Dr. Troy Moritz, DO

To paraphrase the most interesting man in the world "I don't always have surgery, but when I do, I prefer Troy Moritz, DO. Stay healthy, my friends."

Previously in this journal I have written about my successful lung cancer surgery and recovery. Yet to call it mine is to leave out the major player in the story, the thoracic surgeon Troy A. Moritz, DO, PinnacleHealth Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery.

What impressed me the most about this man were his people skills. He took the time to know me before he cut which I believe better enabled me to return to who I was by using minimally invasive procedures.

Surgery is scary and maybe more so to those in the waiting room because the unknown is even scarier. Dr. Moritz made the time when I was unconsciously oblivious to keep our daughter more than informed almost feeling involved. While I remember nothing, she got to see pictures of his hand in my lung. J

Enough of me, how about I let you hear and see him speak for himself in his 2 minute You Tube video:

Patrick Leer

BLOGS:

Caregivingly Yours, MS Caregiver @ http://caregivinglyyours.blogspot.com/

Lung Cancer Odyssey @ http://lung-cancer-survivor.blogspot.com/

Memorial Day with a Civil War Veteran

For Memorial Day 2012 we decided to do something different - go quest for a veteran ancestor. Late last Fall I had played around with ancestry.com stalking dead ancestors with clicks of a computer mouse but now it was time to get real.

Patti’s paternal great-great grandfather, while unknown in her family oral history, still seemed from my research our most promising quest.

George R Decker (1833 – 1915) fought in the US Civil war with the 17th Pennsylvania Cavalry. A lifelong Pennsylvania farmer he fought through and survived three years of Calvary engagements in most of the battles of the Eastern campaign of the Civil War including Gettysburg.

I knew from his Civil War Veteran’s records that he was supposed to be buried in New Freedom Cemetery and after driving around the cemetery and then pushing and pulling Patti’s wheelchair through the tombstones and over many deceased, eureka! we found him .. and his wife, too.

We had brought along a picnic basket and bottles of ice water. ‘Real feel’ temps of 94˚F (34.4˚C) were not Multiple Sclerosis friendly but by frequently applying a frozen bottle of ice water to the back of Patti’s neck, it worked like her personal air conditioning … and our air conditioned wheelchair van was nearby if needed.

To our pleasant surprise and as if conjured up by some ‘Americana’ movie set to complete our picnic, a 'small town America' Memorial Day program was being set up in the cemetery. People soon began to walk by us carrying folding chairs and coolers, scouts had flags and flowers. A small local brass band began to play military songs through the years.  

Still hangin’ out with George and Lydia, soon we found ourselves laughing and singing along to snippets from songs such as “It’s a Grand Old Flag”.

As the band finished their tribute to the Civil War including both Battle Hymn of the Republic and Dixie it was a perfect time for us to say goodbye.

What more can you say to a guy who had actually been at Appomattox Courthouse when the Civil War ended … except thank you.

Caregivingly Yours, Patrick Leer 

videos: www.youtube.com/daddyleer

island getaway

My eyes look the same, they just see differently.

“How long do I have to live?” to “How soon can I return to my normal daily life?” in less than four months has been an emotional and mental roller coaster ride that left the tracks long ago.

Back when I was first coping with ‘how long do I have to live?’ (but concealing lung cancer from everyone) I wrote an entry exercise, fitness, caregiving for Multiple Sclerosis in which I guestimated I had pushed Patti’s wheelchairs at least 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) over the decades.

So with my successful surgery and recovery in the past tense and one test push under the belt it was time to add some mileage.

Under 68˚F (20°C) sunny skies we looped City Island in the Susquehanna River on Sunday for a mile plus (1.6+ km) outing. Originally planning on just using the level paved walking/biking path I soon was all terrain from my personal favorite concrete beach through water golf, scenic overlooks, picnic pavilions and docks.

Can anyone really push themself until they have pushed another?

Patrick Leer

BLOGS:

Caregivingly Yours, MS Caregiver @ http://caregivinglyyours.blogspot.com/

Lung Cancer Odyssey @ http://lung-cancer-survivor.blogspot.com/

UNLESS someone like you cares - wheelchair accessibility

Picnicking with McDonald’s french fries under sunny skies on a 66˚F (18.8˚C) afternoon only got better when followed by a movie and popcorn. In Patti’s world, after two decades of Multiple Sclerosis sometimes eating for taste trumps eating for health.

