My dad flew in to see Lizzie and me compete at the last tourney for the outdoor season. It was an amazing two day tourney. Day 1 closed out in a downpour while shooting the last 6 arrows of the day. Thank God the entire day wasn't like that, but at least we were prepared with rain gear on hand. Day 2 was beautiful sunny skies.
One of the most surprising things was that during the rain, a drop of water landed in my peep sight which is a tiny sight close to my eye that helps my vision line up with the bigger sight down near my hand. As I came to full draw I realized I couldn't see anything at all because of the drop of rain. I should have let down which means to carefully turn the bow down and slowly release tension on the string to set up for a better shot. Well, since my bow was so slippery with rain, I didn't trust my strength to carefully let down. Instead I prayed, "Jesus, let my arrow hit the target." Nothing worse than missing a target and losing an arrow. Not only was my prayer answered, but I hit a red ring which is next to the gold! Thank you, Jesus! Now I know, if I'm shooting in the rain (which I trained for over the summer), before I draw, blow into the peep sight to remove any possible drop of water! :)
The second most surprising thing was beating my goal. This tourney was a full FITA tourney, 2 days, 72 arrows each day, total 144 arrows to shoot. The last time I shot a full FITA in May, my goal was 1,000 points out of a possible 1,440 and I scored 950. I was pretty happy with that outcome. This time, my goal was 1,150 and I scored 1,213!!!! Woooo Hoooo!!!! I won 2nd place! Lizzie won 1st place and is the GA State Champion two years running! SO proud of her!
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| Lizzie, Pa and me |
I'm now training for the Georgia Archery Team tryouts in a few weeks. My coach has me doing practice score rounds and I've done better than the MQS (minimum qualifying score) to make the cut for the team. I'll have to shoot 30 arrows into a small target and score at least 255 points out of a possible 300. So far my practice scores have been 274, 275, 283.
I flew to St. Louis recently by myself; first solo trip postop. It was a same day trip and was happy security at both ends of the trip were wonderful. Absolutely no pat down! Dr. Lenke is really excited about my progress with archery and plans to compete at the Paralympics 2016. I told him about the issues I've been experiencing since I last saw him in Feb 2013. He said, "I'm so sorry, but none of these issues are a result from what I've done." He, along with Dr. Riew, urged me to see a new neurologist with whom I'll see Oct 14. Lenke said, "... the hardware looks great, it's right where I left it." He's such a funny guy!
So the updates on the medical issues are:
My balance issue is called Romberg's and I have Hoffman's Sign (using cane all the time).
Still waiting for Dr. Riew's report from three MRI's; however, his nurse said there is a bulge in my neck but don't need surgery and that I have carpal tunnel and ulnar neuropathy.
Second opinion rheumatologist said everything looks normal except for osteoarthritis. She has me on Indomethacin which has helped better than Mobic or Diclofenac.
Dr. Lenke is the 4th doc to say he strongly believes I have MS. The neurologist I see on Monday is at the MS Center of Atlanta and I've heard great things about him.
Oh, almost forgot, I went to my first concert postop (well... the Tony Bennett concert over the summer doesn't really count since it was so low key... you know... no mosh pit stuff happening). I was really nervous about buying tickets for the concert because there was no seating, only general admission, first come, first served. I called the venue to talk about possible accessible seating and explained my situation (not in a wheelchair, but unable to stand for a long time). The general manager at the Tabernacle was super helpful and explained they have a special area for guests with disabilities and that I was welcome to sit there. He said, "but it's right up front, you'll be in front of the front row, is that ok?" Uh, YEAH THAT'S OK!!! So not only did we (Jeremy, Lizzie and me) have the BEST SEATS IN THE HOUSE, but Lizzie was able to get on stage with 30 Seconds to Mars too!!! I had no idea I could enjoy a concert like this!!! :)
