A new AJAS supporter, thanks to Perfetti Van Melle's Air Heads

Awareness Booth hits the road!

August 2010 saw us in Aldie VA at Pev’s for the DC Challenge. Wendy and Chris staffed the AJAS Awareness Booth while two paintball teams took the field. We’d like to send a BIG shout out to our new sponsor, Perfetti Van Melle, who donated 1,000 Air Heads for the booth! What a great way to entice people to stop in and hear about AS.

We met a 17-year-old player who has another kind of arthritis and is having to give up lacrosse but plans to continue to play paintball (ROCK ON!). We met a woman whose family members have AS and treat it holistically through diet and lifestyle choices. And we met tons of little kids who walked away with mouths full of Air Heads.

Our teams did us proud: Team FUSE made it to the quarterfinals for the second tournament in a row (RAWRRRR). We fielded a pump team for the first time and are pleased to announce that Blind Aggression made it to the finals, coming in FOURTH. Booya!

I am definitely going through a ‘bad patch’. Explaining AS to others is difficult, but explaining that it attacks sporadically is another. Only my closest friends and family bother to listen long enough to understand. Then again my Mum still struggles with it, she says “He has a bad back”. So I am piled in with the millions of others that suffer from back pain.

If you offered me back pain instead of AS I’d snap your hand off… *shakes hands* deal done! At least then I know what to expect and that certain movements trigger it, that it won’t necessarily get worse over time and that it won’t affect my posture as dramatically as AS can. I wouldn’t have to take the different pills morning and night, I wouldn’t wake up and have to go through the ’Darwin’ type procedure of crawling, crouching and finally walking, before I can stand up and walk to the kitchen.

I am probably glazing over back pain as if its like getting a cough or a cold, it isn’t. But at the same time it is not as acute as AS, it is not as intelligent or as intrinsic or invasive.

So, after that string of text and wanderings.. back to my subject heading. I have planned to climb a few relatively large hills or as they are more commonly known, mountains, on this side of the pond.

I aim to climb Snowdon (Wales), Ben Nevis (Scotland) and Scarfel Pike (England). These are known as the 3 peaks and with that is the epic *Der der derrrrrrrrr* “Three Peaks Challenge!”.

All 3 peaks climbed within 24 hours. I am doing some training this weekend with a friend to get myself in a decent condition so that I am able to climb them all…..within 24 hours!.

I was due to do a test climb of Snowdon last week but my nasty bout of AS kicked in and I had to rest up. Again unpredictable and invasive.

I will post some pictures up and start taking care of ‘Kenny’s Corner’ a little better!

Thanks All

Ken

It’s been an age since posting, apologies… So what’s changed.. I am now a married man, that’s pretty cool… just got back from a lovely honeymoon.. was brilliant.. heat does our breed the world of good!

So before Christmas I had Iritis, you will be glad to know since I have had no problems with my eyes (Touch wood).

So at the moment my exercise consists of running (around a mile  - 3 miles) anymore and I pay in pain the next day. I am going to shift to swimming so that 80% of my exercise is in the pool. The lack of pounding on the knees, hips and ankles should help and I got great results just after a week of hitting the pool while away on holiday!

I have been thinking.. wouldn’t it be nice to see someone, with a good body yet this person has AS. I mean, we all have good bodies but what about someone who looked like they worked out seriously and they looked like they had no problems what so ever. I am half considering this as a project, I know I would love to see a picture of someone looking really cut and toned with AS… it would certainly drive me. But then again we all have different strains of AS then surely some will be able to gain a better condition than others? Some people won’t want to look good they just want to feel good? For me it’s important to look good, I always used to before I got this dodgy condition and I still hold it off well. But what if I got strict on my diet and worked out as much as possible… would I be able to shake it from holding me back? or would it aggravate my condition and make me experience the painful spells more?

Interesting thoughts.

Its been a while, apologies for that. I was really busy with work. The credit crunch has hit the company and cuts were made. I was lucky enough to stay and now I have been off for a  week. I woke up 2 weeks ago now with an itchy, aggravatedright eye. It soon became really red and cloudy and so I went off to the doctors. I suspected it was related to the AS but hoped it was an infection. You know things are bad when your hoping for an infection.

