Visits
Sunday, August 10, 2014
The Latest Curative Measures
My sweet, well-intentioned wife has decided that the way to cure my MS symptoms is for me to get LOTS of sun. Bali sun, that is. A cut above every other kind of sun. To this end, she bought me a chaise lounge which she has positioned in the backyard, directly under the most intense rays, and I am to lie in this chaise lounge several times a day, as long as humanly able. I may occasionally evacuate the chair for a quick cold shower at reasonable intervals. The demyelinating processes of a defunct autoimmune system are apparently blasted into submission by violent doses of searing tropical sunlight. Upon completing the regimen for the day, I am to drink spinach juice and aloe vera. Well, who knows? If it don't kill me, it may cure me.
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Long Journey
Cabin fever. Climbing walls. Can't take it anymore - disorienting meds or no - I head out on the motorbike to Sanur, Problem is, the thing keeps going sideways. Don't know how many times I ended up driving in the ditch. Oh well, just a bule who don't know how to ride a bike properly. Finally made it to JCO. Never tasted a better coffee. Enjoyed it immensely while reading two newspapers. And then back home through the same roadside ditches. Made it! Don't think I'll try that again. Seven more days of methylprednisolone, five more of clonazepam.
Friday, August 8, 2014
Med Regimen
Wow, these meds are spacing me out. Long time since I've taken strong medications. Methylprednisolone and clonazepam seems to be the worst. Dizzy, disoriented, exhausted, feverish. Well, four more days of this, and then we'll see what happens.
It has been very kind of so many people here to wish me well and to show concern, some of whom I barely know. On the other hand, from my own step children from my second marriage: Nada. Not a solitary word. And I know they've seen this on Facebook. Ah well, as I've said, the best way to find out who your friends are, or who really cares in the least, is to have a sudden health problem. The silence is not only deafening, but, hopefully, instructive for the future.
One never wants to just face these things. One holds on to dear memories, of the years spent caring and enabling and sympathizing and teaching and, yes, paying their way through their young lives and beyond. And for what? One doesn't like the answer, and yet there it is - a slap in the face.
And so it makes me feel lonely -- and not only as if I have failed, but that they have failed as well.
It has been very kind of so many people here to wish me well and to show concern, some of whom I barely know. On the other hand, from my own step children from my second marriage: Nada. Not a solitary word. And I know they've seen this on Facebook. Ah well, as I've said, the best way to find out who your friends are, or who really cares in the least, is to have a sudden health problem. The silence is not only deafening, but, hopefully, instructive for the future.
One never wants to just face these things. One holds on to dear memories, of the years spent caring and enabling and sympathizing and teaching and, yes, paying their way through their young lives and beyond. And for what? One doesn't like the answer, and yet there it is - a slap in the face.
And so it makes me feel lonely -- and not only as if I have failed, but that they have failed as well.
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
MS Update
Well, I found out this morning that there are multiple new active lesions on MRI scan. No wonder I ain't been feelin so good. I suspect the doctor thinks I'm a bit weird because I can't remember anything -- when was my last MRI, what medications did I take, how could I have lost my medical records, and so on. Well duh. I have MS. That's why I can't remember anything. Or rather, that's why I remember things about 2 hours later. Or 2 days later.
In any case, they've put me on corticosteroids, some kind of sort-of strong analgesic (narcotics not allowed in Indonesia), clonazepam for whatever reason, and Ginkgo Biloba. Yup.
Will return to the doc in 10 days or so.
In any case, they've put me on corticosteroids, some kind of sort-of strong analgesic (narcotics not allowed in Indonesia), clonazepam for whatever reason, and Ginkgo Biloba. Yup.
Will return to the doc in 10 days or so.
Monday, August 4, 2014
Whatever
Once again, internet is out at home. Came down to Starbucks to work, but, lo and behold, internet is out here too. So that’s a motorbike trip and 31000 rupiah for nothing.
Btw, Bali traffic rule #2 for people who don’t know what they’re doing: Motorbikes should stay in the proper lane, The opposite lane is for oncoming traffic. If you pile up in the oncoming lane, oncoming traffic will be unable to proceed, as will traffic in the proper lane. This is what we call a “traffic jam” and should be avoided for the benefit of all motorists.
Went to the hospital this morning to try to get some medications for my “new” MS symptoms, and the doctor insisted that I get an MRI first. Damn! I hate MRI’s. Nonetheless, I’m scheduled for one tomorrow morning. This ought to be interesting. I didn’t know they even had MRI beds here.
What I rather suddenly ended up with is ringing in the ears, pounding headaches and heat intolerance. That latter is a very common symptom, which I, lucky until now, had never experienced. Now, I can attest first hand that it’s a bummer.
Interestingly, I only recently learned that many of the symptoms that we associate with MS are really symptoms of a separate condition known as “dysautonomia”. This symptoms include cognitive problems, fatigue and, my new favorite, inability to “thermoregulate”, aka heat intolerance.
