Penguins, Pot & Other Stuff

I’ve known Dickhead for over 20 years now.  Thought there wasn’t anything more he could do to surprise me.  I was wrong!  After some investigative journalism, came up with a picture of him that defies description.  Member of the Jewish mob?  Flower child displaced in a time warp?  Transvestite hula dancer?  I just don’t know.  Your input on this one is truly appreciated.

 

Check out the picture (if you dare!)

My battle with, how do I say this delicately, intestinal issues continues.  There has been some improvement but, my goodness, it’s taking such a long time.  Did some Internet investigating and decided to meet with a naturopath.  Nice guy by the name of John.  We met for the first time last week-thank goodness he does house calls!

 

John was here for almost 2 hours and developed a good profile of yours truly.  As I have heard from several people, sounds like the heavy antibiotics I was on for such a long time are what is causing my dilemma.  I learned that store-bought yogurt just isn’t going to do what has to be done in the area of replenishing probiotics.  As we all know (except maybe Dickhead), antibiotics are notorious for removing the good bacteria from intestines.  It’s the probiotics that replace them.  John informed me of what brand to buy; he feels it’s the best.  Primal Defense: that’s what it’s called.  Brother Joseph was good enough to go to Goodness Me to pick up a bottle.  John also informed me that the Oil of Oregano I had been taking was not a good idea right now.  Told me it’s a natural antibiotic that was likely eliminating those good bacteria!

 

Met with him again today to review things and develop a good eating plan.  Learned what to avoid and what to use.  It all makes sense but I have to wonder.  The things John recommends are not cheap-bottles of anything usually go for $60 or more.  And it’s not only one bottle!  Add everything up and a monthly cost for everything John recommends can easily approach $150-200.  I know, I know-if it works it’s worth it.  Fortunately, although I will complain loudly, I can handle the cost but I wonder about people who are on a tight budget and looking for alternative measures to deal with a health issue.  Oh well, hopefully the "incidents" will end soon!

My dear Mother turned 80 on February 12.  With yesterday being Family Day, we decided to get together to celebrate the occasion up at Mom’s nursing home.  Almost everyone from the family was there; even the lovely Trish came along- heck, we all consider her part of the family anyway!  It was a chance to catch up on things, make sure Mom got her birthday treats and to sample the delicious goodies brought by Sisters June & Dianne.  A great time was had by all!

 

Check out the pictures taken by the official photographer, Trish.

Most of you know that one of my favorite activities during those warm sunny summer days is to find a nice spot to sit outside, tilt back in my wheelchair and let the sun shine on my face.  Great way to work on the tan!  Well, I set a record this year.  It was so nice outside today, I put on a light jacket, found a spot protected from the wind and let Mr. Sun shine down on me.  It was marvelous!  Was there for about one hour.  I’ve got to build up that base!

Sister Dianne dropped in for a visit the other day.  She arrived carrying a bundle of "goodies" from her kitchen.  Simply delicious; thank you very much!  She went on to tell me that Niece Danielle is now taking horseback riding lessons.  She loves it!  Sister Dianne told me about the outfit she wears and I insisted she send me some pictures.

 

Make sure you check them out.  Who knows, maybe Niece Danielle will bag of gold medal for Canada in Olympic dressage!

Those of you who know me are aware of the fact that I have been dealing with some pretty severe health issues over the past little bit.  Looking back, I can’t help but feel that a major cause of all my problems has to do with the poor care/attention I received from my family physician.  Now don’t get me wrong, he’s a nice guy and I’m sure he tries but the man is just swamped with such a busy practice.  Can’t help but feel like it’s an assembly line in his office.  He has so little time to put towards careful investigation of his patients’ situations.  Because of that, I think he took the easy way out in dealing with some of my earlier bladder infections.  Cipro, Cipro, Cipro-take some Cipro.  That was his answer.  Unfortunately, the bugs in my bladder had built-up a resistance to Cipro and it wasn’t doing any good.  End result-kidney infection & sepsis!

 

Now, another person very close to me may be paying the price of a somewhat inadequate health care system.  Should have had tests done a long time ago but the doctor he was dealing with never had them done.  I’m no doctor but even I knew from the symptoms this person was dealing with that some basic testing should have been done.  It wasn’t.  End result-cancer.  Could have been treated such a long long time ago!

 

Are these shortcomings the fault of individual doctors?  Likely not; I’m sure if they had the time/resources things would be done differently.  Is it the fault of politicians?  Easy to point a finger in their direction but I know they are working with limited funding options.  All I know is, it really sucks.  People are getting hurt!

The big day approaches.  Brother Joseph & I are off to Buffalo tomorrow to watch our Canadiens take care of those pesky Sabers.  It’s going to be tough; the injury bug has hit Montréal big-time over the past week or so.  To top it off, Buffalo has been playing some good hockey lately.  But don’t worry Dickhead, I’m sure I’ll be collecting on our bet!