he and his Dad always have. It seems that bikers have grown into a more respectful and courteous bunch than the biker gangs of old and just because you ride a bike now it doesn’t mean you are a rebel looking for trouble. People from all walks of life enjoy this past time.

The Vietnam Vet really took to this and every year there is a motorcycle ride to visit The Wall in Washington. I have never been on this ride, but I’m sure it would be an exhilarating experience, but from what I’ve heard from those that have made the run is that it’s slow going once you get there and it’s hard on the bikes with all the idling and gear changes, but it’s a respectful thing to do with all your brothers to honor those that didn’t make it back.

Bill and I have been together six years and I love riding behind him and that’s when I first noticed the greeting he always gave to other bikers. I didn’t ask him about it because I didn’t want him to think I was stupid so I simply watched and observed. I have never seen him give the wave or nod to crotch rockets or mopeds unless it’s an older gentleman and it’s done out of respect, it’s funny now that we have the trike every time we pass one he gives a big thumbs up.

I have no clue if it’s an equality thing or not, like since you ride the same thing as I do you have my full respect therefore I salute you or if it’s simply showing respect for the freedom to ride and enjoying the same thing. I have seen Bill use the arm extended down with 1 finger pointed out, the arm extended 2 finger flip, arm extended with palm out, fingers extended from the handle bar and a nod of the head.

He always laughs when someone puts their hand up in the air and waves, I have heard this called the geek wave and I’m sure there are many other names for it. Bikers sometimes get offended when they make a gesture and it isn’t returned, like when he started wearing his helmet again and he would make the hand gesture to someone who wasn’t and if they didn’t return the same he thought they thought he was a wimp for wearing his helmet or maybe he just said that to make me laugh.

I ordered my passenger arm rests from J&P cycles online they were a bit expensive, but then anything you buy any more has an inflated price especially accessories for a Harley even the after market products are high that’s why we love swap meets sometimes we have found some really good deals. I was so excited to get them and it only took 3 days, I opened the box and stared at the chrome and imagined them already on the bike and traveling in luxury with my cup holder attached.

I was horrified when we tried to put them on last night and the darn things didn’t fit. The instructions they sent also sucked so I went online to see if I could find better ones, I found it funny when I typed in “passenger arm rests for champion trikes” and my blog was first on the search list. When we ordered them we hadn’t really thought about maybe they wouldn’t be usable for a trike because I’ve seen them on trikes before. Bill tried every position possible and even raised the tour pack because there wasn’t much space to add them.

If we still had the 2 wheel Harley dresser they would have been a piece of cake to add, talk about frustration and my vision of luxury and comfort going down the drain. Bill said this morning that he may be able to modify it with a length of steel attached under the tour pack so he could extend the holes out further and make it possible for me to have these, if anyone can come up with an idea that will work it’s Bill and not destroy the trike in the process or make it look dorky.

The thought of repacking my beautiful passenger arm rests and sending them back feels me with dread. At any rate I hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend with sunny skys we’re suppose to have rain all weekend, but that’s subject to change although it doesn’t look very promising right now.

The Ophthalmologist that examined Bill yesterday did a full examination and he has decided that Bill has pigment dispersion syndrome even though he is over the age of 40 and has had glaucoma for years. He has put drops in his eyes since he was in his early 30’s and has undergone laser surgery twice to put little holes in his eye to relieve pressure and still the pressure isn’t under control, the drops aren’t working for him. So on June 4th he will have a procedure called laser iridotomy done. The consent form that we have to sign explains the procedure like this:

Consent To Perform Laser Iridotomy

Purpose: A laser iridotomy is a hole created in the iris in the eye by means of a laser light. This procedure replaces a surgical procedure that must be performed in the operating room. When argon laser is used, the energy of the laser is transformed into heat at the point where it’s focused, creating a small burn. By placing multiple burns close to each other, it’s possible, in most cases, to create a small hole in the iris. A neodymium-Yag laser causes a cut at the point where it’s focused. If several of these cuts are superimposed, a small hole is created, in most cases.

Method: Several factors (such as eye color) must be considered by your doctor in determining which laser is most appropriate for your eye. Sometimes one type of laser is not satisfactory and the other type of laser must then be utilized. The eye is anesthetized with an eye drop, a special contact lens is placed onto the eye and a sufficient number of applications is applied. Slight discomfort may be felt as the laser light strikes the iris.

