I think I first heard this song around age 5. Jimmy Buffet sang "mother mother ocean, I have heard you call". I immediately knew what he meant. At that young age I was convinced that in order to feel any happiness or peace as an adult would require living on a beach somewhere. Almost 34 years later (June of this year I will turn 39), I am living out my childhood dream. I moved to Lake Jackson, Tx in 2011 and am 8 minutes (15 if there is traffic) from the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way I've learned it's not a certain place or person that makes you happy (although they both can help tremendously), it's more about the things that you live by...a code, moral standards, guidelines.
As some of you who have been with me from the start here know, that first year could have ended my quit and nobody here would have questioned my decision to keep smoking. For those of you that are new to this blog...I'll condense it for you best as I can:
Jan 2013 - in a car accident that took a man's life (negligent driver of another vehicle)
April 2013 stopped smoking
May 2013 discovered failing thyroid
May 2013 grandmother passes away
August 2013 discovered 15mm tumor in my brain
November 2013 diagnosed with social anxiety & post traumatic stress disorder (ptsd)
Next Tuesday marks the 730th day without a cigarette. And as always with good news comes bad news. On the April 16th I will be doing a sleep study to determine if I have Narcolepsy. If diagnosed there is treatment although there is a lot riding on the results. Narcolepsy is a disorder that causes the body to respond as if it us sleep deprived no matter how much sleep a person gets. Commonly a 2nd disorder called cataplexy is diagnosed as well. Cataplexy is what the narcoleptic jokes spawn from. Cataplexy causes the person's body to paralyze itselelf (healthy bodies do this too in our sleep so we don't act out our dreams and hurt ourselves) causing the person to not only fall asleep but fall to the ground as well. Narcolepsy with Cataplexy could cost drivers license, jobs, and some recreation to become non existant due to safety concerns.
If it turns out that I dont have narcolepsy....then the doctors will have to confirm if the tumor they originally thought was non cancerous is growing or not. Growing tumor = brain surgery.
Sigh...what goes down has got to come up.
Here's to 731 days of being smoke free. I am back on the day by day train.
God Bless,
Cody
