My New Wheels

I have been pretty busy the past few weeks. There have been the typical projects, such as getting a newsletter out, my church library volunteer work, prayer meetings, etc. But on Thursday, September 3 a new chapter of my life began, I bought a car-like SUV.

For my entire adult like I have used alternative transportation. During my college years and pretty much through the 1980’s my main form of transportation was my bicycle. It was good exercise, got me most places I needed go, and was reliable. The rest of the time I either carpooled or took the bus. When I moved to Texas I found myself sick with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities and unable to work. By the time I was awarded disability I was too sick to even care about a car. In 1996 God healed me but my economic situation was such that a car was just not a financial possibility. Though San Antonio Texas has a good bus system, it is not perfect and does not go many places. When I broke my foot last year the situation became even more difficult for me. I now was unable to walk to bus stops, which made getting around very difficult. Thankfully, my church came to my rescue and several folks started providing me transportation to church, the store, and other places I needed to get too. They were really a blessing.

Recently my economic situation has changed and I am now able to afford a car. So this past summer I started researching exactly what type of car I should get. If God had never called me to AOCCCI, my automotive needs would be totally different, but God did call me to this work and eventually I will no longer be living in one of the largest cities in the country. With that in mind I wanted a vehicle with good ground clearance and space inside. At the same time I did not want a vehicle that was so large it would be more car then I could handle, would be a gas guzzler, would be unsafe and/or break down often, or a color that would create a solar oven affect. So I spent a lot of time studying the different choices and praying. I went out and checked the possibilities for blind spots. Several friends told me I was wise for doing that and if they had done the same thing they would not have purchased the car they now owned because of the blind spots. So for anyone considering buying a car—do not forget to check for blind spots. You need to be able to see out of it when driving.

Another prayer request I had was for help. This was the first car I have ever purchased and I knew I needed some help or it would be easy for a car salesman to take advantage of me.

God answered both of my prayers. My friend’s husband has the gift of car buying. He has purchased many cars in his life and knows how to play the game well. He is a godly man and we prayed for God’s guidance in the car I should get. He also knew what to look for. Larry saw things I never even noticed. He also knew information I was ignorant of such as one dealership I had looked at also ran a car rental agency. He suspected the car I had looked at had been a rental and when he asked, the salesman confirmed it had been. In the end, with Larry’s help, I bought at very good price a 2006 Toyota Rav4. I do not believe I could have gotten a better car at a better price. Larry talked them down to $18,500 out the door (includes the TTL).

Of course after I signed the last piece of paper and wrote a check for the full price of the car, I had to follow Larry home to his house, in the dark, in my new car. Both of us would have been in a lot of trouble if we didn’t show the car to my friend (Larry’s wife). When she saw it she promptly said, “I want one”, which Larry replied, “she what trouble you have caused”.

Now that I have wheels, I am not stuck here in San Antonio anymore. Though money is still being raised for property, I can now start the process of looking. AOCCCI does need donations before property can be purchased, but we also need your prayers. Like buying a car, I have never purchased or even seriously looked for property. So your prayers are very important.

GoD and DoG by WJ Francsico

Nation's Banking Crisis Hits AOCCCI

We have all heard about the banking crises in our nation. Big banks have had to be bailed out. Smaller banks have been taken over by the FDIC and turned over to more profitable banks. I never thought the banking crisis would affect me personally, but it now has.

I didn’t think I would be affected by a bank closer because my personal finances are with a small credit union. Credit Unions are different then banks in that the members of a credit union are the owners. Every year I get a ballot in the mail so I can vote for next year’s trustees. Though there are many similarities between banks and credit unions, there are differences. And a major difference is credit unions are less likely to fail because some idiot or idiots are in charge.

I am not just responsible for my own finances though. I also manage the finances of Alpha Omega Christian Communities For The Chemically Injured (AOCCCI). This is not a job I want to keep and have been praying for years that God will send me a bookkeeper or accountant, but so far that prayer has not been answered.

Years ago I opened a Non-Profit checking account at Guaranty Bank here in San Antonio. It was the best deal at the time. Most business checking accounts come with lots of fees. The non-profit checking account has much lower fees and none if a balance of $200 (at the time) was kept. A really good deal.

I first heard that Guaranty Bank was having problems last month when it was mentioned on the news that the bank was looking for a buyer. Well, over the weekend BBVA Compass Bank. The only thing I know about Compass bank is they have branches around the city. I did look at their web site and do not see any special checking accounts for non-profits. Hopefully they will honor the terms of the non-profit account. If they do not, well I will deal with that issue when it arrives.

