Maybe it’s permanent. Grounding that is.

Yesterday. LOL.
212e4884bbf6d0fc367599764902f3f5.jpg
 
Still better today. Was very tired though. Ended up logging out from work and taking a couple hour hard nap. Assuming that’s adrenal weirdness. Pain levels keep falling so far in the hand and neck.

Legs felt weak so I did some squats around lunchtime. Now one is sore and can’t tell on the other one. Ha. Always weird. Differences in sensation left/right. LOL.

Glucose has been very nicely lower and under control without nearly any tendency to spike. Have even reintroduced a bit more carbs. Nice! Was super tired of constantly chasing that.

Looks like I’ll survive the step down week. Day two really sucked but the rest was as expected.

Guess I’ll get some more imagery booked for early Dec... ride the tubes again...
 
Probably time for an update but I don’t really have much of one.

Symptoms have been quite stable neurologically with minor continued improvement. I suspect PT and some OT for the right band would help but you know... can’t do that because Covid. Annoying. Nobody will refer and recommend it.

Went back on the diabetic drug but I think I mentioned that. Wild excursions up without it, and it should all stop if the organs and such are happy after the steroids end. Really tired of those and their side effects but they seem to have done the neurological job, so there’s that.

Had a bad late night thought and I suspect @bbchien will agree.

Without ANY Neuro visits anywhere this year due to Covid, no neuro doc has been writing down anything about symptoms in any official record, and FAA says a year of stable symptoms, documented.

So...

My clock to even a possibility of applying for a third class doesn’t start until I actually SEE a freaking neurologist.

And we have Covid...

So. Best possible scenario right now because we’re short handed at work (and my friend and boss is literally AT MAYO right now for his treatment until Jan 15 or so, AND we have his dog...)

... is for me to FORCE a visit to Mayo in late Jan/early Feb just to get neuro assessment in writing.

Even with that, the aforementioned PT eventually makes things better yet... so that probably doesn’t qualify as “stable symptoms”.

As Bruce has taught me, if it isn’t written down, it didn’t happen.

Mayo’s opinion is if things are getting better there’s no reason to see me in person, but they can’t stop me making an appointment anyway.

See the nice Catch-22? “Patient reports no symptom changes” from a video call, probably isn’t what the paper pushers want to read.

Pretty sure if I do show up out there in Jan/Feb for an appointment my neuro will be as annoyed at why I’m there, as I will be.

And with the current delay level jn OKC, I *suspect* by the time this all settles, even IF I go see Docs in Jan/Feb, we’re really talking getting really close to 2023 for an SI.

Definitely feeling like Covid has made that the wrong path to go down. Probably worth having BasicMed discussions with Docs as an alternative.

So mulling it all over right now but I’ll have to start booking appointments soon and hotel and crap if I’m “braving the Covid” to go get paperwork done to try and start a bureaucratic clock of one year.

Oh. The airplane is broken too but that’s easy-ish compared to the above. Not even worth a post of its own really, but she’s well-grounded also at the moment. Big fuel leak and local mechanic shops are waaaaaay backed up.

Back to the day job. And another cup of coffee. Need more info on this, before I decide on the trip or not.
 
denverpilot said:
Probably time for an update but I don’t really have much of one.

Symptoms have been quite stable neurologically with minor continued improvement. I suspect PT and some OT for the right band would help but you know... can’t do that because Covid. Annoying. Nobody will refer and recommend it.

Went back on the diabetic drug but I think I mentioned that. Wild excursions up without it, and it should all stop if the organs and such are happy after the steroids end. Really tired of those and their side effects but they seem to have done the neurological job, so there’s that.

Had a bad late night thought and I suspect @bbchien will agree.

Without ANY Neuro visits anywhere this year due to Covid, no neuro doc has been writing down anything about symptoms in any official record, and FAA says a year of stable symptoms, documented.

So...

