Hard at work
Late August 2016 – More Excuses
I’m sitting here, working on this story. Occasionally I look up, see the beautiful deck on which I’m working, look past the deck to the gorgeously landscaped yard, then the beach beyond it, then the turquoise Caribbean Sea. I think to myself “Somewhere, up in heaven, Hemmingway is looking down on me, and he’s JEALOUS!”
Now for the excuses. I have not kept up with the postings on my blog this month because I have been sick all month.
If you’re a long-time reader, you know I have Meniere’s Disease. Meniere’s is a malfunction of the inner ear. I won’t go into all the details, I’ll just say that it affects my balance, makes me dizzy and nauseous, gives me massive headaches and I have a constant humming in my head.
It’s not pleasant to deal with.
Since this is such a rare disease, there has not been a lot of study on it. As of now, it is incurable and they don’t have anything to moderate the symptoms. The doc just told me to go into a dark room and lay down for a couple of hours. Don’t read, don’t watch TV, don’t do anything that stimulates either the visual or aural senses.
I’ve been dealing with this for the past fifteen years or so. Sometimes it’s a problem, most of the time I hardly notice it. It decided to hit me hard in Panama. For three weeks I was helpless as a kitten. I couldn’t stand up straight long enough to go into town, so I couldn’t check my email or post on my blog.
The pain was neigh on to unbearable. I would lay down for a couple of hours and get some relief. Then I’d get up and try to go about my day, then it would come back with a wallop.
I was almost totally disabled for three weeks. You can bet Dawn was having a good time too. I don’t know why I get so grumpy just because it feels like the top of my head is going to blow off.
I told you that Meniere’s is incurable. Well, I might have found the cure. I will patent this and offer it to medical science. It’s just that the cure may be worse than the disease.
I’m sitting here, working on this story. Occasionally I look up, see the beautiful deck on which I’m working, look past the deck to the gorgeously landscaped yard, then the beach beyond it, then the turquoise Caribbean Sea. I think to myself “Somewhere, up in heaven, Hemmingway is looking down on me, and he’s JEALOUS!”
Now for the excuses. I have not kept up with the postings on my blog this month because I have been sick all month.
If you’re a long-time reader, you know I have Meniere’s Disease. Meniere’s is a malfunction of the inner ear. I won’t go into all the details, I’ll just say that it affects my balance, makes me dizzy and nauseous, gives me massive headaches and I have a constant humming in my head.
It’s not pleasant to deal with.
Since this is such a rare disease, there has not been a lot of study on it. As of now, it is incurable and they don’t have anything to moderate the symptoms. The doc just told me to go into a dark room and lay down for a couple of hours. Don’t read, don’t watch TV, don’t do anything that stimulates either the visual or aural senses.
I’ve been dealing with this for the past fifteen years or so. Sometimes it’s a problem, most of the time I hardly notice it. It decided to hit me hard in Panama. For three weeks I was helpless as a kitten. I couldn’t stand up straight long enough to go into town, so I couldn’t check my email or post on my blog.
The pain was neigh on to unbearable. I would lay down for a couple of hours and get some relief. Then I’d get up and try to go about my day, then it would come back with a wallop.
I was almost totally disabled for three weeks. You can bet Dawn was having a good time too. I don’t know why I get so grumpy just because it feels like the top of my head is going to blow off.
I told you that Meniere’s is incurable. Well, I might have found the cure. I will patent this and offer it to medical science. It’s just that the cure may be worse than the disease.
Highway to heaven You remember all the fun we’ve made of Zika Virus? I’m truly sorry if our light hearted attempt to deal with the possibility of this disease made anyone who has had to deal with it uncomfortable.
Last Friday, I was feeling well enough to go into town. I needed to get to the bank, do some business on the Internet and restock our grocery supplies. In the morning my Miniere’s wasn’t too bad, so I took off.
For some reason, the mosquitoes were out in force in Bocas. I sustained several new bites. One of them had a hard, red circle around the bite. I suspect that was the bad one.
When we were getting ready to go to bed that night, Dawn asked, “What is that rash all over your back?”
I didn’t know I had a rash on my back. I looked in the mirror and, sure enough, my back was covered in red welts. It didn’t hurt so I just went to bed.
The next morning, my entire body from my neck to my knees was covered in the rash. It didn’t itch too badly so I went on with my day.
By late morning I began to feel ill. The room started spinning. This was a different dizziness than the Miniere’s brings. I was burning up, then freezing. I actually got out a sweat shirt to keep warm for a couple of hours.
