Niagara Falls Revisited From Above

I woke up feeling better than I have in weeks!  I had the day off and the weather was perfect, so you can only guess what I did.  The St. Catharines Flying Club was rocking today.  Everyone wanted to take advantage of this amazing weather.  I first flew south to Lake Erie to check out the boats heading through the canal.  The ice breakers leading the way:

And there were a couple more a little further off shore:

The weather is finally starting to heat up a bit so I think that ice isn’t long for this world.

I then decided to head back over Niagara Falls to get some pics and video:

The rocky and snowy American Falls:

The awesome Canadian Falls and the Skylon Tower:

Needless to say, there were plenty of helicopters buzzing around, sharing this epic view with their passengers.

I did some aerobatics over CYSN and then came in for a landing.

Someone on Facebook requested some videos of my last flight, so I’m just putting some together.  Stay tuned!  In the meantime, here’s the video of the Falls I took today and posted on Facebook earlier:

Today’s symptoms: I can’t believe how much better I feel today.  My headache is only average now (I get headaches every day and the one I’ve had for over three weeks has been very bad), still lots of nerve pain but my energy is decent.  I live for days like this!!!

Flight Over Niagara Falls and Fort Erie

The weather is perfect today and I’m so happy to say that I was feeling better this morning.  All of the Flying Club planes were up and the Niagara Falls scenic circuit helicopters were making plenty of trips.  I first headed over the Falls:

There was a smidge of a rainbow over the Canadian (Horseshoe) Falls:

Then I descended a bit (from the 3500′ requirement over the Falls) and checked out the extremely chilly looking Lake Erie:

The massive ice wall that attacked Fort Erie’s shoreline is certainly getting smaller:

Greetings, Buffalo!

Corn maze, perhaps?

After a pleasant tour around Niagara, I decided to head back to the airport for some aerobatics:

They say to keep the shiny side up, but I like it the other way around:

Heading back to Vyctor’s home:

There was a rescue chopper doing landings and/or approaches at our local hospitals while I was flying around.  They landed a couple minutes before me:

What a great day!

Today’s symptoms: I started to feel yucky again not too long after my flight.  Things typically get worse in the afternoon, so I always try to fly and do other physical activities during the morning.  My fatigue and weakness kicks in later, as my energy depletes.  This is typically when the headaches and nerve pains get worse as well.  This is why I take full advantage of the hours where I feel more like a normal person – it’s these times that I look forward to greatly, which helps me through the rough times.  I always try to have hope that tomorrow will be better!

MRI #15

Last week I went to the hospital for MRI number 15! It’s actually to the point where I kinda enjoy them. They always play good music (they have you wear a headset), and I just find the rest very relaxing. I’m not claustrophobic at all, so no problem there. I just close my eyes and absorb the music and crazy sound from the machine. Here’s some examples:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOjALmwaJ1Q

I had to go back the next day to pick up the images on a CD. I noticed a couple lesions but they may have been there before. Nothing major though so that was quite a relief, considering the symptoms I’ve been experiencing over the last two weeks. It started with smelling rotting flesh intermittently throughout the day, very bad headaches, horrible crushing pain in my hands plus weakness like I haven’t experienced before. I assume this is a bit of an MS flare up. I’m still feeling really lousy. It’s probably going to be another weekend of laying low.

The kitties seem to have sensed that I’m not feeling well. They’ve been ever more snuggly than usual. Bedtime is always interesting. Abby, Boo and Mya try to sleep as close to me as possible:

My Pinky usually sleeps at my back or on the heater behind the bed. Typically wakes up quite perky:

Morning comes along and everyone scurries into the kitchen for brekkie:

You can see how happy Abby gets from eating:

As does Peanut:

So other than that, not too much new in life.  Just hoping I start feeling better soon – I don’t want to play this game anymore.

Today’s symptoms: Same as the last almost two weeks.  Very weak, crushing pain (often very intense) in my hands, much worse than normal headache, and just overall blah.  It WILL get better though!

Recovering From A Great Weekend

I had such a great weekend.  Mike and I went to the Mapleview Mall in Burlington on Saturday.  I was feeling decent and managed to last wandering around for a couple hours.  During our shopping adventure, I was very excited to find some socks with broccoli and chainsaws to add to my classy sock collection.  (I don’t own a plain pair – too boring!):

We survived the 40 minute drive back home and chilled for the rest of the day, with the kitties of course:

Mya is smushed up against her padded sister, Pinky:

Pinky (who is slightly rotund), is frequently used as a pillow by her smaller sisters.  She’s pretty good about it though:

We ended up watching Fahrenheit 11/9 that evening.  It was very interesting and I’m not into politics at all.

On Sunday, the weather was in our favour so we took to the skies, flying out to Tillsonburg for breakfast.

There was a bit of a lineup at the Skyway Cafe, but at least there was one table left.  Little Vyctor waited for us patiently out in the cold:

With full bellies, we headed back home.  I’m going to have to go up for some aerobatics within the next flight or two, to get my horizon indicator to flip back around again.  Hehe!  It sometimes goes a bit out of whack after doing snap rolls, which I think I did a few flights ago.

We had a nice flight back to St. Catharines and fortunately, the snow held off:

I don’t know if I did too much this weekend or if I was just going to end up feeling this way regardless, but I have been so weak and fatigued yesterday and today.  I spent about half of yesterday in bed.  Feeling a little bit better today, but I’m sure tomorrow will be a big improvement (paws crossed!).  I am still dealing with the new symptom I mentioned in my previous blog, where I’m smelling a very unpleasant odour for most of the day.  I saw my neurologist about this before the weekend, and I have an MRI scheduled for two days from now.  I think this will be my fifteenth!  It’s always a little stressful when new symptoms develop, but at least I have my family, friends, Vyctor and awesome kitties to keep my spirits up.  Right, Abby?

Today’s symptoms: Very weak, lots of nerve pain and more fatigued than usual the last couple days.  I’m just going to put it down to doing quite a bit this weekend.  Sometimes paying for it for a few days is worth it though!

Weirdest MS Symptom I’ve Ever Had!!!

This is going to be one weird post.  It all started about three weeks ago.  I was sitting on my couch, watching TV.  I was suddenly hit with a extremely distinct and highly unpleasant odour.  That of a very slightly decomposed body.  I will never forget the first time I experienced this smell.  It was when I was in college for Funeral Services.  We had to do a few weeks of experience at local funeral homes before and during the first year.  Anyway, it was quite faint but there kind of in the background.  I thoroughly searched around (and I’m a bit of a neat freak!) the room but I could kind of still smell it.  Fortunately, it only lasted for a few minutes.  Well, this same symptom has been happening progressively more often for the last three weeks.  Today, it has been on and off for a total of at least five hours.  Ugh!!!  I was sitting in the bank today and it hit me quite strongly part way through the meeting.  I looked this up online and it appears it is possible from multiple sclerosis.  MS is such an odd disease!  I never thought about symptoms involving smell since I’ve been diagnosed, until now!

I phoned my neurologist’s office today and they got me in for tomorrow morning.  It will be interesting to hear of how many other MS patients of his have had this creepy and distasteful symptom!

Today’s symptoms: Well, the most yucky of symptoms is certainly this one affecting my sense of smell.  My energy was actually decent today.  My headache didn’t become bad until after 6:00, which was nice.  Other than that, just the normal aches and pains, plus lots of nerve gobblety-goop going on today!