illness – Page 2 – shoutforjoy.us

Franklin – Steampunking My Bathroom 6

It may not seem like much, but it was a huge undertaking for me. I finally finished painting the lines for the tiles on the upper vanity wall of the bathroom. There are five accent tiles. I painted the background color on these. It is taking me so long because my health has been not so good. I had a severe TIA a few weeks ago. We thought it was another stroke. I am still suffering some deficits from it. At any rate, it landed me in the hospital. They did all sorts of poking around and found that I have some major heart valve issues. This explains why I am exhausted all the time and fall asleep at the drop of a hat.

The latest cartoon character to join the collection is the Peanuts character Franklin. He is Charlie Brown’s African-American friend. He is Charlie’s most loyal friend. He admires his grandfather and considers him the wisest man he knows. He is located to the right of the clock.

Of the four remaining accent tiles, only two will be cartoon characters. The other two will be dedicated to Bethann’s and my passions: sewing for her; art for me. They will be a challenge.

Playing in the Intersection

This post is cross-filed in three categories, because my painting has now crossed the line. Perhaps I should say, I am not coloring inside the lines? It has gone beyond a matter of the technical, “If You Can Read, You Can Cook …” concept, yet encompasses that. My primary care physician has now prescribed my painting as art therapy as part of my heart healing and stroke prevention plan, so it is part of “My Healthcare Journey”. Most importantly to me, and why any of this is happening is that my subjects fall into the third category: “Other People’s Children”.

“Other People’s Children” is a totally different approach to pro-life. It looks at adults whom the world has thrown away and sees the absolute beauty and value the world missed. The term “pro-life” has been hijacked by the anti-abortion mob, who are anything but. I celebrate my friends, true loved ones, whom the so-called “pro-life” crowd cast aside as ‘takers’ because of their disabilities, gender, color or economic standing. I am painting their portraits to go along with their stories. Some are from my weak memory. I have very few photos.

I tried to capture the essence of Rosalie, a woman I met in the Women’s Detention Facility in 1985. We became lifelong friends. She was irrepressible. She attached herself to me immediately. We were both about 30, just a month apart in age, worlds apart in backgrounds. She died of leukemia on the street in 2008, when we were about 53. This is just a poor cartoon representing her. It really looks nothing like her aside from the freckles, frizzy red hair and big smile, but does capture some of the emotional impact of her coming toward me for the first time in the House of Corrections.

I miss her.

The next portrait is of Alex Bejleri or “Alex the Albanian”, my dear friend. We have known him since I started to serve on the street in 1988. We helped him learn English so he could get his citizenship. He walked over 5 miles in the snow to visit me in the hospital when I was ill. He calls me when I can’t make it to the street. He no longer needs our service, but he loves my soup. He prays for me and for my family daily. He still believes what they told him on Radio Free Europe, even though he has spent most of the last 28 years in Philadelphia, living on the street. I guess, if you go to jail for something, then escape, give up your homeland, your family ties, move half a world away; it’s hard to come to terms with the reality that it was based on an illusion. You see. He was a ‘political prisoner’ in Albania for listening to American propaganda radio broadcasts. I had to find him a shortwave radio so he could try to tune them in here. I kept trying to explain that America lied to him and they were not allowed to do that here. It was too much for him. Of course, now, they have changed the law. The CIA is now allowed to lie to us “legally” by broadcasting propaganda within the US. I guess Alex should try firing up the shortwave again.

My life is so much richer for knowing him.

These are just two of the hundreds of ‘throwaway’ people whom I have known throughout my life and grown to appreciate, enjoy, and sometimes love. These are the people whom the cold-hearted, falsely self-labeled ‘pro-life’ Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and his ilk call “takers”. If one doesn’t like people, all kinds of people, one isn’t pro-life. People are not interchangeable widgets. Each one of us is a unique, living, breathing, unrepeatable expression of the love, exuberance, joy and persistence of life! Each one of us longs to be and ought to be respected and celebrated. I am attempting, with these feeble cartoons and little articles to do that for some of my lovely brothers and sisters whom most of society would rather not see.