My clock to even a possibility of applying for a third class doesn’t start until I actually SEE a freaking neurologist.

And we have Covid...

So. Best possible scenario right now because we’re short handed at work (and my friend and boss is literally AT MAYO right now for his treatment until Jan 15 or so, AND we have his dog...)

... is for me to FORCE a visit to Mayo in late Jan/early Feb just to get neuro assessment in writing.

Even with that, the aforementioned PT eventually makes things better yet... so that probably doesn’t qualify as “stable symptoms”.

As Bruce has taught me, if it isn’t written down, it didn’t happen.

Mayo’s opinion is if things are getting better there’s no reason to see me in person, but they can’t stop me making an appointment anyway.

See the nice Catch-22? “Patient reports no symptom changes” from a video call, probably isn’t what the paper pushers want to read.

Pretty sure if I do show up out there in Jan/Feb for an appointment my neuro will be as annoyed at why I’m there, as I will be.

And with the current delay level jn OKC, I *suspect* by the time this all settles, even IF I go see Docs in Jan/Feb, we’re really talking getting really close to 2023 for an SI.

Definitely feeling like Covid has made that the wrong path to go down. Probably worth having BasicMed discussions with Docs as an alternative.

So mulling it all over right now but I’ll have to start booking appointments soon and hotel and crap if I’m “braving the Covid” to go get paperwork done to try and start a bureaucratic clock of one year.

Oh. The airplane is broken too but that’s easy-ish compared to the above. Not even worth a post of its own really, but she’s well-grounded also at the moment. Big fuel leak and local mechanic shops are waaaaaay backed up.

Back to the day job. And another cup of coffee. Need more info on this, before I decide on the trip or not.
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Tell the docs you want to fly and what you need to get there. Most of the documentation appointments for flying can probably be done via telemedicine.
 
PaulS said:
Tell the docs you want to fly and what you need to get there. Most of the documentation appointments for flying can probably be done via telemedicine.
Click to expand...

Some for certain. I just think FAA isn’t going to take a telemedicine neuro assessment very seriously.

I definitely have no problem saying “I need you to write exactly this if you agree with it professionally...” into official notes/records. Been there done that already.

It’s more of a “Am I traveling right now just for paperwork?”

And “Is that paperwork path really the best way to do this? / Best use of time?”

There’s still plenty of time to think about it and ask questions. The deadline is just closer than I realized if I don’t want to accidentally push the true timeline into 2023.

That was the “oh yeah...” moment the other night. “That clock hasn’t started yet and it has to run for a year. Can it even be started yet?”
 
@denverpilot I have no advice to offer as I have no chops in this area at all, I just want to encourage you to find the path and go for it. It is SO encouraging to hear how well you've recovered so far!
 
denverpilot said:
Some for certain. I just think FAA isn’t going to take a telemedicine neuro assessment very seriously.

I definitely have no problem saying “I need you to write exactly this if you agree with it professionally...” into official notes/records. Been there done that already.

It’s more of a “Am I traveling right now just for paperwork?”

And “Is that paperwork path really the best way to do this? / Best use of time?”

There’s still plenty of time to think about it and ask questions. The deadline is just closer than I realized if I don’t want to accidentally push the true timeline into 2023.

That was the “oh yeah...” moment the other night. “That clock hasn’t started yet and it has to run for a year. Can it even be started yet?”
Click to expand...

Is it a battery, plug-in, on your smartphone, wind-up or "shake your wrist" clock? Of course if it's an atomic clock, you may have trouble convincing the FAA that it isn't hazardous material forbidden on aircraft.
 
murphey said:
Is it a battery, plug-in, on your smartphone, wind-up or "shake your wrist" clock? Of course if it's an atomic clock, you may have trouble convincing the FAA that it isn't hazardous material forbidden on aircraft.
Click to expand...

LOL! At least you gave me a laugh about it today! :)

Appreciate the kind sentiments, all. Never really thought the paperwork part of the process would be exactly “fun”, so no big deal.

