Apparently this condition is seen more frequently in much older adults. But Pattys’ symptoms and history fit the diagnostic criteria perfectly, so until proven otherwise the doctor is going to proceed as if this is the correct diagnosis.

The doctor has started Patty on a low-dose steriod; if the conditon is what he thinks it is, then she should see some improvement very quickly—probably within days. Further tests and a bone scan have been scheduled to rule out other possibilities.

If polymyalgia rheumatica is in fact what the problem turns out to be, then it is a condition that can be dealt with if it’s treated and watched closely. We should know something very soon—I’ll keep you posted!

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Late last summer we learned that Patty had uterine cancer. Surgery (a complete hysterectomy) was quickly scheduled and performed. While the surgery didn’t go completely according to plan, by all accounts it accomplished its intended goal: all the known cancer was removed and there was no observable evidence that it had spread beyond the uterus. Patty’s had multiple checkups since the surgery and there’s no evidence at all of any remaining cancer—yea!

However, another health issue arose as Patty healed from the surgery: all over, moderate-to-severe nerve/joint pain. Thus far, neither Patty’s oncologist/surgeon nor her primary care physician believes that the pain is related to the cancer or the surgery. Both doctors do, however, agree that there is a curious temporal relationship: the pain wasn’t present at all before the surgery, but now it’s here and won’t go away. Testing is being done right now to try to figure out what’s causing the pain and a visit to a rheumatologist is occurring today. Inflammation has been confirmed and fibromyalgia and different types of arthritis have been discussed, but nothing is certain at this point in time.

I would love to hear any thoughts or suggestions regarding the cause(s) of this mystery pain—just don’t scare the hell out of me! [Note: We’ve been told that because of the type of cancer Patty had, she is not a candidate for hormone replacement therapy, so that’s out. And I should also mention that she’s not going through any chemo or radiation—we’ve been told that the surgery was completely successful (as far as one can be assured of complete success) and that further treatment was not necessary.]

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For a good portion of 2001 our son, Sam, had a lot of trouble with seizures. (He’s had a nine-year history of mild-to-moderate seizures.) Our best count was that he had about forty of them last year; at one point they were coming every three-to-five days.

Several seizures were quite bad and injury was narrowly avoided. For example: Sam had a seizure halfway up the ladder to high dive at a local swimming pool. I was in the pool when I spotted the seizure starting and had to fly out of there, scramble up the ladder, and put my shoulder against his rear-end to brace him, all the while yelling at the lifeguards for help. (The lifeguards actually were a big help, but they completely missed the subtleties of the seizure beginning and didn’t fly into action until I started yelling at them.) Needless to say, a ladder is not a place that you want a seizure to occur . . . but you get no choice in the matter when you have a seizure disorder.

The news on this front is all good: Sam has had no seizure activity at all since the very bad one he had back on September 11^th—yea! We hope this is a good sign!

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I’ll keep you posted on both Sam and Patty.

She called me a couple of weeks ago to set an appointment for the tax work (she’s always been courteous about giving me advance notice and then working within my schedule). We did the work—about thirty minutes worth—then spent another half-hour talking about books, the internet, current events, and how things have changed over the years. As she has her life, her health, and her finances under outstanding control, I don’t get a chance to sit down and chat with her very much. The fact is, she only comes to my office one time a year; she doesn’t need my services any more than that. It was an absolute pleasure to catch up on things with her.

This year, as with every year since I’ve known her, she handed a book to me through my office door a couple of weeks after I helped her on her taxes. From our previous discussions about favorite authors, she chose a work by Kurt Vonnegut to present me with this year. I’m sure I’ll enjoy it!

Several months ago she turned 100. I fully expect her to walk a book down to my office next year at tax time.

Sunday Spin is a weekly feature of Coalescence. I’ll be using it to highlight some of my favorite music and talk a little about what the song means in the context of my life. Comments are highly encouraged! (Tell me if you’re familiar with the song and what it means in your life.)

First released in 1970, here’s this Sunday’s Spin!

The first song that truly influenced my interconnected world of religion, history, philosophy, and politics, was Steppenwolf’s, Monster / Suicide / America. If you want to learn about who I was as a teenager, and who I am as man in his fifties, then you have to listen to this song: if you get the song, you’ll get me.