While dysphagia is always a clear and present danger at least these comfort foods require no assistance for self-feeding and are easy to monitor. Empowerment can also be a treat.  

"The Lorax" was 90 minutes of pure enjoyment, practically an animated musical. Of course there was a 'message' about protecting the environment but as with all Seuss stories the telling of the story is just so darn entertaining and fun.

While we are blessed to own a wheelchair accessible van that empowers Patti’s freedom, not everyone is. Perhaps even most families caring for some needing a wheelchair do not.

With budget cuts looming, people in wheelchairs, their caregivers and families that depend on subsidized public accessible transportation or contracted providers face an unknown tomorrow. Everything from access to medical care to independence to access to family and friends could shrink.

Like everywhere, Pennsylvania’s budget in these economic times is created with scissors. Gov. Corbett is proposing $620 million in cuts to human services programs; $422 million from basic education on top of the $765 million cut from last year’s budget, 20% cuts to colleges, 35% from State parks, and ‘zero funding’ for public transportation.

Yet this is democracy and these are ‘proposed cuts’ it is time for all interested parties to speak up and be heard. 


MS Awareness in particular is not about one month or one week a year or glitzy ad campaigns. It's about keeping your eyes, ears, and mouth open.

That’s why I found this most disturbing for it is the double whammy of cuts to social services and zero public transportation funding that could most affect the lives of those needing wheelchairs. “Able-bodied people had unfettered access to stairs and elevators that lead to Gov. Tom Corbett’s office on Wednesday. People in wheelchairs did not.” Disability activists targeted in enforcement of Pa. State Capitol's restricted access policy

"UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot,

nothing's going to get better: it's not."

“The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss

Caregivingly Yours, Patrick Leer 

videos: www.youtube.com/daddyleer

where sheep wear spandex / an MS outing

Whether care giving or needing care sometimes the best thing you can do is just go have some fun.

Laughing while spandex wearing sheep tried to eat Patti’s wheelchair we began our visit to the 2012 Pennsylvania Farm Show.

With 24 accessible acres(approximately 24 football fields) under roof, I cannot think of a more wheelchair friendly outing for January. (and excellent pushing and walking exercise for me) 

Enjoying two creamy chocolate milk shakes from PA Dairyman’s Association in search of the butter sculpture we decided to watch some honeybees in a glass observation hive at an exhibit by PA Beekeepers Association. Soon we found ourselves in a conversation with a beekeeper about bee stings and medicine. While most visitors took a step back from the weird people talking about stinging themselves, several lingered, listened, and asked questions in a spontaneous discussion about Patti’s eventually unsuccessful two years of Bee Venom Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis and the beekeeper who had found genuine success for his Rheumatoid Arthritis through apiatherapy.

It’s hard to miss 1,000 lbs (454 kg) of butter and we eventually found the sculpture. After the week long farm show the sculpture is given to a selected dairy farm where it is converted into electricity.

After a couple hours of checking out and often visiting up close and personal certainly every farm animal and crop in our imagination – well, we were hungry … hey, the theme was “from the farm gate to the dinner plate.”

Heading to the food court area we decided on Lamb Stew from PA Livestock Association with frozen maple yogurt topped with maple syrup for dessert from PA Maple Syrup Producers.

Lamb stew and frozen yogurt could not have been more dysphagia friendly and feeding Patti was no problem in the crowd of humanity, over 50,000 attend each day. Most people are shoving one thing or another in each other’s mouth anyway under the ‘try this’ principle of fine farm show dining.

Happy and fed Patti was ready for a long winter’s nap.

Fortunately between MS fatigue and her memory loss she would not have to fret about counting spandex clad sheep. 

Caregivingly Yours, Patrick Leer 

videos: www.youtube.com/daddyleer

adapting Halloween, what's this? snow!

Sometimes adapting to living with Multiple Sclerosis life can be…

- captured in a movie minute 

When Multiple Sclerosis symptoms impair viewing parades we experimented successfully with visiting 5 local Halloween parades while they assembled 

- acknowledged 

... attending our local MS Society Chapter Annual Meeting and Recognition Celebration, Patti’s primary concern throughout the event was “I just want a ciggie” while I was giving thought to borrowing a page from the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and throwing a jack-o-lantern at the speaker if she requested one more time for honorees to “please stand”. It’s all about perspective.

