Day 1 - Taking Charge of my Health

©2015 James Dacey, Jr. OFS


Hello My Friends,

Quick historical personal review and why I needed to do this. As so many of you know I had 2 strokes back in August of 2014, when I was an extremely healthy 186 lbs, working out every day, eating only raw fruits and vegetables (smoothies and salads) and running 2 miles a day. Well, by January 2015 all my side effects started to flare up and by March I was hospitalized for most of the month; one week of blood pressure issues; another week of blacking out incidents at work and at home (my left side fully numb since January); and my last week of constant dizzy spells that were driving me crazy. I have memory issues and recently I have learned that the strokes caused brain damage affecting my sight. My Neurologist took away my driving privileges rendering me disabled, due to all these very disruptive neurological issues. Anyhow… after a lymphoma infection in my left leg (doubling the size of my leg and a reaction from the medication) my body blew up to a whopping 261.8 lbs, my next weigh in for me won’t be till at least Friday, July 24… That was a very quick review, now let’s fast forward to yesterday…

Yesterday for me was a gloom and doom day… Why? I think it’s because the entire day I felt wiped out and exhausted. I slept Monday night 9pm -5:30am… Yeah that seems nice, but throughout the day I was so tired. I then took a nap from about 3:30pm -7pm… Oh I’m not done then I went back to bed last night by 9 and slept from 10pm to 7am this morning… Way too much sleep, this isn’t healthy…. Why? I think it’s because I have become so sedentary with my day to day existence. Not a good way to try to make the most out of my days of stroke recovery. In the midst of that entire day of exhaustion and sleepiness it was kind of an awakening for me. I need to just get out and get going. Walking, hmmmm is / was always my favorite drug; I use to be so addicted to it and it always made me feel wonderful. So that’s the back story to today’s adventure…

Today after waking up from 9 hours of sleep… I woke up exhausted. I already had promised Mr. McRuff that today he and I would begin our daily walk regimen. So after all my medication and a refreshing hot shower/shave... Time to gear up, put on Mr. McRuff’s harness and hit the road. Today we walked 1.9 miles (8:24 – 9:07am), see how we can enjoy Milford for such a wonderful, beautiful, safe local walk.

It was a really wonderful and very refreshing walk, sunny cool refreshing 61 degrees. We got to see many people we knew; and we also got to say Hi to so many strangers along the way. We only rested once at the First Presbyterian Church for three minutes. I didn’t take my camera this journey; but I figured since it was our maiden voyage, we should just focus at the task at hand –and that was exercise and routine.

After we got home Mr. McRuff drank almost a bowl of water and jumped in bed with Chrissy curled up, flip upside down with his paws dangling in the air and minutes later you could hear him snoring. Yeah he had a rough morning I can see. Me, I got all energized to write this out and focus on the creative part of me, the part of me that wants to be creative every day. Sitting here drinking some lemon ice water feels refreshing... My return blood pressure was 148/86… Well it is only my first day, sure hope to see that drop. My meal was a huge bowl of 32oz of chopped spinach and 16oz of mini onions sprinkled with garlic and lemon pepper. This was delicious…

PS… In the midst of this morning’s walk -My Spirit is on fire with ideas and thoughts of some very creative ways to reignite the ministry. Our Lord has a plan for me. I honestly don’t “see” it yet, but I got to say I “feel” it and I know He wants to use me even more to help and to pray for others. All of you are such an inspiration to me. Please keep in touch...

LOVE & MISS YOU GUYS!!!!

Your brother in Christ Jesus 
And His Most Blessed Mother,
Jim (The Rosary Man) Dacey Jr OFS

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