The doctor prescribed it, because she took my blood pressure after I told her about these paintings and it was 20 points lower than before. This is good for my heart. I hope they are good for yours, too.

Blizzard Jonas Flaming Hash

Tuesday, we were finally able to get out and about after a fine young man with a pickup truck, plow and a snowblower, dug us out Monday evening for 20% of the going rate. We had not prepared for this blizzard. We had left our snow shovels in the shed attached to the barn at the back of the lot. We left our cars parked in front of the barn, instead of next to the house, close to the street. I was pre-occupied with cooking a hearty chicken soup to serve on the street in center city Phila. that night to the homeless and poor and those working outreach, etc. Then I got a migraine in response to the weather system moving in. Bethann was concerned about me, so she forgot about moving the cars, etc. (When I get a migraine, there is a real risk it can cause a stroke. I have had at least six strokes and over 40 TIAs. This is why I am disabled.) So I stayed home Friday evening as the storm was starting, and sent Tony and Will, TKJ’s best driver, to the city to serve.

I grew up in Minnesota. We were required to read O.E. Rölvaag’s book: Giants in the Earth in 8th grade English. I think it was because his son, Karl, had recently been DFL (Democratic Farmer Labor) governor. The most memorable thing in that slow moving plot was when Per takes what he knows is an impossible walk into the blizzard and is not found until Spring. When they venture out, they find his corpse sitting on a haystack. He had been so close to his destination, but snowblind, cold and disoriented, on a fool’s errand to satisfy ceremonial religion. It is an important piece of literature on the harshness of the environment and how it informs our values. Back to 2016.

So I go to the grocery store on Tuesday in Bethann’s car. I find I can buy avocados, fresh peppers, onions, all manner of produce from all parts of the world, just two days after the worst blizzard in 20 years to hit us! What an amazing age we live in! This recipe celebrates that. Yes! This entry is about a recipe. Here goes!

Ingredients:

4 Glugs Yukon Jack 100 Proof
~1-1/2 lbs. 80% lean ground beef
2 Avocados diced
1 Orange Sweet Pepper diced
1 Sweet Green Pepper diced
1 Sweet Red Pepper diced
2 small Yellow Onions diced
3 Red Potatoes, peeled & diced
4 oz. “White Cheese”
3 cloves Garlic pressed
Black Pepper Grinder
Paprika
Coriander
Red Pepper
Turmeric

Directions:

In a 14″ or 15″ skillet, begin to brown the Ground Beef & Onions. Chop and add Peppers as they are ready. Sprinkle Paprika, Coriander Red Pepper Turmeric as you are going along and stir in. Add the Avocados. Grind coarse Black Pepper over the mixture, as well. Press the garlic over and stir in with your spatula.
When everything is about done cooking, glug the Yukon Jack into the pan and turn up the gas burner to full. Watch it catch fire for a moment! If you’re not cookin’ with gas, have a butane lighter handy to light it up. You have to be quick. It’s only 100 proof. 😉
Grate some cheese of your choice over it. We had a little yogurt longhorn or somesuch. I grated it over the pan and covered to help it melt. Feta would work. Blue cheese would be my first choice. Whatever goes with the wine you’re serving!

Enjoy! The settlers never roughed it like this!

Let me take you down ’cause I’m going to

I went for my intake interview at a different psychiatrist and psychotherapist office on Thursday. It ruined me for the rest of the day and Friday. We’ll see how today goes. The last time I had such an interview was two years ago. That morning I was feeling pretty good and I just didn’t want to ruin it, so I didn’t get into everything. The interviewer was in a hurry and didn’t probe either. As a result, my diagnosis wasn’t correct. She diagnosed me with severe depressive disorder but missed the CPTSD. This time, I determined to be completely open, no matter what it did to my day, and my interviewer was in no hurry and really probed. It got me thinking about all those I have lost to suicide and murder, and the times my life has been threatened and all the bullying I have endured; the friends I have lost. I will attempt to go through the list.

