Something Positive

It's the first day of a new year. I feel I must post something positive. It is hard to be positive when you don't feel well. Yes, Ms J. My mouth is burning again tonight. It started this afternoon.

I was feeling alright after lunch today, so I decided to visit my elderly friend in hospital. Winn is her name. Winifred. I don't know how old she is. About 80 I'd guess. She's had both hips replaced but she still struggles to walk. She sings in the choir at our church.

About a week before Christmas, she was walking up the stairs at her home. Her husband, Bill, said she was on her way to bed and carrying something. Bill heard a crash and hurried to the foot of the stairs where he found his wife crumpled and unconscious.

"I called her name and she didn't answer," he told me. "I reached for her. There was a lot of blood. I was scared to move her you know, so I called 911."

Bill is legally blind and unable to drive. He is stronger on his feet though, so he and Winn are a co-dependant couple. Winifred only needs her glasses to read and she does the driving. Or she will, when she gets out of the hospital. She needed nearly 30 stitches to mend the tear in her scalp. She has a fractured collar bone and, I think a dislocated shoulder. I found her in good spirits this afternoon, despite her pain, and we enjoyed a friendly chin-wag. I left to come home around 4:00 and as I drove, I felt the familiar tingle on my tongue. I tried not to think about it, but I knew my torment was beginning anew. The match had been struck.

I stopped on the way at a convenience store. I thought some ice cream or popsicles would be just the thing to soothe my fiery gob. I held the cartons and read the ingredients.

"May contain traces of peanuts or nuts."

"Made with equipment used for processing nuts and/or peanuts."

Peanuts, Ms J! In vanilla bloody ice cream! And popsicles! Popsicles are frozen water, sugar and food colouring. And peanuts, apparently. I drove home in an angry rush.

I have pills. Yes, I do have pills. Prednisone, remember?

"Take one pill each day."

Lovely.

The doctor said, "Take a pill every morning before 9:00. Just one pill per day. This is a steroid type drug. It could cause bone deterioration among other things. Fractures, etc. Just be careful."

And he was gone.

Bone deterioration? Fractures? What the hell kind of drug is that? And what if the symptoms don't appear until dinner time? Am I to wait then, until 9:00 the next morning to take a pill? It hurts. I can't sleep. Why must I suffer at night? I need to sleep. Why must I suffer at all, damn it?

Something positive. Post something positive.

.............. Errrrr...

Come on, lad. You can do it. Start the year off right.

It's not as miserable as it was Tuesday night. My throat's not sore. I can swallow now. And I'm not producing so much saliva now. Yes, it's not as bad as it was. That's true. I'm better off than Winn, that's for sure. I'm not in hospital. And I did have a lovely Christmas. Celebrated with my kids. Hugged them both. Told them I love 'em. They love me too.

This too shall pass, Ms Journal. I've had troubles before, haven't I? I've always come through. I will this time, too. I'll be alright. I'm going to see my doctor on Wednesday. He'll have some answers. Maybe I'll be over my symptoms by then, eh?

Yeah, I'm alright I suppose. A lot better off than some, I reckon.

Cra..., I mean Happy New Year, Ms J. Yeah. Happy New Year.

(How was that, then? Positive enough, you think?)

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