Re: Another Update. Please read

[Guest guest]

Kirk I decided to write this publicly because maybe it will help others. I too

for the past couple of years was having night incontinence and had to wear the

depends, especially when traveling. I do take sleeping pills and my doctors

felt this may have been the cause. It has gone away the latter part of this

year and I hope for some reason this does for you too. We used to try and joke

about it but only with my closest friend. I am sending best wishes that things

will get better and am so happy the doctors are on the hunt now so to say. Till

soon with much luv, Melt

----- Original Message -----

From: Kirk Bonanny

To: Stillsdisease

I saw my PCP yesterday, and RD today, and the news is not final, but more

indications are coming in looking like I may have MS. The problems I have

been having I have been hiding for quite some time. Some out of shame and

embarrassment, some out of fear. (nocturnal incontinence), which I was so

ashamed of I hid it for months until my wife caught on to it and made me tell my

Dr

[Guest guest]

Kirk,

It sounds like you are still able to contibute a lot to your business. I know

it's not the same as jumping in there with your wrenches, but you sound like the

type of guy who really needs to be involved in all aspects. I have faith that

you will be up and running at work again and am grateful that your father is

taking charge so that you can take care of yourself. I'm sure your whole

family, as well as your Dad, are just trying to take care of you and ease some

of your burden right now.

I'm praying that the doctors will have the answers soon. Whatever it turns out

to be, Kirk, you are a strong individual and are not about to let something

overcome you, you're too much of a fighter for that! Take strength from your

family, as well as all of us here... We're rooting for you!

Please take care of yourself and keep us posted,

Warm hugs,

Gail

Kirk Bonanny wrote:

My father isn't allowing me to really work anyway, mainly I am only allowed

to run the business, do the books, make appointments, road test cars, diagnose

problems, and run emissions tests. I still assist the other guys as I am by far

the " top gun " , but my body and mind are no longer in sync.

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Hi To all my Fellow Stilligans,

I wish and I, hope that all my a wonderful Stills Friends family had a

wonderful and joyous and hopefully Pain FREE Holiday and holiday season. As, I

sent

a letter a few weeks ago and I hope that all my Stills Family received all my

best and good wishes to all of you. Due to the fact of my current health I

couldn't send out holiday cards. I say again I apologize and feel terrible about

it. I sincerely thank all of you who sent me cards. Now I want to Wish the

entire Stills Family group a very HAPPY AND ESCPECIALLY HEALTHY AND PAIN FREE

NEW YEAR. I hope 2005 is better for all of us and the DRAGON will slash and " eat

up 2004 " I'm really hoping 2005 will be fabulous for all of us. Now,

regarding this post I feel embarrassed myself. I also have Urinary Incontinence

too.

My Neurologist who is the best! and well known in the entire state of Florida

and he is Brilliant in all ways and with all my other auto-immune connective

tissue dis. which I have several of them he thinks I also have the beginnings of

Multiple Sclerosis 1st stage but most likely early stages. But, Thank god!!!

I've had MRI'S of my Brain and cervical spine which came back negative. But I

have Myoclonus and severe muscle spasms too. Which my Neuro said it's symptoms

of MS

He said I have so many other major severe issues going on right now so he'll

just monitor me. My Neuro switched my pain and muscle meds recently too. I was

on Oxycontin 40 mg's b.i.d. I'm now on Kadian 60mg's b.i.d., and Valium 10

mg's t.i.d., for my spasms.

well, Enough with me take care all, I wish everyone a PAIN FREE DAYAND NIGHT.

Kirk, Melt, and everybody else I was embarrassed to tell but you guy's

(group) are my family. Fell better everyone.

With Warm Regards,

Dave

[Guest guest]

Thank you for sharing Dave and may your New Year be oh so much better than this

last. Big hugs, Melt

Re: Another Update. Please read

Hi To all my Fellow Stilligans,

I wish and I, hope that all my a wonderful Stills Friends family had a

wonderful and joyous and hopefully Pain FREE Holiday and holiday season.

[Guest guest]

Thanks Gail, although I must admit, I am " cheating " as I did do some work

today, but not all that much.

I had to take it easy as my balance is horrible right now and I get

incredibly dizzy if I bend down and stand up. I have no problem doing electrical

or drivability work though, as that is mostly mental and relies on experience

rather than physical ability. I also was given an unreal amount of support from

every customer that walked through the door. That made me feel good.

I wanted to do some more work, but was not allowed to. I dislike book work,

but I may as well get used to it, as I will be doing it for a while I suppose.

I am also looking for an entry level technician that I can mold much in the

same way our current employee was. He is 20 years old with 3 years experience,

has many certifications already and is more talented than most of the

technicians I have ever met. He had an easy road, as he worked alongside two ASE

Certified Master Techs and learned from us. He didn't even have to buy any

tools, as he uses ours, which saved him at least 10-15k, easily! ( We have close

to 100k worth of equipment) He is a quick learner, and we treat him very well.