My best friend and playmate when I was three to five died in a plane crash in Peru on Christmas Eve, during my junior year in high school. My best friend in 5th and 6th grade committed suicide in 8th grade. My best friend in 8th grade committed suicide in 10th grade. My best friend in 9th through 12th grade, who was also my sister committed suicide when I was 47. Of the 100 kids in my elementary school 6th grade class, 4 were dead by suicide by Christmas of our 2nd year in college. One beautiful friend had murdered his sister and parents in the bargain. Another two were dead of fast acting cancers. By the time I was 30, 15 in my class were dead of suicide or overdose, and several more friends from junior and senior high school and from my sister’s class.

Then she asked if I ever had suicidal thoughts or thought about committing suicide myself. I know it’s a form question, but I had to laugh at it. Are you kidding me? With this background and having been held at gunpoint by a high ex-con, and threatened to be killed by a Mennonite pastor, and experiencing the probable murder committed by a bishop of his wife, the multiple attacks, slanders, jealousies from clergy because I was serving the poor; the attacks from the press, police, mayors, with more lies and slanders because I was serving the poor, being terrorized by a conman because we refused to be conned. Experienced 6 strokes and 40 TIAs from migraines after allergic reaction to antibiotic for infection I picked up on the street gave me kidney failure.

YES! I think about suicide. YES! I have suicidal thoughts. Do I have a plan? No. I have been hurt so many times by so many who have committed suicide, I do not plan to do it. Although I do not blame any who have done it. I understand and empathize fully. Each night when I go to sleep, I would not be disappointed if I did not wake up. Most mornings lately, I am disappointed that I did.

She asked me what my goals for therapy were. This was hard. It has been so long since I felt anything close to normal, I had a really hard time coming up with any. I think I told her, “I would like to not cry all of the time. I would like not to sleep so much.” She said to make them reasonable, attainable goals. I paused and said, “I would like for people not to be afraid of me.”

She then asked me a question that no one in my life has ever asked me. She said, “Were you always slow at school?” We had already gone over my educational level, which is confusing. I crammed three years of college into two, went to two graduate schools without a bachelor’s, and dropped out of both of them without receiving a master’s. I taught a master’s program, however, and received an honorary doctorate. I have been ordained four times in five denominations (none of which I asked for, one I wasn’t present at). Most people assume I have a master’s. Many assume I have a doctorate. I guess my demeanor, with my slow speech, and my occasional stall while trying to find the right word due to the stroke damage, and my brokenness due to PTSD made me appear to be mentally challenged.

I laughed at the thought. Maybe I have finally gained the tools I sought in ninth grade when I found that all my knowledge and fast thinking were so useless, because I could not use them to help tutor the kid that was in the detention area with me for not getting his algebra homework, while I was there for outsmarting my enriched English teacher.

Educating Doctors

Yesterday I saw my neurologist and my primary care doctor. I see the neurologist for my migraines. My migraines cause strokes, so it is imperative that we do all we can do to prevent them or to stop them if they start. I am not one to just blindly follow doctors’ orders. My dad was a medical malpractice defense attorney. I was raised to take responsibility for my own health. My dad would regularly lecture us on how it was the medical profession’s fault that they were getting sued so badly, because they had been so arrogant for so long. They expected you to take their orders and prescriptions without question, as if they were gods. The problem was that created an expectation of infallibility. So honest mistakes and judgment calls now became malpractice with astronomical, punitive damages. That was the 1960s.

Needless to say, through the years my approach has raised the hackles on a few doctors. I simply explain to them my background and ask them if they would rather I trust them totally and implicitly, and if anything goes wrong, I will sue their pants off; or we can work as partners and friends. Yesterday demonstrated that I have stumbled upon some pretty amazing doctors. Of course, they have demonstrated this to me before this by their expertise and care. But yesterday they let me teach them.

At 11:30, I had my appointment with Dr. Cindy Wang, my neurologist. She is a delightful Chinese woman with a great sense of humor and a keen scientific mind. Computers frustrate her, though. (Of course, we all have days like that. I digress.) We had to cut back on the Verapamil, because I had started to react to it with hives. I had been up to 360mg morning and evening. I had tapered myself back to 90mg morning and evening. That took care of the hives, but the migraines came back. So we had increased the Topamax to 150mg morning and evening and inched the Verapamil back up to 180mg morning and evening with no ill effects. I still was having migraines more frequently than when on the higher dose of Verapamil. I wrote this just to give you some background.

