And then there were the generous donations from everybody in the custom truck community who put on benefit shows and held their own eBay auctions to help. I am not a very emotional guy-just ask any of my ex-girlfriends-but all this outpouring of support made me cry on more than one occasion. All I can say is thank you-over and over again.
There is one more person I have to thank, and that is Jesse James from West Coast Choppers. Jesse called me about two days after the stroke and told me that he wanted to send me to see his Eastern Medicine doctors as soon as I felt up to it. And when I was ready I called Lisa and Amy, and they had me swallowing and standing on one foot after the first session (not bad, considering I was reliant on a cane and a feeding tube to that point!). It was like they flipped a switch that had me feeling closer to normal than I had in months. And I am proud to say I ate my first bites of real food at Wink Eller's birthday party at Cook's Corner the evening after my first acupuncture session. I have to admit I kinda thought Jesse was a kook when he brought up acupuncture, but I will be the first to say that he was right and it works like a charm!
I guess the moral to the story is all of this could have been avoided had I just gone to the doctor like I was supposed to. But like my buddy Steve Stillwell used to tell me, "If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough." And it doesn't hurt to have some of the best friends a guy could ask for to help prop you up when times get rough.