- or simply enjoyed
... as 6” (15.24 cm) of snow fell on Saturday of Halloween weekend followed by a 54˚F (12.2 ˚C) Sunday for playing while it lasted.

Caregivingly Yours, Patrick Leer 

videos: www.youtube.com/daddyleer

web site: caregivinglyyours.com  

adult sippy cups

Entwining their arms they share a toast ... somewhere, just not in this story.

Instead I reach over to help Patti hold her adult sippy cup so she can enjoy her hot chocolate. Taking a sip of my own mocha I realize hey I’m drinking from an adult sippy cup too. Maybe this whole disposable coffee cup thing is really just about preparing us all for the adult sippy cup era ahead.

Curiosity got me Googling - paper cups have been around since the beginning of the 20^th Century but let’s face it lids were the quantum leap forward when in 1967 Alan Frank of Philadelphia filed a patent for the first tearable vented plastic lid for coffee.

So with recent temperatures nearer 40˚F (4.4˚C) we stopped by Sheetz “Specialty Coffeez Expresso Bar” for Patti’s favorite ‘dark chocolate hot chocolate’. Not only can we get affordable specialty coffee and hot chocolate but Sheetz may be the most convenient stop on the planet. Convenience trumps when you are a caregiver and their accessible parking, even van accessible parking, is welcoming not an afterthought. 

Depending on whether we’re heading home for an outing or how Patti’s MS fatigue is doing I may transfer her hot chocolate to a travel mug that has become perfect for her for both hot and cold beverages. As a designer travel mug it’s a perfect disguise for an adult sippy cup and there are times the handle grip is most helpful for her.

Straws once were a cornerstone but MS progression with decline of eye hand coordination, increasing visual impairment and simply problems associated with the muscle control involved in sipping through a straw has made them increasingly obsolete. Summers ago I wrote an entry, immunity to ‘brain freeze’?, of Patti inhaling frozen drinks. This past summer she struggled to use a straw much less hold a drink.

Sure somewhere a couple entwines arms and toasts and somewhere else one person reaches over and helps hold another’s cup. The end result is the same, a smile.

by Patrick Leer

BLOGS:

Caregivingly Yours, MS Caregiver @ http://caregivinglyyours.blogspot.com/

My Lung Cancer Odyssey @ http://lung-cancer-survivor.blogspot.com/

pushing and rolling through nature's rage

How chronic illness / disease or disability was left out of those biblical plagues is beyond me. I suspect it has to do with my Hallmark conspiracy theory about ‘get well SOON’ cards. People just do not do duration well. Bring on the frogs and boils just as long as “the Lord spake unto Moses” – how long?

Not to make light of natural disasters but they do have an end and involve words like recovery. Multiple Sclerosis and/or MS caregiving do not involve endings nor recovery. One of the intangible aspects of caregiving is ‘crises management’, 24/7 year in year out.

Recently we rolled and pushed our way through two weeks of natural disasters: earthquake, hurricane, tropical storm, and record flooding with our wheelchair accessible van ramp lowering like the proverbial staff of Moses.

While the East Coast felt and freaked over Virginia earthquake we found ourselves out enjoying an afternoon outing in Valley Meadows Park, eerily empty of people.

We were intrigued by wheelchair switchbacks built into the Forbes Path where grade was steep. Wheelchair ‘friendly’ is a world of difference from wheelchair accessible.

Later after Hurricane Irene finished trying to huff and puff and blow the town down, it was time for rollin’ along the sidewalks.

While Tropical Storm Lee was busy dumping nearly a foot of rain over several days, well … there were always home improvement mega stores with acres under cover to roll around in.  Considering the streak of natural disasters they were also community social centers - and already decorated for Halloween!

I need to give thanks to Cumberland County Department of Public Safety Facebook Page which made moving about in real time so easy and safe.

While safety is always first, living with MS can be isolating under normal circumstances. When all anyone is talking about is earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods mix that in with MS symptoms and disabilities and it’s too easy to add worries. Sometimes you have to lower your ramp and stick your head out.

Caregivingly Yours, Patrick Leer 

videos: www.youtube.com/daddyleer

web site: caregivinglyyours.com  

respite care awareness

Respite care is a ‘gift of time’, a ‘break’, a provision of short-term, temporary relief to those who are caring for family members. It’s about addressing caregiver / carer burn-out.