Steppenwolf Live was the first album that I ever bought with my own money  (I was barely a teenager), and Monster was the reason I made that purchase. I used to listen to Monster late at night on KAAY’s*, Beaker Street program (*The Mighty 1090 AM, 50,000 watts out of Little Rock, Arkansas). The song was cutting-edge-call-to-action material, and listening to it then made me feel like one day I was going to be part of a generation that would bring about change. Hmmm . . .   

Released during a time of social protest in America, in my opinion the song is as relevant today as it was back in 1970. The lyrics to the song appear below. Let me know what you think!

MONSTER / SUICIDE / AMERICA

(Monster)
Once the religious, the hunted and weary
Chasing the promise of freedom and hope
Came to this country to build a new vision
Far from the reaches of kingdom and pope
Like good Christians, some would burn the witches
Later some got slaves to gather riches

But from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
But she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light

Then once the ties with the crown had been broken
Westward in saddle and wagon it went
And ’til the railroad linked ocean to ocean
Many the lives which had come to an end
While we bullied, stole and bought our a homeland
We began the slaughter of the red man

But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
And she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit and guiding light

The blue and grey they stomped it
They kicked it just like a dog
And when the war over
They stuffed it just like a hog

And though the past has it’s share of injustice
Kind was the spirit in many a way
But it’s protectors and friends have been sleeping
Now it’s a monster and will not obey

(Suicide)
The spirit was freedom and justice
And it’s keepers seem “friendly” and kind
It’s leaders were supposed to serve the country
But now they were paying no mind
‘Cause the people “got” fat and “grew” lazy
now their vote “is like a” meaningless “Tune”
“You know they talk about law “about” order
But it’s all just an echo of what they’ve been told
Yeah, there’s a monster on the loose
It’s got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watchin’

Our cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is stranglin’ the land
The police force is watching the people
And the people just can’t understand
We don’t know how to mind our own business
‘Cause the whole worlds got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war over there
No matter who’s the winner
We can’t pay the cost
‘Cause there’s a monster on the loose
It’s got our heads into a noose
And it just sits there watching

(America)
America where are you now?
Don’t you care about your sons and daughters?
Don’t you know we need you now
We can’t fight alone against the monster

America…America…America…America…

What a bizarre week or so in politics!

asprin, not birth control

The sexual revolution in America was pretty much over and done with before I passed puberty. The war was fought and victory was decisive: sex won. (Thank you, God!) If you’ve had sex (and presumably, enjoyed it) anytime during or after the 1960s, you’ve reaped the benefits of the sexual revolution. If you’ve wished to limit the size of your family, you’ve reaped the benefits of the sexual revolution. If you’re a woman, you benefited. If you’re gay, you benefited. And guys, you know damn well we benefited. So who in the world would have thought that anyone in their right mind (no pun intended) would try to re-fight the sexual revolution in 2012?

Thanks to a group of “men”—who stand zero chance of getting laid anyway—we in America have found ourselves transported back to the good old days when birth control pills were “of the devil.” You know: the halcyon days of America when our women kept their rears at home, in the kitchen where they belong, and held Bayer aspirins tightly between their knees to ensure chastity. (The last time I heard the Bayer aspirin thing I was too young to know what the term, birth control, meant!)

How-in-the-world-did-we-get-here? (Again, no pun intended.) For God’s sake, we’re arguing about birth control pills in 2012—did some terrorist slip something into America’s water supplies that turned us into masses of sexually-repressed Victorians?

I want to know why more women aren’t out in the streets screaming to high heaven about this? Ladies: do you want a panel that looks like this to decide what kind of women’s health insurance coverage is best for you?

birth control experts (Washington Post photo, link below)

When I was much younger I spent my 3^rd grade through 6^th grade years in a very, very Catholic neighborhood. Tons of the kids I played with then had eight, nine, ten or more brothers and sisters. But that was the mid-60s; let’s jump to the present time. Quick: as fast as you can, round me up a handful of Catholic families with ten or more children. You can’t do it, can you? What’s the deal? Is somebody perhaps using birth control? If the congregation doesn’t have any problem with it—the pill—then the mortal men in “charge” of making the rules shouldn’t either. [Full disclosure: I have absolutely no problem with Catholic laypersons. In fact, my wife is Catholic. Although we only have one child together, we wanted a big family: but on our terms. Wait there’s more: my wife, again, a Catholic, tells me she actually likes sex--go figure!]