We had done a lot of reading about Zika before we came down to Panama. The consensus was that it wasn’t a problem for healthy adults. It was like a mild case of the flu.
Bull Pucky!
It’s been years since I’ve had the flu, but this wasn’t a mild case. I was heavy duty sick. I had a fever, chills, nausea, dizziness, diarrhea, the whole nine yards. Friends said that it was probably Zika and that it would pass in two or three days.
When, after day three, I was still sick as hell, I drove into town to see the doctor. She wasn’t there. Even though I was at the clinic during business hours, they were closed.
I drove in again the next day. Still no doctor. This time, there was a sign in the window saying they would be closed from the 18th to the 23rd. I went home.
I was still sick and not getting any better. This thing had lasted a week now. On the 23rd, I decided to go back into town to see the doctor. This time Dawn drove me because I didn’t feel well enough to drive.
We arrived at the clinic only to find it closed. Somewhere in my feverish mind, I did the math. If they were closed from the 18th to the 23rd, that probably meant that they would be closed on the 23rd. I needed to come back tomorrow.
Finally, on my forth try, I saw the doctor. She looked at me and said I had some form of the Zika virus family. Could be Zika, could be Malaria, could be Dengue or a couple of other choices. She said I should go home, eat chicken soup and lay down. If it didn’t get better in a couple of days, I should go to the hospital emergency room and have blood tested so they knew what strain of virus I had. Then they could treat it.
I wanted a pill that would fix me and I wanted it right away. That’s not the way the medical system works in Panama.
We headed home and I went back to bed. In a couple of days, I started feeling better. I recovered a little at a time. I’d feel better and get up and do stuff, then I’d feel ill again and have to go back to bed. After about three days of this, I pronounced myself back on my feet.
So that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. I wasted almost the entire month of August being sick with one thing or another. It ain’t fair, McGee.
Last Friday, I was feeling well enough to go into town. I needed to get to the bank, do some business on the Internet and restock our grocery supplies. In the morning my Miniere’s wasn’t too bad, so I took off.
For some reason, the mosquitoes were out in force in Bocas. I sustained several new bites. One of them had a hard, red circle around the bite. I suspect that was the bad one.
When we were getting ready to go to bed that night, Dawn asked, “What is that rash all over your back?”
I didn’t know I had a rash on my back. I looked in the mirror and, sure enough, my back was covered in red welts. It didn’t hurt so I just went to bed.
The next morning, my entire body from my neck to my knees was covered in the rash. It didn’t itch too badly so I went on with my day.
By late morning I began to feel ill. The room started spinning. This was a different dizziness than the Miniere’s brings. I was burning up, then freezing. I actually got out a sweat shirt to keep warm for a couple of hours.
We had done a lot of reading about Zika before we came down to Panama. The consensus was that it wasn’t a problem for healthy adults. It was like a mild case of the flu.
Bull Pucky!
It’s been years since I’ve had the flu, but this wasn’t a mild case. I was heavy duty sick. I had a fever, chills, nausea, dizziness, diarrhea, the whole nine yards. Friends said that it was probably Zika and that it would pass in two or three days.
When, after day three, I was still sick as hell, I drove into town to see the doctor. She wasn’t there. Even though I was at the clinic during business hours, they were closed.
I drove in again the next day. Still no doctor. This time, there was a sign in the window saying they would be closed from the 18th to the 23rd. I went home.
I was still sick and not getting any better. This thing had lasted a week now. On the 23rd, I decided to go back into town to see the doctor. This time Dawn drove me because I didn’t feel well enough to drive.
We arrived at the clinic only to find it closed. Somewhere in my feverish mind, I did the math. If they were closed from the 18th to the 23rd, that probably meant that they would be closed on the 23rd. I needed to come back tomorrow.
Finally, on my forth try, I saw the doctor. She looked at me and said I had some form of the Zika virus family. Could be Zika, could be Malaria, could be Dengue or a couple of other choices. She said I should go home, eat chicken soup and lay down. If it didn’t get better in a couple of days, I should go to the hospital emergency room and have blood tested so they knew what strain of virus I had. Then they could treat it.
I wanted a pill that would fix me and I wanted it right away. That’s not the way the medical system works in Panama.
We headed home and I went back to bed. In a couple of days, I started feeling better. I recovered a little at a time. I’d feel better and get up and do stuff, then I’d feel ill again and have to go back to bed. After about three days of this, I pronounced myself back on my feet.
So that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. I wasted almost the entire month of August being sick with one thing or another. It ain’t fair, McGee.
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