Just happy to (hopefully) almost be done with steroid treatment (I sure hope they agree after the imagery this month!) and on to “whatever’s next”.

And just trying to organize “whatever’s next” into a timeline so I’m not “that guy” who missed a deadline and ended up waiting another X number of months.

It’s like project planning at work. I can probably start having time wasting Scrum meetings with myself to tell myself “start symptom timeline” is a Blocker in my Agile workflow. Maybe make a nice Kanban Board for visualizing it. Haha.
 
You have not been deferred or denied, right? Your prior cert simply expired.

Basic Med could well be the answer; of course, a physician still has to sign-off on that. But it could be an option.

You, of all people, are not going to exercise pilot privileges if you believe it to be dangerous, and you are the least likely to exhibit denial.
 
Light sport is another option. So are gliders, balloons, and any form of flying in which you're not PIC such as being a safety pilot. Possible exception for giving dual to someone who is PIC. I haven't had to learn those rules yet. Just make sure you wear your "NOT PIC" T-shirt in case there's a problem and the NTSB starts speculating who was PIC.

Long story short, even after all this time, the title of this thread is just plain wrong because Nate is not "grounded"...in any sense of the word. :)
 
I think Nate's point is with respect to the 182, which would qualify under BasicMed but would not qualify under light sport. Of course, other options may exist, and there's always going for an SI. But it seems to me that some of these things that have come about in the past 15 years or so may be beneficial to Nate's situation.
 
Ted said:
I think Nate's point is with respect to the 182, which would qualify under BasicMed but would not qualify under light sport. Of course, other options may exist, and there's always going for an SI. But it seems to me that some of these things that have come about in the past 15 years or so may be beneficial to Nate's situation.
Click to expand...
Good point about the 182. He just needs to upgrade. :)

My own journey into flying began with someone close to me having to give up flying for medical reasons and, 20 years later, being able to get back into it due to changes in regulations. If you have patience, you should never say "never."
 
iamtheari said:
Good point about the 182. He just needs to upgrade. :)

My own journey into flying began with someone close to me having to give up flying for medical reasons and, 20 years later, being able to get back into it due to changes in regulations. If you have patience, you should never say "never."
Click to expand...

Personally, one of the things I've really liked about retiring from Cloud Nine flying is that I no longer need to think about a medical. Of course that'll change at some point I'm sure, but it's just one of those extra hassles that now if I need to make sure is up to date, it'll be for a specific, purposeful reason.
 
SCCutler said:
You have not been deferred or denied, right? Your prior cert simply expired.

Basic Med could well be the answer; of course, a physician still has to sign-off on that. But it could be an option.

You, of all people, are not going to exercise pilot privileges if you believe it to be dangerous, and you are the least likely to exhibit denial.
Click to expand...

Correct. No FAA denial. I just let it lapse. Was the safest option.
 
Ted said:
I think Nate's point is with respect to the 182, which would qualify under BasicMed but would not qualify under light sport. Of course, other options may exist, and there's always going for an SI. But it seems to me that some of these things that have come about in the past 15 years or so may be beneficial to Nate's situation.
Click to expand...

Correct. The changes allowed me to let the medical lapse to retain the most options.

If anything at this altitude MSL, gliders are more fun than most LSAs! Ha! At least the tow plane has real horsepower!

Let the pilot with the 3rd Class drag you aloft, faster than you’d get up there in the LSA. Better performance after you release too!

Hahahaha.
 
Fascinating study found but forgot to keep the link.

Found a fairly recent fascinating study of cadavers who had Sarc. Docs thought Neuro versions of the condition were extremely rare.

Turns out if you pop one of us open after we’re dead, you find 30% or more of us had Neurosarcoidosis but never had any symptoms.

Find granulomas in the skin neurons, brain, spinal cord, all over the place.