I thought I could just waltz in and ask for ‘some pills’; however, since I don’t have my old MRI exams (somehow lost in the last four years), and since I have no medical documentation stating that I even have MS, the doctor, understandably, insisted on getting an MRI. Aside from that, as she points out, if the ringing in the ears is attributable to MS, lesions will appear in specific locales.
So, more later on that.
Btw, Bali traffic rule #2 for people who don’t know what they’re doing: Motorbikes should stay in the proper lane, The opposite lane is for oncoming traffic. If you pile up in the oncoming lane, oncoming traffic will be unable to proceed, as will traffic in the proper lane. This is what we call a “traffic jam” and should be avoided for the benefit of all motorists.
Went to the hospital this morning to try to get some medications for my “new” MS symptoms, and the doctor insisted that I get an MRI first. Damn! I hate MRI’s. Nonetheless, I’m scheduled for one tomorrow morning. This ought to be interesting. I didn’t know they even had MRI beds here.
What I rather suddenly ended up with is ringing in the ears, pounding headaches and heat intolerance. That latter is a very common symptom, which I, lucky until now, had never experienced. Now, I can attest first hand that it’s a bummer.
Interestingly, I only recently learned that many of the symptoms that we associate with MS are really symptoms of a separate condition known as “dysautonomia”. This symptoms include cognitive problems, fatigue and, my new favorite, inability to “thermoregulate”, aka heat intolerance.
I thought I could just waltz in and ask for ‘some pills’; however, since I don’t have my old MRI exams (somehow lost in the last four years), and since I have no medical documentation stating that I even have MS, the doctor, understandably, insisted on getting an MRI. Aside from that, as she points out, if the ringing in the ears is attributable to MS, lesions will appear in specific locales.
So, more later on that.
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Creepy Books and Things
It's not that there's nothing to say. It's just that I'm lazy. But anyway ....
Just finished reading Doctor Sleep, by Stephen King. Quite a good book. I'd been hoping for years that he would one day write a sequel to The Shining, and, finally, he did. And did so very well. It's not quite as scary as The Shining, but maybe that's a good thing. I remember The Shining giving me nightmares, way back when. This one I read in English, which was also a bit of a treat. When you read in a foreign language (like Indonesian), there is an unfortunate barrier between the reader and the book. You cannot simply ride the current, but must continually apply another part of your mind to translation. So, you end up distanced from the story, overly aware of the words and sentences. It was also a treat because books in English here tend to be ridiculously expensive, whereas books in Indonesian are cheap. I got the book at PeriPlus, and the price was not actually that bad, as these things go. Rp. 100.000. Nonetheless, a book in Indonesian will cost half this amount (while most books in English will cost 2-4 times this amount).
So, it's off to Gramedia in another hour or so to look for a new book, in Indonesian. I most recently read the Divergent Trilogy, which was enjoyable and fairly easy to read (being geared to young audiences).
I forgot to mention the snake on our kitchen sink the other day. Creepy, like a Stephen King book. It was about 3 feet long, I reckon, and gray. It seems to have come from a hole in the wall, into which it returned after we poked it a few times. I stopped up the hole, but who knows? I suppose they can slither through lots of fissures. In any case, that was perhaps a week ago, and we've not seen it since.
Just finished reading Doctor Sleep, by Stephen King. Quite a good book. I'd been hoping for years that he would one day write a sequel to The Shining, and, finally, he did. And did so very well. It's not quite as scary as The Shining, but maybe that's a good thing. I remember The Shining giving me nightmares, way back when. This one I read in English, which was also a bit of a treat. When you read in a foreign language (like Indonesian), there is an unfortunate barrier between the reader and the book. You cannot simply ride the current, but must continually apply another part of your mind to translation. So, you end up distanced from the story, overly aware of the words and sentences. It was also a treat because books in English here tend to be ridiculously expensive, whereas books in Indonesian are cheap. I got the book at PeriPlus, and the price was not actually that bad, as these things go. Rp. 100.000. Nonetheless, a book in Indonesian will cost half this amount (while most books in English will cost 2-4 times this amount).
So, it's off to Gramedia in another hour or so to look for a new book, in Indonesian. I most recently read the Divergent Trilogy, which was enjoyable and fairly easy to read (being geared to young audiences).
I forgot to mention the snake on our kitchen sink the other day. Creepy, like a Stephen King book. It was about 3 feet long, I reckon, and gray. It seems to have come from a hole in the wall, into which it returned after we poked it a few times. I stopped up the hole, but who knows? I suppose they can slither through lots of fissures. In any case, that was perhaps a week ago, and we've not seen it since.
Friday, July 11, 2014
Hypocrites
Republic of Indonesia denounces Israel's attacks on Gaza, the Jakarta Post headline says. So, I look further to see the whole story. But guess what? I don't get the full story. There is no condemnation, for instance, of the rocket attacks on Israel, launched before these most recent Israel counterattacks. There is no condemnation of Hamas for the murder of three Israeli teens; although, to be sure, there is the condemnation of Israel for the revenge murder of a Palestinian teen. There is a call on Israel to stop these air assaults, though no call for Hamas to stop firing rockets into Israel. Something's wrong with this picture. I'm sorry, but I'm confused.
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