I went to my doctors who soon passed me on to the eye clinic to see a specialist, they checked my eye, checked the pressure and confirmed it was Iritis (might be incorrectly written there) and they have issued me with 1 set of eye drops that sting like hell, to be taken morning and night to open my pupil right up to prevent the lense from sticking to my eyeball. Apparently this can happen!

The other drops are steroidal and I take hourly. At the moment my vision is totally impaired and I have no depth perception and vision in my right eye is really cloudy. The office I work in is over 100 miles away so I cant get to work, nor can I work from home.

Here is a pic of my eyes at the moment. Check my pupils.

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l225/fire_in_the_hole/Myeyes.jpg

I have the new Call of duty Modern Warfare 2  and I cannot see a bloody thing to play it.

I love AS.

Ken

Anyway my documents are through, my Dr could see I was in agony and he quickly issued me with 90mg Arcoxia and 120mg Arcoxia for when I get very stiff and painful. I now have a box of 100 tramadol for pain relief. I started exercise for the first time today. I have done a bit on the punch bag and light weights with some pressups. I feel weak in my core so have alot to catch up on.

Hey Wendy! Thanks for your message on an early post of mine. It would be great to see you in 2011 and Brian at the conference. I will definitely have to get over there!!

Peace guys

Kenx

 I work in IT but I am not a real IT person, more of a specialist in a software package but a lady who is not too sharp on computers asked me this – “Why is it, that when I want to turn my computer off I have to click the start button?”

 When you think about it she has a point.

I never wanted my posts to seem negative all the time but the last 6 months has been the worst experiences of AS I have had to endure. What’s happening to me? I just about got used to the pain in my lower back, the restrictions in movement in my hips and the ups and downs and now my neck seems to not want to turn left.

I am taking this in my stride, the way we are suppose to. But it’s pretty scary when it hits you – BANG YOU HAVE AS.

But above all this I am still here, still alive and kicking and still in a job which looks more and more unlikely with the economic down turn we are in. Aren’t we coming out of it now?

 Anyway – I was looking through YouTube at some AS related videos and watched a really cool video from a bloke called Tom. I have emailed him and we are trying to get together on MSN to chat and I am hoping to have a story from someone else’s point of view soon.

Cheers

Ken

Well I have had a great weekend. Saturday I just chilled and got my mountain bike out and went for a spin. The bike is a great way of exercise and its smooth on the joints so low impact! I feel great after exercise so enjoy doing it. I was only out for about 30 minutes and it was enough to allow my body to relax.

I went to see Jimmy Carr last night in York and it was brilliant. I am unsure if people outside of the UK have heard of him but he is a very good comedian that won’t hold back at all! Very funny!!

I am all set for a good week. My body feels good although I am having to take Tramadol to sleep at the moment as my ribs are extremely painful. I might go for a walk tonight to keep my legs going. Other than that I feel good at the moment.

Apologies for my absence. I was on holiday for a few weeks and then came back and forgot my password for the site so Mr. Warner had to help me out. Now I am back I can give you a quick summary of what I have been up to.

My back has been OK for the last few weeks. I have not been able to exercise like I usually do but I am glad I am still living without too much pain. The Arcoxia seem to be doing their job but I do think the dosage needs to be stepped up. I am currently on the 60mg and used to have the 90mg! So I need to talk to my Dr I think.

So I have been camping, fishing and visiting family – Travelled over 1000 miles from north to south, east to west. I bet that wouldn’t even get you out of some states in the US! Ha!

My plans this weekend are to catch up with a good friend I used to work with and Sunday I am off to see Jimmy Carr who is a hilarious comedian over here. You may have heard of him. He cuts it close to the bone but he is funny!

I need to step my exercise up so that’s my goal this weekend. How are you guys doing?

Post me a msg!

Its pretty annoying too, I started writing for this site and on starting I have been in a ‘bad phase’ and I don’t want to give a negative impression but at the same time I have to be honest. With hat said I think the whole bad spell was down to running out of meds, I have them now so surely the only way is up!

Be cool people.

If anyone wants to discuss AS off the board for whatever reason feel free to email direct. kenny_holley at Hotmail.com