Some of us just grow them reeeeealy slow in places they don’t bother us. We croak of other things before they do.

One of our Docs at work used to be a pathologist and was always cutting open dead bodies. I joked with her that if I croak and she’s still around, she could go hunting for interesting things like the old days.

Apparently she was on the team that figured out what was up with hantavirus in New Mexico quite some time ago.

Dead people tell no lies... haha.

I thought it was interesting anyway.

No other news to report. Been chatting with Mayo about the usual paperwork needed to go get my next Disneyland Fun Magnetic Tube Ride, here shortly.

Maybe this time I’ll nap. The tech mentioned that if you snore they have to wake you up or it messes with the picture. Ha. Karen says I haven’t snored in a long time so ... I can probably nap through all the obnoxious computer generated noises and thumping.

Haha. We’ll see. I’m usually not tired during the times the local place does them. At Mayo they run those machines late into the night.
 
Time for the expected (but maybe not this soon!) update...

Mayo reviewed imagery taken Jan 20 and both they and the local imagery Doc say all significant changes and signs of spinal cord sarcoid have stopped. The steroids did their job as far as they can go. There’s (expected) permanent damage and symptoms but we’ve cleared out most of the spinal cord junk.

(Inflammation and problem area down from seven vertebrae to one and a half if I’m reading it all correctly. Posterior in the cervical spine near C5-C6.)

That could have taken up to two years and they were surprised at the speed the steroids worked at in June/July so, this is confirmation.

I’m off steroids as of tomorrow! So happy about that.

Next is a follow up phase where we see if all the steroid side effects abate including the diabetic response to them, as well as schedule in person Mayo visit in March to go over next pulmonary and neuro steps, review imagery with neuro for residual “mechanical” stuff going on in the neck, and all the other junk... get the sleep testing done and discuss residual stuff if other weirdnesses are seen like any continued oddball liver numbers (which have gone back to normal already).

And hopefully we start both the real and paperwork versions of “stable symptoms for one year” that FAA will want to see.

I’ll probably feel like crap on my final steroid step down this weekend but don’t care.

Also trying like mad to figure out how to get some specific neuro PT/OT going for the muscle weakness and the hand. Weirdness with referrals but my insurance doesn’t require one (which confuses the crap out of everyone and their computer systems - “I need to know who ordered this...” Nobody. You don’t need that... stupid computers. LOL

Got a long ways to go but it is good news to get off the dang steroid!

Ping @bbchien ... just FYI Doc. Still plugging away at goal number one. Stable symptoms. :)
 
Is your equilibrium up to a joyride flight as a passenger? Asking for a friend.
 
Half Fast said:
Excellent news!

And y’know, that “stable for one year” stuff doesn’t matter for Basic Med.

Just sayin’.... ;)
Click to expand...
So I've been told. It's not off the table as the option of possible least resistance.
AdamZ said:
Nate this is good news to hear! Really happy for your progress. When you go to Mayo are you going to Rochester MN or Scottsdale AZ?
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Rochester. FL and AZ don't have many sarcoid specialists.
iamtheari said:
Is your equilibrium up to a joyride flight as a passenger? Asking for a friend.
Click to expand...
Oh definitely. I drive and such and no real problems with balance that aren't related to simply having somewhat numb feet at this point.

Airplane co-owner has offered to go up numerous times. It just hasn't worked out with covid, schedule, and the airplane needs to go into the shop and the shop is backed up multiple months.

Sent from my LM-G850 using Tapatalk
 
Glad to hear all this! Progress is good. I've heard if you wear 2masks it's better... Scratch that... Wrong topic.

Just glad you're doing better!
 
AggieMike88 said:
Good news... adding you to my “additional reasons to visit Denver” sometime soon
Click to expand...
Well Casa Bonita is likely closed for good, but I know you were looking forward to sketchy "Mexican" food and Black Bart's cave. Lol

Sent from my LM-G850 using Tapatalk
 
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