We started the appointment with Cindy asking me how things are going. I told her that I had learned about ginger and had added it to my treatment routine and that it had helped tremendously. I told her about the studies that had been done that had shown that it was as effective as Imitrex for stopping migraines and was not contraindicated in people who had had strokes, like Imitrex is. It is also effective at preventing migraines. One of the studies was from the NIH. It is a very useful anti-inflammatory. She asked me how I took it. I told her I took two 650mg capsules per day as prevention and two at the onset of a migraine instead of the Ketoralac. She asked me if that worked. I said I was having far fewer migraines and when I did they were much milder. Rarely did I have to resort to Percocet or Ketoralac to stop a migraine anymore. She said, “You don’t just eat the ginger root? That capsule is not as natural.” She told me I should cut it up and put it in hot water with some brown sugar like they did for her when she was a girl, when she had a cold. It’s very good for colds. I told her that I really didn’t need the sugar and I do use fresh ginger, as well, in my cooking, but it’s not very convenient, as a twice daily thing. When I have a migraine starting I need to get it quickly; no time for all that prep work. She made a face and said it really tasted bad anyway, and grinned.

Then I told her that since we reduced the Verapamil, I hadn’t needed to get more Synvisc shots in my knees; that, perhaps, it was causing more inflammation for longer than we were realizing, and aggravating my arthritis. I said the ginger should help with that. I told her that I had also started turmeric, which is an even more powerful anti-inflammatory. she was not at all familiar with turmeric. It is related to ginger. It is another root spice. It gives mustard its yellow color and it is a main ingredient in most curries. Since I had already brought up my knees, I told Dr. Wang (rhymes with bong) about how I had started to take turmeric to ease the pain and inflammation in my spine. I also informed her of the study that had been done that showed that just 150mg of turmeric per day was more effective than 20mg of atorvastatin, Lipitor, in reducing bad cholesterol. She took notes and she thanked me. We moved on to the squeeze the fingers and tickle my feet part of the interview. We made sure my ‘script’s were all up to date. Then it was, “See you in four months.”

At 2:30pm, I saw Dr. Niccole Oswald, my primary care physician, concerning the excruciating, constant pain in my back that I have been experiencing since June. I told her about the ginger and the studies. She was very pleased to hear about that. She said she had a patient with heart disease that could not take Imitrex, so she did not have an effective way to treat her migraines. We discussed how to treat my back pain. The infection from October 2010 had eaten into my spine and damaged my vertebrae from T5 to T12. We don’t dare use steroid injections, since that could compromise my immune system and I am allergic to six classes of antibiotics. The choices were either a topical anesthetic cream or a topical patch. I then mentioned that I had been using turmeric to help manage the pain, since it is a good anti-inflammatory. I had started taking two 600mg capsules daily. She asked if it really helped. I told her that it took the edge off, but I was still hurting plenty. Then I broached the subject of stopping Lipitor. Atorvastatin has been known to increase the risk of type 2 diabetes (especially in women). A couple of its common side effects are headache and back pain. So it seems like it would be a good thing to eliminate this drug from my system. She was very agreeable to that and seemed to understand the science behind it. She said it takes four weeks for Lipitor to get out of your system. So she ordered blood tests for Oct. 22 to see how we are doing. I guess it is “trust but verify.” She also told me that turmeric is especially useful for treating arthritic psoriasis. We decided on the adhesive anesthetic patches. CVS just got them in this evening, so I will start using one tomorrow. Maybe I will be in less pain and less grumpy.

It was so refreshing to have doctors not only open to the idea of alternatives to pharmaceuticals, but pleased at the possibility and willing and happy to share it with others. I think maybe I should send them a bill for the seminar, though.

Thank You, Everybody!

As I am writing this, on Saturday evening, it is just Bethann and me in the house. Last week at this time, we had a house full. Our rent party was a roaring success! I was amazed at the variety of people who showed up and then there all those who sent well wishes and checks or cash with others, by mail, electronically, or the next day at church. One friend brought six other friends with him. So we made some new friends!

