https://www.keepwalkingcidp.com/home daily 1.0 2021-05-22 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/t/5f97778a2c1e20375efe990f/1615034493221/Faith.jpg Home - My Keep Walking Story Find out why I am walking. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/t/5f9777e19098c9459897f384/1621697097041/stellllla+legendary.jpg Home - “Thinking Sick” An Inspirational Story of Finding Health and Cures through Paralysis and Pain. https://www.keepwalkingcidp.com/my-story daily 0.75 2021-03-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/t/5fb01392f8f3f14190be7c01/1615034617093/IMG_1703.JPEG My Story https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/t/5fb014cc1cc5cc6622952b71/1615034644178/IMG_1401.JPEG My Story - CIDP During the initial ride to the emergency room when I first contemplated my sick future, I did not know to consider the possibility of pain. I could not really fathom the nature of the pending pain. Like everyone I have been burned on a stove and by a campfire, cut my thumb half through in our camper door, smashed my toes, pulled off fingernails and toenails, broken my nose from an errant throw to second base and fractured a finger when sacked by a much larger linebacker, and like most males have been kicked in the testicles. Growing up in Kentucky and having had a horse for a brief period of time while I was a junior high school student, I have purposely and accidently touched electric fences but believe I have had the intelligence to have never peed on one. I can confirm it hurts a lot when a horse bites you. I have felt acute and severe pain, the most debilitating of which I consider to be headaches from which I fold into the fetal position, close my eyes and plead for unconsciousness. However, I am not ready for this particular manifestation of pain. I have provided psychotherapy to people with chronic and severe back pain and cancer patients who had various levels of pain including excruciating bone pain. No amount of professional compassion for others or personal experiences with acute or accidental pain prepared me for living in constant, unremitting, insidious, future smothering neuropathic pain. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/t/5fb015fb4aff1f2f8543ad34/1615028776941/IMG_1528.JPEG My Story - Believe in Possibilities I see the good doctor several times at the national meetings and advisory boards we do each year. For months since my initial diagnosis with GBS and subsequent diagnosis with CIDP, I have been politely ignoring the doctor from the North. When a southerner goes up against a northerner it is true rope-a-dope. He is emphatically and continually telling me I need to be on a drug indicated for cancer he has used for various types of disorders and believes may be effective for neurologic diseases. I smile and tell him I believe him and warmly repeat I will look into it, but in the stereotypical manner I learned growing up south of the Mason Dixon Line I do not tell him I have no intention of taking it. I believe in evidence-based medicine and the scientist-practitioner model, so I go to the literature and find conspicuously little evidence for the effectiveness of the product in the treatment of GBS or CIDP. I find little evidence because there are no published results from clinical trials for the product with GBS and CIDP period – good or bad. So, I continue with what I am doing even though it is becoming less and less effective, smiling but ignoring his scolding each time I see him. He looks at me each time with a slight sideward eye, revealing I am the only one of the two of us who believe my excuses . https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/t/5fb01b4716947a58fe06dad1/1615034833613/IMG_4035.JPG My Story - Keep Walking The distinction between passion and compulsion is subtle. I suppose the former has a socially acceptable purpose and utility but I am not sure the experience can be differentiated. It worked. To be strong and in little pain is profound. Decades of future returned without the cloud and fog of dread. Payers are incentivized to inhibit experimentation, extinguishing incalculable discovery, value, and savings with each myopic denial , but experiment we must. I am walking as a personal celebration and in hopes awareness prompts altruism and altruism discovery and discovery relief. Above all I am walking in hope that you and all you love will Keep On Walking. https://www.keepwalkingcidp.com/the-challenge daily 0.75 2021-03-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/t/60436d30630cdc107820e9fb/1615032023474/moe+barry+copper+lake.jpg The Challenge In this year dedicated to keep on walking, I have chosen to challenge myself to walk as many of the Texas State Park hiking trails as I can in preparation for the ultimate test of the Appalachian Trail. The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply the A.T., is a marked hiking trail in the Eastern United States extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. It is about 2,200 miles in length and will take me approximately 6 months to complete. Starting on March the 3rd I will be attempting to hike on average 10 miles a day with a 40 pound pack on my back all while sleeping under the stars. Bring it on. Keep on walking. Never stop walking. https://www.keepwalkingcidp.com/cidp-and-gbs daily 0.75 2021-03-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/t/6043611b6e757e450072c211/1615034708717/IMG-1606.jpg CIDP and GBS - GBS Guillain-Barré (Ghee-yan Bah-ray) Syndrome is an inflammatory disorder of the peripheral nerves outside the brain and spinal cord. It’s also called: Acute Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy Landry’s Ascending Paralysis GBS is characterized by the rapid onset of numbness, weakness, and often paralysis of the legs, arms, breathing muscles, and face. Paralysis is ascending, meaning that it travels up the limbs from fingers and toes towards the torso. Loss of reflexes, such as the knee jerk, are usually found. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/t/6043635cc81e850732e12ace/1615034714798/IMG-1428.jpg CIDP and GBS - CIDP Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (CIDP) is a rare disorder of the peripheral nerves characterized by gradually increasing sensory loss and weakness associated with loss of reflexes. The number of new cases per year of CIDP is about 1-2 per 100,000 people, but as the disease can be present in a person for years prior to diagnosis, the prevalence reflecting the accumulation of cases over time may be as high as 9 per 100,000 in some areas. CIDP is caused by damage to the covering of the nerves, called myelin. It can start at any age and is more frequent in men than women. CIDP is not self-limiting or spontaneous. Left untreated, 30% of CIDP patients will progress to wheelchair dependence. Early recognition and proper treatment can avoid a significant amount of disability. https://www.keepwalkingcidp.com/hiking-photo-gallery daily 0.75 2021-03-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/5f95780466dc2c2508f4b05c/5f957d9feb2c5661f9098cb5/1615030298545/barry+and+friends.jpg State Park Photo Gallery https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/5f95780466dc2c2508f4b05c/5f957dae736e6b08081b6b8c/1615030279970/bary+an+moe.jpg State Park Photo Gallery https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/5f95780466dc2c2508f4b05c/5f957dbd23b38875df6703f9/1615030279974/botham+selfie.jpg State Park Photo Gallery https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/5f95780466dc2c2508f4b05c/5f957dc786c6207d2866163d/1615030279977/cactus+faith.jpg State Park Photo Gallery https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/5f95780466dc2c2508f4b05c/5f957df31d206d227a7ead6f/1615030279980/camp+meeting+spot.jpg State 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Gallery https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/5f95780466dc2c2508f4b05c/60436884f84379506f0dbe73/1615030404891/scenery.jpg State Park Photo Gallery https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/5f95780466dc2c2508f4b05c/60436887a7bf4e4ead660d87/1615030408105/sleepy+pup.JPG State Park Photo Gallery https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/5f95780466dc2c2508f4b05c/6043688f6e757e450073012c/1615030416043/spider+web.jpg State Park Photo Gallery https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/5f95780466dc2c2508f4b05c/60436887513b644d699f7c6b/1615030408111/stella+.jpg State Park Photo Gallery https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/5f95780466dc2c2508f4b05c/60436893535c63641cdc03b1/1615030419847/stella+2.jpg State Park Photo Gallery https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/5f95780466dc2c2508f4b05c/604368938138490a629f9cbb/1615030420895/stella+reading.jpg State Park Photo Gallery https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/5f95780466dc2c2508f4b05c/6043688c7fd55a00f80e875c/1615030412822/stellllla+legendary.jpg State Park Photo Gallery https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/5f95780466dc2c2508f4b05c/6043688cde6df06b48e6e0fb/1615030412806/thirsty+pups.jpg State Park Photo Gallery https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/5f95780466dc2c2508f4b05c/60436894803b0c5620daa6fd/1615030420131/trail+faith.jpg State Park Photo Gallery https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/5f95780466dc2c2508f4b05c/60436889312d4e5dc79db7fc/1615030409753/trail+stella.jpg State Park Photo Gallery https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/5f95780466dc2c2508f4b05c/6043688caa4f2f10d5e728b3/1615030412807/trail%3B+faith+2.jpg State Park Photo Gallery https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/5f95780466dc2c2508f4b05c/60436889e612d910cebf3d3f/1615030409761/tyler+scenery.jpg State Park Photo Gallery https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/5f95780466dc2c2508f4b05c/604368976e757e4500730144/1615030423583/water+pup+-+Copy.jpg State Park Photo Gallery https://www.keepwalkingcidp.com/contact-us daily 0.75 2021-03-12 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/t/6043660cdc05fa33caa7d7d0/1615585793084/IMG-1558.jpg Contact Us - Contact Information Email: keepwalkingcidp@gmail.com Call Alden Fortner At (901)545-9255 Facebook: Keep Walking For CIDP And GBS Instagram: @keepwalkingcidp https://www.keepwalkingcidp.com/donate-or-challenge-us daily 0.75 2021-03-09 https://www.keepwalkingcidp.com/appalachian-trail daily 0.75 2021-05-22 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/60436693b9a208620c9af6d0/604bde7742818f7309ab6630/1615584975228/158025378_202847291617356_2058140710804975940_n.jpg Appalachian Trail Famous tree on the GA/NC border! https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/60436693b9a208620c9af6d0/604bde797c7aad34346d3f9a/1615584953443/158484626_202847308284021_4374744140840370436_n.jpg Appalachian Trail Camp ground sunset https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/60436693b9a208620c9af6d0/604bde7903e50c701af32bd2/1615584933583/160562947_202846834950735_2905041100041806867_n.jpg Appalachian Trail Views from GA https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f888974a2252c7241dbc582/60436693b9a208620c9af6d0/6047c111c75d5a79b8ed4ef6/1615315233450/156909598_200680528500699_4144007925456962238_n.jpg Appalachian Trail Mile 50! 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Thinking Sick By: Barry Fortner