This is about insurance coverage: coverage that people need and, obviously, use. It’s about family planning—which we’ve been doing for years. It’s not about religious persecution—that’s a load of crap. It is about politics. It is about repression. It is about sex.

The past is present. Pick a fight with sex and mark my words: sex will win every time.

I highly recommend you give her a read! (Please let her know I told you about her.)  —George

http://misslisted.com/2012/02/12/the-news-of-whitney-houstons-death-stirs-up-memories/

Outside Kitty having a strech

Back on 09/17/11 and 11/05/11, I wrote about my concerns regarding a young tabby cat who had decided our house was just-the-right-place for her to live. At the time of those posts my biggest concern for the cat was this: since she refused to come inside the house—and we honestly didn’t have room for her inside the house—how would she survive outside during the winter? Well, I want to report that the kitty is thriving! Please read on.

If you look at my 11/05/11 post, you’ll see details on the “under-deck” shelter I built for the cat. The shelter was a big success: the kitty uses it without reservation! I have seen her, multiple times, coming out from under the deck, near where I built the shelter, with straw stuck to her fur! I am so happy she’s using it—the fact that she’s using it has really reduced my fear that she’d freeze this winter.

The cat is plump, her fur is smooth, and she moves and sounds good. She seems to be extremely healthy for an “outside cat.” She is good-natured and relatively unafraid—cautious, but unafraid. She mews to get petted by myself and my wife, but not by Sam: she doesn’t let him get too close.

On one particularly cold morning a couple of weeks ago, I decided to put my heavy gloves on and grab the kitty—literally snatch it up—and put it in the house to see how it would do and to give it a chance to warm up. I got it inside, but the kitty didn’t appreciate my efforts at all.

The cat howled and howled, and howled some more! She was completely terrified! Surprisingly, our two giant inside cats (both female) didn’t fight it at all: they just stared at it while it trembled and bawled. Even after a few minutes it was shivering much worse from fear than it was from the cold outside (12 degrees), so I caved and let it out. It was happy to tear out of our house!

All told, I’ve grabbed the cat four times now and brought it inside. I’ve had the same result each time: the kitty cowers and shakes—scared-to-death—howls and howls, and only wants to get-the-heck-out-of-there at the very first opportunity! It simply doesn’t want to be inside the house—no matter what the temperature outside.

I’ve resigned myself to the fact that this one is simply going to be an outside kitty. I’ll feed it well, keep it watered, provide suitable shelter, pet it like crazy when I can, and that’s about all I can do. The cat appears to be happy, healthy, and independent, so I guess I should be satisfied with that.

out back having a nap in the sun

My nephew, Steve, my late brother’s oldest son (see recent posts in my “family” category), is featured in the video that’s part of this recent news piece out of Kansas City, Kansas. He’s not in the video for a great deal of time, but it’s good to see him–good-looking kid!

Sunday Spin is a weekly feature of Coalescence. I’ll be using it to highlight some of my favorite music and talk a little about what the song means in the context of my life. Comments are highly encouraged! (Tell me if you’re familiar with the song and what it means in your life.)

First released in 2001, here’s this Sunday’s Spin!

I mentioned in yesterday’s post, “Our family’s experience with Risperdal,” that there was a time that when my son, Sam, was taking a medication that made him withdraw early in the evening and want to lay quietly on the futon we had in our home office. I also mentioned that I would sit with him during that quiet time.

To try to make the time pass as peaceful as possible (the medication was apparently making him feel “fearful”), I would tune the television in our office to one of the digital music channels on cable: I wanted to have soft, relaxing music playing in the background and I found that the New Age music channel seemed to work best. Listening to this introduced me a variety of New Age artists; one of my favorites being, Patrick O’Hearn.

As I edited yesterday’s post (re-post), I thought back to that time—sitting quietly on the futon,  wondering if I’d done the right thing by putting my son on that medication—and I remembered Patrick O’Hearn’s, “Beyond This Moment.” Not all of my memories of that time are bad ones: there’s something relaxing/fulfilling/important about sitting quietly with your child despite the circumstances. I appreciated the relaxation and contemplation the song brought then, so I decided to offer it for today’s Sunday Spin.

Please let me know what you think!

LINK TO TURNTABLE IMAGE (credit to www.freeimages.co.uk)