From the Internet

This link was published in its entirety by the local Chemung Valley Multiple Sclerosis Association October 2005 newsletter.

David Lander was Squiggy from Laverne and Shirley. His battle with MS began like mine, completely undercover. It is very difficult to hide active MS. And people's prejudices against it are a huge surprise:

MS hit me when I'd just begun full-time at the paper. Newbies are the first to go when layoffs come. However, when the Labor Department saw my resume, I was sent on interview after interview, hour after hour, day after day, week after week. Leaning on my cane, exhausted, I trudged from place to place. Never to hear from the interviewer again. Must have been quite a vision of decrepitude. If I didn't go, I would lose the unemployment benefits, the woman at the Labor Department pointedly told me.

The punch line? Had to be one, right?

When I returned to work weeks later (Christmas ruined and me feeling sicker than before) my supervisor told me that he chose me for the layoff because he figured I could use a vacation! The others were janitorial or very young workers, all of whom were simply filling out paperwork and picking up their checks!

Good thing I would much rather laugh about it.

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Little Pond

I know I was warned, but...

..if it's the Lisinopril (10mg) that's making me cough, then forget it. I hack so much that I'm carrying tissues for the tears constantly streaming down my face. My lungs, clear when I saw my family practitioner, are now irritated and producing phlegm. I cough like a three-pack a day trucker.

My teeth are rotting from the constant barrage of throat soothers, demulcents, chewing gum, and (don't let's forget!) Fisherman's Friend. Husband RJ tells me the FF will cause blood pressure problems and therefore are counterproductive. (Or did he say contraindicated?)

I still can't decide whether I am losing weight from all the coughing, which seems to be trying mightily to empty my stomach, or gaining it from all the sugary soothers. Can't use sugar-free substitutes, because they cause wicked gas cramps.

I know I can take two more weeks of this (I can take just about anything, if it's time limited), when I will have a follow-up exam, but should I?

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Little Pond

Grand Rounds Thursday

A day late and a dollar short. Grand Rounds has been up forever. Thanks to GruntDoc, who keeps us Medifans up on Katrina, and now, Dear God, Rita.

Blood pressure time! More on that later.

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Little Pond

Peds Revisited

Am I the only person in these Great United States who hates to wear shoes, especially mules, without socks? Really, now? I don't believe it. Because I can buy little half peds mail order to use with mules. They come in three colors: white, black, and cream.

The dysaesthesia in my feet prevents me from telling exactly how comfortable or uncomfortable they are at any time. MSer know that "feelings are not facts" in regards to pain, cold or heat. But I can see the insoles bunching up, so I know my feet should feel nasty. Hence the half peds.

But they are expensive, right? Sure are, especially after we factor in the shipping and handling. But MS has done nothing if it hasn't made me the genius that I am today!

The Dollar Tree sells peds in a packet of two. (For a dollar, right? Right.) These peds are displayed to be normal peds, for the entire bottom of the foot. But, without stretching, they fit just like the half peds. Look like them, too, only in what is laughingly called "flesh tone." Whose flesh is orangey brown? Never mind. They work, they fit, and I can go about my business assured I am not skanky. My feet, at least.

Problem solved.

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Little Pond

Grand Rounds is UP

Our neighbor is back in town and taking chemo. I'm baking zuchini bread for her and my coworkers. Low-fat and lower sugar recipes are all over the Internet. Just Google.

Meanwhile you can visit this week's Grand Rounds, all you MediFans!!! Actually you may wish to start at GruntDoc's site for his latest take on Katrina.

Never Been There

...but this is the New Orleans I want to visit someday. Thanks to the Happy Catholic. NOLA and southern Mississippi, you are all in my prayers and constant thoughts.

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Little Pond

NOT the end of summer

Not for families without school kids. This is our first year without visits to the principal's office. (And I thought daughters would spare me that...)

But for some time now, September has been a lovely segue into the gorgeous Upstate New York autumn. Still some time to go to Seabreeze and the water slides, and still some time for warm walks in the woods and on the riverfront.

And time for some petblogging! Go to Pat's Pond for more KittyWalk adventures. And to our visit to the Southeast Levee.

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Little Pond