If you subscribe to Healing God’s Way, AOCCCI’s free online newsletter, you should have received a newsletter last week in your email box. If you did not, please let me know. I know one person did not because it bounced. Fortunately I am in contact with this person and have her current email address. So I was able to go correct the address in the newsletter mailing list. But most folks who change their email address I never hear from again. If your email becomes no good, and you do nothing about it, you will stop receiving Healing God’s Way. Please let me know you are changing your email address if and I can make a change to the mailing list. Or at the bottom of the newsletter is a link that will allow you to make the change yourself.

If you are not receiving Healing God’s Way, you can sign up on the web site. It is free.

I never did solve the problem I am having but I did figure out the problem is with a specific template. So I started over in developing a new template. Not happy with what I created last week but I got a newsletter out, which was most important to me.

Update on my car shopping. I have test drove a few vehicles and am close to making my decision. I have been praying a lot about what exactly God wants me to buy. I expect to buy something in September.

Newsletter Problems

The Apostle Paul suffered a lot during his earthly life, but there is one hardship he never experienced, the hassles of dealing with tech support. I discovered several months ago for some unknown reason I suddenly could not save anything when trying to put a newsletter together. I never had this problem before so I was stumped. I use a web based service to create my newsletters. When I discovered the problem online chat was closed for the day so I sent an email. Several days later I received an email asking me what browser I used and I promptly responded. It took a week to get a response from them, but basically nothing was happening. So I finally contacted them using the online chat support. After an hour chatting, the tech said he would look into my problem and email me. I never got an email. So today I once again logged on and clicked on chat support. I spent one and half hours with chat support. This tech discovered my template had a bunch of extra codes, but never gave me an answer as to what caused the problem in the first place. I was able to save items in the template a few months ago and now suddenly I cannot. Why? In the end he said he and others needed to clean it up and he promised to email me later. Well, as I write this the chat support is closed for the day and I still have not received any emails from them. I went and tested my template and it still will not let me save. Needless to say, I am very frustrated. Believe me; I want to send out a newsletter. But until this problem is solved I cannot create newsletters.

On March 13, 2008, while walking to a bus stop, I twisted my left foot on a broken brick. An MRI would reveal I broke my navicular bone. A year and a half later I still suffer residual problems from that injury. I have always been baffled how I could fracture my foot just walking. Well, this past Saturday after praying with a friend I hung up the phone, got up out of my chair, and walked towards the kitchen. I have no idea what happened but somehow my right toes caught on something and I am now lying on the couch with my foot propped up on pillows. It is swollen and very colorful. I went to an emergency walk-in orthopedic clinic today. The doctor said he did not see anything on the x-rays but said sometimes a hairline fracture will not show up for a few weeks. I have a follow-up appointment with the doctor who treated my left foot last year. Hopefully by then all the prayers being said for me will be answered with significant healing.

I really do not have time for all these problems. I am in the market to buy a vehicle. I have been researching exactly what I want to purchase. Last week I spent several days visiting used car lots with one purpose in mind. I wanted to narrow down my list by sitting in vehicles to check for blind spots. I have driven a few cars over the years belonging to my friends. They had no trouble seeing out the windows, but I did. Of course, in every case the friend was much taller than me. I did cross several vehicles off my list, some for a variety of reasons. Hopefully by the time I finish my online research and am ready to start test driving, my toes will be much improved. Somehow I don’t think a dealership would want someone wearing a medical shoe and on crutches test driving their cars.

Frustrations

Life is full of frustrations and mine is no different. For the past year I have been dealing with computer issues. I finally broke down and got a new computer earlier this year, which I thought would be the end of my problems. I was wrong. This computer uses Vista, which means the software I used to use to create web sites not only will not work on this computer but is not even made. At this point in time I have no idea what software I should buy. To be honest, I would prefer someone who loves to make web sites volunteer to take over that job. I really don’t have the time or energy to learn new software and redo the web site from scratch.

If you have any advice on what software I should consider, I would appreciate hearing from you.

But that is not the only frustration I have had to deal with. I have been using an online service that provides me with everything I need to put together a newsletter and send it out. I have been having problems with the site. The latest issue occurred just the other day when I tried to put a newsletter together. When it is time to put a newsletter together I have a template I use to cut and paste the different sections into the newsletter. For some reason when I hit the save button, what I had just pasted into the newsletter disappeared. This kept happening so I finally gave up and emailed the company. This newest problem has yet to be resolved but I sure hope it is soon.

