crohn’s disease

i’m learning that though i have a lot of pictures, they’re not very well organized, not to mention that they’re not all in one location. this makes it a bit frustrating to find pictures to post.

anyway…. after spending too much time fist-shaking at flickr and prime photos, i’ve settled on a few from thanksgiving 2010.

you’ll (probably) notice i’m significantly thinner than i am now. while i’d like to attribute this to healthy living, it was in fact a result have having lost something like 40 pounds over that summer. around the time these pictures were taken i was diagnosed with crohn’s disease.

two hospital stays, one major surgery, and a regular regimen of pills and injections and the crohn’s is under control. and i’ve long since added back all the weight.

its also important to note kellee jones in these pictures. she was one of the sweetest, kindest, and most troubled people i’ve known. kellee died a few years ago and is missed.

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the fall of 2010 was an a defining year for me. i worked my first session at the capitol for representative mina morita in between two stretches of unemployment.

these were taken at an reception for george takei, who had accepted an invitation to a fundraiser for equality hawaii, the largest lgbt rights organization in hawaii.

being a huge trekkie, this event was so exciting; you can tell by the enormous grin on my face.

you might notice i’m fairly thin here. i was pretty sick, actually, and several weeks later, i’d be diagnosed with crohn’s disease.

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today i try to quick smoking (again). i’m about eight hours into the quit, but so far it seems to be going ok. there have been some minor cravings, but nothing the nicotine gum can’t take care of. it’s possibly a rationalization, but i’m not sure it’s so much the nicotine for me as it is the act of smoking itself. that’s what i miss, the inhalation itself, more than the actual nicotine itself. maybe that’s all crap and i’m just in the early stages of withdrawal.

still, so far so good and i’m trying to stay positive about it. i really do need to quit.

today i also publish the very first, official, regarding frost video blog. it touches a bit more on last weekend’s election, as well as my attempt to exercise more and quit smoking. admittedly, it’s a little longer than i had hoped, but i think it’s a decent first video.

you’ll be able to subscribe to the newly created youtube channel and most, if not all of the videos will also be posted on my blog here, so you should be able to sign up for an rss feed. or just check back often.

i welcome constructive criticism, tips, and ideas!

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we’ve got one hell of a weekend bearing down on us. frankly, i’m not sure which is currently causing me more stress: the two hurricanes scheduled to cause some very immediate unpleasantness, or the looming primary election this saturday (or that the immediate unpleasantness might directly impact the election). either way, i’ll just say that it isn’t a good weekend to quit smoking, start dieting, or any such thing.

the big island of hawaii is bracing for category 1 hurricane iselle to make landfall later today, while the rest of the state prepares for the tropical storm remnants that will surely affect the rest of the state. then, although its looking less and less like it will have a major impact, hurricane julio is just a few days behind. i’d tell people to prepare, but i’m guessing you’re already doing so.

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it’s not “official” official yet, but it will be in a matter of weeks; i’m surgery bound.

after a flair-up earlier this year resulted in a bowel obstruction which laid me up in a hospital bed for nearly a week, the news came that sooner or later surgery would be a necessity.

i’m assuming most of you have never had a bowel obstruction before, so let me tell you; it’s no fun. the symptoms are (or at least for me) were a loss of appetite and vomiting every few hours for no apparent reason. after the fourth or fifth time, i took a trip to the emergency room. the worst part of the whole ordeal was the NG tube they shoved down my nose and throat (to drain the fluid building up in my stomach) and kept there for three days.

initially, the impression i was given was that if i waited to have surgery, another obstruction would force me to have surgery under emergency circumstances, though that was clarified by a surgeon a couple of months ago. that correction made me rethink my plans and i, if only briefly, opted to “take my chances” and hold off on surgery. at the time, i was feeling good and there wasn’t anything looming that made me think there was any urgency.

then my brother told me the approximate date he’d be getting married and i started to second thoughts about my current strategy. if i wait, take my chances, and put off surgery until it is absolutely necessary, my fear is that another obstruction will occur at the worst possible time: just a few days before the wedding. under those circumstances, i would not only be unable to see him walk down the isle, but i’d also potentially put my parents in the uncomfortable situation of having to choose, between attending his wedding, or being here for my surgery. neither of those sounds good to me, so i’ve decided to preempt that situation by having the surgery at a time of my choosing. i won’t be leaving this to fate.

as it stands now (i don’t see the surgeon for about a month) i’m thinking the surgery will be either early december or early january, in attempt to be out of the hospital and recovered before the 2014 legislative session starts and before the election season (and convention season) kicks off. ultimately, i won’t really know when this is all happening until i meet with the surgeon.

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