Complications: In almost all cases, the eye will be red and have a foreign body sensation for a few days. The vision is typically a bit blurry for a few days as well. These are not serious problems. In 25-30% of eyes in which the argon laser has been used to create the iridotomy, retreatment is necessary because the body tends to heal over the hole. The retreatment rate is much less with the YAG laser. The YAG laser sometimes causes a small hemorrhage at the iris at the site of focus, but it always clears within a few days.

There may be a transient rise in pressure within the eye following the procedure, but this can usually be controlled with medications if necessary. Burns of the cornea and/ or lens can occur, but these do not usually affect vision and can be left alone. Although it’s not a complication, the laser procedure alone does not always control the glaucoma, and drops, other types of laser treatment, or surgery, are sometimes required in addition to the iridotomy.

The young doctor was very nice and explained everything as he went along and he really put our minds at rest about Bill not losing his sight anytime soon. He explained that he would do this procedure in his office and that it was less evasive than the other procedure that we had done last year at the hospital. He seemed very confident and told us in the past 12 years he hadn’t seen any of the slits close back up so we’re very hopeful that this will help and may even lessen the drops he has to use everyday.

First of all I’d like to say thanks to all the comments from my post from yesterday about my Eric’s birthday and give link love to those that responded and they are: Anna from A Rose By Name,  EiNino  from Ninoholic, Judy from More Than Sew So, Lin from Duck And Wheel With String, Sandi from Pregnant With Cancer,  Jan from Better Spines, Sandy from Traveling Suitcase. I really appreciate the care and feelings I felt from you all and I hope I didn’t miss anyone, we had a very big day today so I really don’t have time to write it all out, but really appreciated the feelings I felt from you all and wanted to make sure I get these out so I can do a few drops and I’ll write a post about Bill’s eyes tomorrow and what is going to happen very soon. God Bless You All…Jude

39 years ago today was the happiest day of my life, my Son Eric was born, I was 16 years old. I dreamt of the life we would have together and even though life didn’t turn out the way I had planned I still had my baby boy. You are always in my heart Eric and your spirit will always be connected to mine even though your physical body left me behind. I will always treasure your life and the joys that you were given even if it was for such a short time, so Happy Birthday my darling boy you are forever in my heart and on my mind.

I spent the day researching vocal cord dysfunction because last night Bill couldn’t breath and it was horrible. I even had 911 on the phone asking for an ambulance before he was able to get a breath and he told me later that this had happened several times before with him, but this is the first time since we’ve been together. He has asthma or so he was diagnosed with many years ago and always keeps an inhaler close by, but this wasn’t an asthma attack.

He was at work years ago and they thought he was choking and his co-worker did the Heimlich maneuver on him and it opened up what he says is a flap, he said it closed up and he couldn’t breath in. I had no clue what I was looking for today until I ran across a very informative website called  CAN’T BREATHE? SUSPECT VOCAL CORD DYSFUNCTION! so I spent the day reading and then doing other research on other websites.

Apparently you don’t use medication to treat this, but you do have to see a speech pathologist to learn a different way of breathing and other techniques. After doing a lot of reading I’m thinking that he has been so stressed over his eyes that he may have brought this episode on. It was horrible and scared the crap out of me. I better learn how to do the Heimlich maneuver Bill said he didn’t care if I cracked his ribs so long as he could breath.

On the website above she even shares some tips she learned on how to breath which I’m going to make Bill try and practice so he wont panic if this happens again. More doctors and emergency teams are only recently themselves becoming more aware of  vocal cord dysfunction the main cause of this disorder still remains unknown and to properly diagnose it would be to do a nasal endoscopy during an episode.

I’m sure they would have to trigger an episode in a clinic because unless the passage were to be open as soon as possible I’m quite sure someone could die so screw the endoscopy I’ll be cracking some ribs if this ever happens again and since he wasn’t able to breath in I will definitely have him practise those breathing out exercises so we’ll at least be better prepared.

I also intend to keep a small bottle of water with a sprayer on hand so he can keep his throat moist instead of dry. Got to get back to my researching so I can find more helpful tidbits for Bill, so type at you all later.