If you regularly watch the weather reports you might have heard Texas is in a major drought and experiencing record heat. Well, I presently live in San Antonio Texas and I can assure you it has been one of the hottest summers I have ever lived through. How hot? Well, yesterday marked the 30th day this year we have hit 100F (38C) or higher. In fact we had a record of 102F (39C). In 1998 we hit 100F (38C) or higher 36 times which is the all time record. Honestly, I will be surprised if we do not break that record as there is no relief from these hot temperatures. One reason it is so hot is the soil is done dry. This drought is said to be worse than the five year drought Texas had in the 1950’s. We have had very little rain in the past 23 months.

So if you are one of those people living in the Northeast part of the United States where summer appears to be passing you by, come to San Antonio, Texas the tourist capital of Texas. There is plenty of stuff to do on vacation here and there is plenty of hot weather for you to enjoy.

Test Results

I am happy to report I do not have Diabetes Insipidus (water diabetes). I had an MRI of my pituitary gland which showed no problems. The water deprivation test revealed nothing to worry about either. I honestly did not think DI was my problem, but it is nice to know for sure.

Water Deprivation Test

If you have read the past few posts you then know I have had a few difficult years. In earlier posts I have shared my unexpected move, broken foot, and computer problems. What I have not shared is the health mystery I have been struggling with for years. I have gone to many doctors and done lots of praying, but as of this writing I am still living with a mystery, which is getting worse. I had seen an endocrinologist in 2006 who said I did not have an endocrine problem, but decided it was time for a second opinion earlier this year. Hopefully this doctor will have some answers for me soon.

Since my first visit to my current endocrinologist in March, I have had three 24 hour urine tests, lots of peeing in cups, to many to count blood draw’s (think I have given a gallon or kg of blood to that lab) and a trip to the hospital.

I was admitted to Christus Santa Rosa Hospital on April 20 for a Water Deprivation Test, which is used to determine if the patient has Diabetes Insipidus, also called Water Diabetes. It has nothing to do with the more common sugar diabetes (Diabetes Mellitus). Diabetes Insipidus is usually caused by a problem with the pituitary gland (injury or tumor), resulting in a lack of antidiuretic hormone being secreted. This hormone tells the kidneys to conserve water by concentrating the urine. A person with Diabetes Insipidus will continue to urinate no matter how dehydrated they may become. I have a lot of symptoms, but one of my most serious symptoms is chronic thirst. I am drinking two to three gallons of water daily (1 US gallon is equal to 3.79 liters).

The first thing I learned is just how rare this test is. When I told the nurse why I was in the hospital, her response was “what’s that”. After reading the doctor’s orders, she returned to say I was right but she had never heard of the test and was going to have to call my doctor to get more detailed instructions. During my 48 hour stay, every shift of nurses, lab techs, etc. said the same thing to me. They had never heard of this test before, let alone had to do the test on a patient. As I waited for my friend to pick me up when I was released, it became obvious to me I had been the talk of the floor because of my unique test.

So, what happens during a Water Deprivation Test? Basically, nothing by mouth for at least 24 hours and round the clock urine tests, blood tests, and weight measurements. I had my last drink of water around 1:30pm on Monday afternoon. I was not allowed to drink or eat anything until about 7pm Tuesday night. During that time they took a urine sample and weighed me every hour around the clock. Every two hours several vials of blood was taken. Having to get out of bed every hour for over 24 hours also meant I got very little sleep. Around noon on Tuesday my doctor visited me and decided my labs said it was time for a shot of antidiuretic hormone, formally referred to as vasopressin. After the shot I had 4 more hours of urine samples, getting out of bed to stand on the scale, and blood draws. Once I was given food and water, I no longer got weighed but the lab tests continued. I think I was told three times this was the last blood test, before they finally stopped poking me. My last blood test was around 3:30am on Wednesday. I would be released around 1 pm that afternoon. My friend got me back home around 2pm.

I still do not know the results from the Water Deprivation Test or the MRI of my pituitary gland I had a week later. I see my doctor next Tuesday and hopefully I will have some answers then.

I share this for one simple reason. Before going into the hospital I was unable to find any web site that told me what to expect from the test. The Diabetes Insipidus Foundation web site does have information for doctors but I found nothing for the lay person. If you are a patient reading this post, I would love for you to share your experience. It may help someone else facing this same test.