The evening started with Tadesse Abay offering a blessing for the food in his native Ethiopian. I don’t understand Ethiopian, but I know he did more than pray for the food. He blessed our home and family and our continued ministry. It was a real honor to receive this blessing from such an honorable and godly man.

Kevin Paige was an amazing minstrel. He started out playing the ukulele in the kitchen. He moved to the front parlor and played more on the ukulele. I walked through at one point and he was playing “The Girl From Ipanema” and a half dozen little kids were dancing like it was a rock song, looking like the kids in the Charlie Brown Christmas special. It was a happening! He switched to the guitar and then to the Dobro, at some point. Deacon Herman played a few songs by Dylan and a couple of his own. It was great. It wasn’t like a concert. It was party music. Conversations kept going. Kids were dancing and playing.

We met these friends over the span of nearly 40 years, but there is one thing they all have in common. They have all been involved in the work of The King’s Jubilee at some point, from the first person who responded to the first ever newsletter in February 1989 to the friend who drove me home from Phila. in the TKJ-mobile two nights earlier.

We received over $4,000 in gifts plus a sizable gift from the church. We used $500 as a first fruits offering to help a neighbor restore his electric service; and $300 to The King’s Jubilee to buy a computer for a recently homeless, faithful volunteer who needs a laptop for community college.

I started negotiations with the mortgage company for a loan modification to hopefully lower the interest rate, so we can manage better. I mailed in the payment to cure the default. When I spoke to the loan modification counselor and told him about how much we received in gifts, he was amazed. I told him that we have a lot of friends who care. We are quite frankly amazed! We need to send him a copy of the blog entry advertising the rent party and other evidence so the bank knows the story.

There are some takeaways for me from this. The first is that when one gets in trouble, one should not just go down quietly. I have heard of people watching their neighbors being evicted and they didn’t have a clue beforehand they were in trouble. If they had, they may have done something to help. People got through the Great Depression by working together. Of course, back then, people didn’t have cars, air conditioning, in-home entertainment and large suburban lots to keep them separated from one another. Make an effort to get to know your neighbors. Then there are people who work hard and still fall on hard times, but don’t have any friends who can help. This brings up the problem posed by the question, “Who is my neighbor?” We all know that Jesus answered with that it is the one who is in need, according to the parable of the Good Samaritan. That is where ministries like The King’s Jubilee come in. It is also why we need to protect our safety net as a society. If we can come together to help a friend or neighbor, why can’t we learn from the parable of the Good Samaritan and as a society help every neighbor?

We are trying to write thank you notes or send thank you emails to all who gave. We are not sure if we are remembering all who gave, since there were bills slipped in handshakes and stuffed in pockets. Just know that we are very grateful and feel very blessed to be surrounded by such a community of caring and generous souls. May God bless you all!

Rent Party at Charming House

When a realtor describes a house as charming, we have four words of advice: RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! Our house is charming. It is possibly the oldest house in town. The new part was built in 1845 to be the hotel for the railroad when it came through. The last owner was an Irish woodworker. He did some lovely work on the trim. He made a nice back door and beautiful window over the kitchen sink. Why he used single pane glass is beyond me. He restored the hardware to period. He did level the floor in one of the rooms. He made it into one house out of three tiny apartments. (sort of) It still had three electric meters with two wire, knob and tube and old romex to much of the house.

The oil burner was on its last. The old iron pipes to the upstairs bathroom were mostly occluded. The drains weren’t much better, but the switch plates had fairies and waterlilies on them. The wood trim in the kitchen has charming little crosses drilled in it. I have basically replaced the heat system, the plumbing and the electrical service. I am working on rewiring, bit by bit, sorting out the mess. I won’t even start on the shape of the barn. But they say the value of real estate is mainly location. It is a great location.

We were rebuilding the barn to make the ministry and the business more efficient. Then I got sick. That messed everything up. There have been a series of setbacks. Bishop Thomas really wants to see a team of college kids come here to help finish the barn. I don’t know how that is going to happen. Bethann lost her job last summer. We have to pay for Cobra health insurance out of pocket. That takes more than her Unemployment Compensation. We had the court case against the city to keep the ministry going. that put the business on hold and hurt the business. We were both sick around Christmas, so that hurt the business. I was very sick last month, so that hurt the business again. We are on the verge of being able to make some major progress in helping the homeless in Philadelphia, if we had a basic facility there and could be full time working at that, instead of being distracted by the icon business. At the same time, we are on the verge of possibly losing our house, losing our current base of operations, and joining the ranks of the homeless ourselves.

