interview

1. Have you ever heard about migraine-associated vestibulopathy?



I had no idea that such a thing existed. Apparently neither did the dozen or so doctors that I saw over the past year and a

half, or they just weren't trained to recognize it. It mostly afflicts women and very rarely do men get it. In the process

of being checked for Ménière's disease I met the one doctor that figured it out. I was very fortunate considering that there

are only two doctors that specialize in this in the state, one up here and one at the Mayo Clinic.



2. Other than not being able to read and write, how else has this disorder affected your life?



When I get up in the morning I may be able to read 1 to 5 pages and then it kicks in and that's when the day starts to get

hard. The vestibular nerve damage causes one side of the brain to receive the information layered on top of the other side

because of a 30% deficit due to a sinus infection that migrated through the porous cheekbone into my inner ear causing the

damage. Everything takes 2 to 3 times longer to do. Multitasking is extremely hard and for the most part I narrow my focus

to accomplish one task at a time. There's a thing called cognitive disturbance that goes along with this. It makes it hard

to retrieve newly learned information back out of my memory so I need to learn many things three or four times. Sometimes

I'll have all the pieces to the puzzle in front of me and it should take a matter of a few minutes to put it together, but I

miss that and it could take well over an hour or two to accomplish a simple task. There is also the emotional aspect of

this. It leaves you with a sense of loss and mourning for a piece of you that missing that you very well may never retrieve.

I find myself being very empathetic on a wider range of issues. There are days when I reminisce about the wonderful life

that I shared with my family and I can't stop the tears of joy that's what gets me through the day. Although I was relieved

when the doctor told me that this was just part of the process that people go through and have this.



3. How has your family handled it?



When it comes to my wife they don't come any better or any more dedicated. Before I had a diagnosis I could not get books on

disk that I could listen to on the computer or at least college textbooks. When I would run into a brick wall and couldn't

read anymore my wife would read to me for three or four hours every night, seven days a week. Fortunately I was aware of

speech recognition software programs and purchased one of those after I completed a full semester. Before that my wife would

type while I dictated. Needless to say there were a few stressful moments but nonetheless she knew it was my dream to do

this and she never faltered. For this I will be ever grateful.



4. What is a normal day for you?



Generally I get up before everybody else and take a shower around 5:30. I spent 45 min. to an hour trying to organize what I

am going to do for the day in efforts to keep me on track. Then I make the kids lunch and I'll get them out the door. Then

for the most part I just study all day. I would love to just watch a movie sometimes but the TV tends to make what I'm going

through worse. The kids get home around 2:30 and my wife around five-thirty. I usually study till they all get home. We then

sit down and have a home-cooked family meal every evening which I usually start 30 min. before the wife gets home. After the

dinner dishes are cleaned up I study until it's time for bed. You can well imagine that my days are very long. I study from

the time I get up to the time I go to bed, seven days a week. It is a relentless journey that I am on.





5. What part of environmental science interests you? Is that why you chose it?



Environmental science is something I've always been interested in. I spent a considerable amount of my youth camping in the

Rockies throughout Colorado and Montana. One of my favorite places is Glacier National Park. I actually liked it a lot

better 30 years ago when it was just an old gravel road that went up to it. I can also remember the headlines in the news

when the Cuyahoga River caught on fire in Ohio. I am not a sportsmen. I don’t hunt at all and fish very little. But some of

the most spiritual moments I've ever had in my life were when I was 20 miles away from civilization all by myself in the

mountains. I had a sense of feeling dwarfed by the natural splendor around me while all the time feeling one with my

surroundings.



6. Why creative writing? Have you always been a writer?



This aspect is an afterthought. For the most part the only writing that I have done in my life have been work orders or

proposals in the construction industry. What I thought was my weakness turned out to be one of my strengths. I guess you

never know until you try. Plus I can’t imagine having a better job than traveling around and writing about the natural

wonders in our country.



7. If I were to ask your friends and family to describe you in one word, what do you think they would say?

My oldest son would describe me as a well-intentioned ass. I think everybody else would just describe me as a dedicated

family man. I don't hang out with the boys and drink and never spend Sunday watching sports. My family is so much more fun.