As a matter of fact, he has just bought a house. Not bad for a 20 year old. He

has also become a very good friend. I only wish I made as much as him when I was

20! I must admit that he does earn every penny of it.

I do not want anyone with prior experience, as breaking bad habits is too

hard to do, and many people in this industry have many bad habits.This industry

has a bad reputation it has earned and continues to earn, unfortunately. That

isn't to say every experienced tech looking for a job is bad, but many are. Our

business was built on reputation alone. We offer top quality work at fair

prices. We have not been " slow " since the blizzard of '93. We spend $0.00 on

advertising, and we are booked an average of 8 to 10 days in advance. Our

customers come to us because they want to, not because we advertise a gimmick to

get them in the door so we can sell them things they do not need. (Note to all

out there, beware of these gimmicks!!!) We send our name and reputation out the

door on every job we do, which is what I demand from anyone who would ever work

with me. Shortcuts or half-ass jobs would see me beating someone's head in. We

are to the point now where we are having a hard time taking on new customers,as

we can hardly keep up with the workload we have. Too bad I am in the shape I am

in and too bad there are very few " good " techs to hire (every " good " tech has a

job!) as I would love to add another bay or two! Another crying shame is that

with this BS " No Child Left Behind " all of the learning disabled children have

been dumped on the Vo-Tech schools (at least around here) so that the main

school districts can keep their scores up and get more federal monies!!!!

I called up to the Tech school where we got our current employee and they don't

have a single student they can send out, and do not see that they will in the

foreseeable future. Damn shame.

Thanks for the well wishes Gail, Kirk.

Re: Another Update. Please read

Kirk,

It sounds like you are still able to contibute a lot to your business. I know

it's not the same as jumping in there with your wrenches, but you sound like the

type of guy who really needs to be involved in all aspects. I have faith that

you will be up and running at work again and am grateful that your father is

taking charge so that you can take care of yourself. I'm sure your whole

family, as well as your Dad, are just trying to take care of you and ease some

of your burden right now.

I'm praying that the doctors will have the answers soon. Whatever it turns

out to be, Kirk, you are a strong individual and are not about to let something

overcome you, you're too much of a fighter for that! Take strength from your

family, as well as all of us here... We're rooting for you!

Please take care of yourself and keep us posted,

Warm hugs,

Gail

Kirk Bonanny wrote:

My father isn't allowing me to really work anyway, mainly I am only

allowed to run the business, do the books, make appointments, road test cars,

diagnose problems, and run emissions tests. I still assist the other guys as I

am by far the " top gun " , but my body and mind are no longer in sync.

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Melt, I have to admit that I have to laugh about it too. I always gave depends

to everybody's 40th birthday party I have ever gone to,including my mother's &

Father's, except that was for their 50th. This past September, my neighbor

(40th) got so drunk we convinced him to put one on and we took about 20 pictures

with him wearing them. Needless to say, he almost had a heart attack when we

showed him them after we had them developed. His wife had doubles made, and gave

some to everyone!

I always used to joke about them to, so maybe this is what I get for that,

just kidding. In reality, I don't really even care now that it is out in the

open. As a matter of fact, those along with the other things I was hiding being

in the open feels like a gigantic weight has been lifted off of my shoulders!

Besides, now I don't have to wake up at 3:00 AM and hide wet sheets in the hopes

of washing them before the wife finds out. I did have to find a better brand

than Depends, as all they ever do for me is leak like a sieve! The ones in the

hospital were even worse! We usually sleep in separate beds as I am always

freezing and with the amount of blankets I need to sleep she can't take it.

Truth be told, I am even thinking of looking into a hospital type bed, as my

body hurts so bad on a flat bed it is almost impossible for me to sleep for more

than a few hours at a time. What really bites is that prior to this I thought my

bed was the most comfortable bed in the world! At least with the hospital type

beds, you can adjust them to take the pressure off of the various parts of your

body.

Kirk.

Re: Another Update. Please read

Kirk I decided to write this publicly because maybe it will help others. I

too for the past couple of years was having night incontinence and had to wear

the depends, especially when traveling. I do take sleeping pills and my doctors

felt this may have been the cause. It has gone away the latter part of this

year and I hope for some reason this does for you too. We used to try and joke

about it but only with my closest friend. I am sending best wishes that things

will get better and am so happy the doctors are on the hunt now so to say. Till

soon with much luv, Melt

----- Original Message -----

From: Kirk Bonanny

To: Stillsdisease

I saw my PCP yesterday, and RD today, and the news is not final, but more

indications are coming in looking like I may have MS. The problems I have

been having I have been hiding for quite some time. Some out of shame and

embarrassment, some out of fear. (nocturnal incontinence), which I was so

ashamed of I hid it for months until my wife caught on to it and made me tell my

Dr