So we are making an appeal.

We are having a rent party this Saturday evening, March 16, starting at 6:30. Since it is Cheesefare Sunday next week, we will be serving vegetarian chili, “Tender Hearted Shepherd’s Pie” (vegan), some cheese and veggies, chips and dip, dessert, etc. The $10 cover charge includes the food and soft drinks. Beer and wine will be available for additional donations. If you want to play an instrument to add to the festivities, please make it unplugged. Kevin Paige is bringing his guitar and his keyboard and his great talents to make music. We are hoping that the Ackers will favor us with some music as well. We are clearing out the furniture, so if you want to dance, you may.

We live at:
27 North Front St. (in the middle of beautiful downtown)
Souderton, PA 18964

Call or email to let us know if you plan to attend, so we know how much food and drink to prepare.
phone: 267:497-0267
cranford@shoutforjoy.net (If you can’t attend, but want to help, you can Paypal gifts to this email. If it is designated as a gift from one Paypal account to another, neither one is charged fees. Thanks! God bless you!)

It’s a cheap date for a good cause. We are going to try to have green beer in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. Hey, I was tickled that the first one to RSVP to say that he was coming was Philly rock legend Kenn Kweder! Please come join the fun.

Churchtown Supply Co.

Last Friday, John Haggerty and I headed off to retrieve a painting from a friend in Greensburg, PA. On the way, we stopped by Churchtown Supply Co. on Route 23, 2049 Main St., Narvon, PA, 17555, to pick up some enamelware dishes that I had asked them to set aside. Bethann and I bought each other burgundy and cream speckle and moss green and cream speckle dishes for Christmas and had asked for that from everyone else in the family, as well. Lydia and April had not gotten their money to their Aunt Susan in time for her trip to Churchtown Supply, so they were going to get us a gift certificate to the Washington House instead. It turned out that Churchtown Supply didn’t have enough of our colors on hand to make their contribution useful at the time. But the Washington House was closed the day of Christmas Eve, so they could not get the gift certificate.

I called Churchtown Supply. After several attempts, I spoke to Nancy on Wednesday, Dec. 28. She had just received a new shipment of our colors of enamelware and would set aside the plates and bowls that I requested for me to pick up on Friday morning.

Churchtown Supply Co. looks like your typical, main street hardware store from the 1960s or 70s. It is a bit unusual in that it is just on a ribbon of road with houses and churches strung out alongside of it and a lush valley falling out immediately behind it. You park diagonal nose in, like they do out in Kansas. You walk in and Barry and Nancy invite you to help yourself to coffee and cookies from a folding table, where you can also pick up your free wildlife calendar. The place is comfortably lit, with most of the light provided naturally by the plate glass windows across the front, facing south toward Main St.

I had them tally up the pieces that I had them set aside for me, to see what the damages were; then I shopped for some more pieces to complete the collection. We got to talking. I asked them how they managed to only be open Tuesday through Saturday 8am to noon, and that I was envious. Barry said they had worked for 30 or 38 years for 90 hours a week so this was comp time. He had had some health issues and now Nancy is battling breast cancer, so it’s about what they can handle. They said, “It’s something to do. It pays the utilities and the taxes.”

John, Barry, Nancy and I spent some time swapping stories about the pros and cons of dealing with customers. We had a very nice time. I intend to go back and get more dishes. I encourage any of you to patronize their place, as well. They are hard working folks who could use a break. Their shop is about 4 .3 miles west of Morgantown on Rte. 23.

Tell them Cranford sent you.

An MRI for My Birthday

Each birthday marks the passing of another year into the tomb of time. It means I am another year closer to my death and during the year I have passed through the anniversary of that death. I don’t mean to be morbid. It’s just a realistic view of the brevity and frailty of this life. I turned 56 yesterday. That’s only 14 more Christmases until I’m 70, a man’s allotted time on earth. Any way you calculate it, the road ahead is a whole lot shorter than the road already traveled.

