30 April 2026

First, Happy Birthday, Dad. I can’t believe it’s been so long. I was 19 at the time. 

My body is tired. My body is getting old. I’m a 52 year old in an 80 year old body. 

My body was hurting. I didn’t know why. Then I saw a video about a lady that has a type of arthritis since childhood. The only thing that helped her was a carnivore diet. She said after seven years she is finally able to add things that aren’t meat back to her diet. But it was and is a slow process. 

So I decided to try carnivore also. My body was in so much pain that day in particular, I was not sure what to do. I ask my wife to make me a breakfast of bacon, eggs, steak and top everything with butter. 

Some people might say, “that’s going to kill you.”  

No kidding. Like dying is a bad thing. Everyone that is born dies. I’m living on borrowed time anyway. If I die everyone can cry for a week and then life will go on. 

But in the meantime I’m alive and not in pain. 

I have had days where I wanted to cry the whole day because I hurt so bad. I started this carnivore diet and I started feeling so much better when I woke up in the morning. One morning I felt positively euphoric. Nothing was hurting. It was good to be alive. 

But I had lots of food in my house, that was not carnivore that needed to be used. I hate throwing food away. It’s a sin, if it’s not gone bad, as far as I’m concerned. And I don’t believe in use by dates. 

I ate a wrap my wife made one day. That night my arm specifically was hurting. 

We made a lasagna . I love lasagna. But something seemed different. The next morning I was in pain. I have a lasagna in my freezer waiting to be cooked. But I was in so much pain after the last, I don’t even want to look it it.

Basically I’ve been eating steak, ground beef, eggs, bacon, cheese and some other things. Chicken is not my friend I’ve decided. It can go straight through my system. Plus I think it is dry and chalky. Maybe I need to try things with dark meat. 

Liver I bought, and my wife was very excited. I read that beef liver is the most nutrient dense food on the planet. My wife made the liver soaked it and cooked it. the way people say to make it better. I still don’t like beef liver. I don’t like the texture. I don’t like the taste. I honestly don’t comprehend how anyone could like it. My mom said she liked it. How? Baffles me. I might try to make liver jerky, but that’s a different story. 

My brother came to visit San Antonio. I went to help them find there way around. They bought me lunch while we were out. Sandwiches for two days. The third day I said I can’t do the bread because I was hurting to bad. So we did something else. Great German food. And I wasn’t hurting later. 

My brother’s wife mentioned that my uncle, my dad’s brother had celiac disease. I did not even know what that was. So I looked it up. Apparently it effects the lining of the small intestine and the body can’t process gluten. 

Not everyone gets it, another brother had a DNA test and it said he was not going to have it. But because our uncle had it we are more likely to get it. What I read 1 in 140 people get it. 

I was kind of bummed about the fact that we went to a church activity and all the desserts were made with flour. That was a bummer. I have made bread for years. I love bread. But I love not hurting more. 

But then the other day I seemed to be having a lot of reflux. That can hurt. So I began searching. Along with that I quit eating anything and only drinking water.   But after two days I found that you should not be drinking  anything while you are eating and then wait about half an hour.  So I tried using that advice and everything is much better.

Do I want to live carnivore forever? No. 

I ascribe to the idea, “Let your Food be your Medicine, and let your Medicine be your Food.”  I used to think it meant having a well balanced diet. But “for everything there is a season.” I love lots of things I’m not eating at the moment. Apples, bananas, watermelon, certain veggies. Plus I love to grow lots of my own food. But if I have celiac disease I need to be more mindful of what foods I eat. 

I will admit I love eating bacon. Bacon is happiness. Eggs, steak, jerky, and other things. 

There are lots information out there that anyone can find it. I would never say people need to do the carnivore diet to be a good person. I want to eat lots of things I know I can’t. But we all need to be more mindful about what we eat. 

Valentine breakfast

16 April 2026….just an update

So I decided to cut my hair. Here are a few photos. 

The reason I let my hair grow is because it is warmer, but it is starting to get warmer in Texas right now. 

Do I look better. Probably. But I like being warm in winter, such as it is here. 

Before. 

After

So I will admit it is easier to take care of myself. 

14 April 2026….one more year.

So I guess today is an anniversary of sorts for me. 

13 years ago I had a stroke. 

I saw old posts from people on facebook, I  never saw the posts before. 

It’s nice to know a few people cared. I’m guessing more people cared than I realized. 

I had a pretty massive stroke 13 years ago. It was the kind of stroke that kills 99% of the people who have a similar stroke in the first 90 days. I’m going on 14 years now, just past the 13 year mark. So for better or worse I’m still moving around. 

That said my diagnosis is/was “Locked-in-syndrome”. Most people with the same diagnosis as me are only able to move their eyes and blink. I have a lot more ability than that. I use an electric wheelchair, but I can do things that most people with my diagnosis could never do. 

I lived for months in the hospital and I couldn’t move myself, I had to have my diaper changed and I had a catheter. Not my idea of a good time. I had no idea what had happened. I thought some kind of technology had been invented to keep me in my bed. Everyone thought I would never move again by myself. I still remember the day I was able to move my fingers by myself.  I wanted to show the physical therapist and occupational therapist. At the same time. So I went to my appointment and after they put me back in my chair before leaving, I moved a couple fingers on a hand. The one lady’s eyes got really big. I don’t remember much more than that at the moment. 

Over the next few months I was able to begin doing lots of things on my own. Using the bathroom, using my wheelchair by myself, using a walker, feeding myself. 

One thing that I didn’t really understand is how much effort is required to chew your own food. Mechanically processed is much easier. And tastes the same. 

Eventually a Doctor at the VA hospital felt I needed to go somewhere else. They called it a “skilled nursing facility”, most everyone called it a nursing home. 

In some ways I hated that place. One of many reasons, it smelled like crap. Literally. They would change the diapers of other people “warehoused” there and the stink was awful. But one thing I did learn how to do myself there was get on and off the toilet by myself. And that was not something they spent time teaching me. I figured it out by myself. My wife at the time said it was the best place that was recommended. 

Eventually I was recruited to go to another facility. Awesome. I got a private room and bathroom. They helped me take a bath everyday. And I was there until I said I would not go to any other facility. They asked me what should they do with me. My wife at the time didn’t want me at the house. But she sent me divorce papers while I was there. So I said put me on the street. I think that might have shamed people into working with me. 

So in a small nutshell that is my life for the first year after my stroke. What a rollercoaster. 

It’s been quite a ride since then.