Respite care ‘awareness’ is about education. Unless you have walked in carer/ caregiver shoes likely you do not have a clue how consuming and overwhelming it all can become – or more importantly what can you do.

“WHEREAS, Families are Pennsylvania's most important and constant care providers for individuals with extraordinary care needs, such as developmental disabilities, physical disabilities, Alzheimer's disease, mental and emotional disorders, and extreme medical need; and

 WHEREAS, this important job can become stressful for the individual providing care, particularly due to the often constant demands -- many times it is a 24-hour a day commitment;

 WHEREAS, citizens who provide respite care to persons with special needs are providing an important and highly valuable service to those individuals and their families, and to their communities.

 THEREFORE, In recognition of the unique and important service that respite caregivers offer to the many selfless individuals caring for Pennsylvania's most vulnerable population, I, Tom Corbett, Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, do hereby proclaim September 25th through October 1, 2011, RESPITE CARE AWARENESS WEEK throughout the Commonwealth”

I confess that my own awareness of ‘respite care awareness week’ was only because Cumberland Perry Respite gave me a heads up a week ago. A designated awareness week seems an opportunity to promote awareness in general and more importantly services for caregivers of any specific illness/disability. However I was surprised (and not surprised) to discover after a Google search only one related event in Pennsylvania, a Respite Resource Fair in Pittsburgh sponsored by United Cerebral Palsy.

Admittedly there has been an earthquake, hurricane, tropical storm, and record flooding to dominate both lives and the news, yet the sounds of silence from the Pennsylvania chapters of major non-profit disease and/or care organizations is rather deafening. Not unlike the sound that usually follows the mention of the phrase ‘respite care’.


***updated 9/19 - Respite Care Awareness Week Proclamation from Cumberland County Commissioners

Caregivingly Yours, Patrick Leer 

videos: www.youtube.com/daddyleer

web site: caregivinglyyours.com  

rollin' along the sidewalks

When we are out and about, strangers would not have a clue that it takes a small army to assist Patti with her activities of daily living much less get her ready and to any outing. Laughter and smiles have a way of trumping words like non-ambulatory or even Multiple Sclerosis much less MS symptoms.

So what could be more wheelchair accessible than rolling around downtown sidewalks in near perfect MS weather, cloudy and low 70’s? Carlisle’s “First Friday” gives businesses a chance to interact. Such as a Belgian draft horse on the side walk outside the Café Bruges (Belgian cusine). Yet as close as Patti is to the huge horse her visual impairment prevented her from telling or even guessing what it was.

We shared a complimentary and yummy bowl of fried rice from Amy’s Thai Cuisine before checking out a 1930 Ford and wondered how one could convert this for wheelchair access, though I suspect the 30’s was not known as an accessible era.

Discovering one of our favorites Helena’s Chocolate Café and Creperie was opened we settled into a sidewalk table for dinner, chocolate raspberry crepe for me and a peaches and crème crepe for Patti. We shared lemonade while I alternated feeding Patti bites of hers while taking bites of my own. Somehow the whole busy sidewalk scene dwarfed the issue of feeding vs assisted eating. … The crepes were so out of this world that we had to go back inside and publicly applaud the chef.

After dinner we pushed and rolled around enjoying sidewalk serenades that well you just can’t imagine – Prince’s “Kiss” performed on acoustic guitars while kids pedaled around a bank parking lot on miniature tractors – a rock and roll flute version of Young Rascals “Good Lovin” on a shady corner of Dickinson – and a young singer songwriter, Nate Lenox, giving a break out performance from the Library steps.  

The thing is you can measure how little anyone’s body is capable of doing but not what they are capable of appreciating or in turn being appreciated.

A community in motion, now that’s a great idea!!!

Caregivingly Yours, Patrick Leer 

videos: www.youtube.com/daddyleer

web site: caregivinglyyours.com  

dedicated to Irene

Detoured but not deterred by roads closed due to downed trees and power lines. Driving the extra miles to pick Patti up for an outing following Hurricane Irene - I had time to reflect.

“There was something about a thread of synchronicity I could not get out of my head … hurricanes and Multiple Sclerosis exacerbations … Hurricane Agnes … Hurricane Ivan …”

THE CAROUSEL

Dedicated to all those ‘threads of synchronicity’ linked and to be linked to Hurricane Irene.

Caregivingly Yours, Patrick Leer 

videos: www.youtube.com/daddyleer

web site: caregivinglyyours.com