It’s a frightening prospect when one is confronted with one’s own mortality. It forces one to take stock and, hopefully, prepare in such a way that one’s death is a smooth and joyful passing. But this is not just about me. I have too many unfinished projects. There are the unfilled icon orders. There is my messy, indecipherable office. There is the unfinished barn, the unpainted windows, the gas boiler that arrived yesterday, the electrical wiring that needs sorting out, the grandchildren that need guidance and love, the rain garden that needs to be completed, the homeless people who need to be fed and clothed. Then there are all the people; my wife and family and others whom I love and who love me. There are countless reasons to not embrace my mortality. Yet it stares back at me from the mirror and I am keenly aware I am on the waning not the waxing side of life.

So, for my 56th birthday, I got an MRI of my brain. I had experienced several severe, lengthy migraines with strange aura and stroke-like symptoms. As I was waiting to hear the results of my MRI, I sat on the front step of our house on Front St. in Souderton. It was a beautiful, clear day. The spring flowers were giving way to the summer flowers. I saw a man walking on the sidewalk on the far side of Chestnut St. downhill from us. His image vanished for about three feet, then reappeared, continuing to walk. The scenery suffered no interruption. It was much like a continuity flaw in stop motion animation. So I called this aura “Gumby vision”. Soon after this, my phone rang. It was the radiologist from Grand View Hospital. He told me that the MRI indicated that I had had three little strokes on the right side of my brain. I should arrange for someone to bring me to the hospital to be admitted for further study.

So Itchy I Can’t Sleep

It’s nearly 3 AM and I haven’t been able to sleep yet. I have a cold with a bit of a runny nose, but it is my itchy skin that is keeping me awake. When I finally finished the Prednisone, on December 15, the hives were disappearing and did not flare up; that is, not until a week later.

On the 23rd, I went to the doctor. She told me that the water pill that I took in conjunction with my blood pressure medicine was sulfa based. I am allergic to sulfa, but had not reacted to this medicine any time in the last year since I became allergic to sulfa, as far as we know. We switched the blood pressure medicine and dropped the water pill. I also got a fresh prescription of Atarax for the itch. The change did not help, nor did the Atarax. I was taking it every six hours along with two Benadryl staggered between doses. My muscles were tired and weak and I was grumpy with unpredictable mood swings.

On Tuesday evening, Dec. 28, Bethann told me that I was tired, grumpy and unusually hard to live with, so I should call the doctor (since I was obviously still sick). The next morning, I called Dr. Jonathan Cohen, the infectious disease specialist. He had told me to keep in touch. He took my call on the first try. I told him that Bethann had told me to call him, since I was tired and grumpy and hard to live with. I told him that the hives had reappeared. To that, he replied, “Interesting.” He said it in that Dr. House way that you never want to hear from a doctor, because it means that you have entered uncharted waters. He also told me, “Dude, you’ve been sick since I first saw you in the beginning of October. You have every reason to be tired and out of sorts – wearing the hair shirt.” I asked him if he could give me an answer that Bethann would like. He started with, “Well you should be feeling a little better since you talked to a doctor.” (Dr. Cohen can be a funny guy!) He then told me that I should marshal my more positive energies that he knew I had and try harder. He told me to go back to my PCP sooner than scheduled and to make an appointment with an allergist. He told me to move quickly on that, because allergists are notoriously slow and I would be lucky to get an appointment within 30 days. He also told me to go to the city to find an allergist. My case was more exotic than what any of the allergists he knew here had ever handled.

I saw Dr. Oswald on Monday, Jan. 3. Since the side effects of Atarax had gotten worse and it was no longer effective for the hives, she switched me to 5mg Xyzal per day and 20mg Famotidine (Pepcid AC) twice daily. This regimen took care of the side effects, but still isn’t altogether effective against the itch. Since I started writing this post, I looked up Famotidine on the NIH website. Interestingly, among the possible side effects are itchy skin and hives. Like I keep on saying, this whole episode is like playing Whack-A-Mole!