The Wrong Crime?

[When I first posted this tonight I'd forgotten that I'd said similar things in the last post here.  I guess that means it's been on my mind more than once? ---or I'm just that dern forgetful these days.  Either way I believe it needs repeating so here I am hitting "post!" anyway.]


A couple of weeks ago my granddaughter who just started university this year posted a photo of her sitting on the bed in her dorm before she'd personalized it. The stark plain walls and everything the same bland color reminded me of a cell. (it was much cozier and pretty after she decorated it!) That got me thinking of prisons...

Thinking about prisons made me think about the articles I've seen in recent years about all the features they have these days, some complete with photos. Some of them are rather amazing given the seriousness of some of the crimes the inmates have done to earn their room in one. Some things seem more like what you'd expect in some fancy summer camp and then some! They have television, internet connections to use, a library, exercise courts - sometimes equipment, all sorts of things along with the usual three meals a day, clothing, free medical, prescriptions and dental needs.

I read that to keep a criminal in jail for a year costs between about $22,000 and $47,000 dollars, depending on the prison and how much security. Well--- ! That got me thinking a bit further along
those lines... They get three meals a day, something to sleep on, quiet time with no worries about how they're going to eat tomorrow, can get medical help... Hey! Hmmmm....

Now some might say that being a prisoner is a very crummy life to have. While I'm sure that is true and though some may object to my saying so - most won't understand this or say I've gone a step too
far in the analogy I can tell you that, seriously, living with some of these invisible illnesses sometimes feels like we are prisoners! We are restricted from doing normal things, often can't manage to keep the schedule we desire (symptoms dictate) etc. The illness can be a harsh warden!

But there are some big differences between those prisoners and me. They have a known end date to their incarceration. Some even get out early for good behavior! I don't. While I can do like my grand-daughter and personalize my adobe my MCS Warden still dictates with what and how much. And,  well, for those of us who are dependent on some form of disability income it sure doesn't come
anywhere near what is spent on keeping their criminals in a cell----

For many of us are closer akin to living in Arizona's "tent city"... for some of my MCS friends almost literally as their living in tents, or campers or garages somewhere... Some are homeless due to income or should I say the lack thereof? Some of us are but one very short step away from homelessness.

Seems perhaps we have committed the wrong crime? Or live in the wrong place, got ill at the wrong time?

Falling ill is NOT a crime! Is it?


Zona

Unbelievable!

Dh and i were driving down the road yesterday headed towards the cemetery where his grandma is buried. Yesterday marked one year since his father died and to this day we still have no clue where (or if) his mother buried him. Rumor had it that she was,for some odd reason, going to put his ashes on HER mother's grave?? So we were going to go take a look...

The cemetery is out by the airport which is way on the north side of town from us on the opposite end from here. So there we were driving down the highway when i heard a "clunk" and saw what looked like a round, dark object glazing off the open window by me and hitting next to my shoulder on the seat. I twisted to look and see if the thing lay here or had fallen to the floor by the door. For some reason I thot of a beetle or some such because well, what else would be flying in the air and make a "clunk" sound when it hit the car? Years ago my brother had been hit in the chest by a hard shelled bug, presumably a beetle, while riding his motorcycle down a highway. I supposed that is what made me think of that.

I didn't spot anything so I turned back towards the front. Suddenly my back started burning like it was on fire! Then it dawned on me.... STING! Sure enough as I leaned forward to whisk that nasty burning coal off my back I saw a winged object with a stinger flying out the window. I've been stung!!! Now I confess I got a bit panicked, after all, I'm allergic to bees! I wasn't sure just what that was that fly back out the window but my hunch was it was a wasp as it seemed more that shape and I thot I saw a stinger. Bees loose their stinger when they sting you...

Seems I wasn't the only one panicked. Dear Husband whipped that car around faster than the Roadrunner and headed home. Ok, I admit it is the one time I have been sort of happy that we moved so close to the hospital even though the street is so very noisy!

I'm happy to report that though no sting would be better than any sting it turned out that I didn't have a horrible reaction, just a lousy one. I don't recall being stung by a wasp before, else it must have been eons ago. I do know how I've reacted to bee stings, however - NOT well!! So tonight now, a day later I'm only dealing with the usual assortment of symptoms plus a lot of discomfort, very achy muscles where the sting was, a big red spot some burning yet and a bit of itching. Makes it a bit difficult to sit or lay down due to that rubbing and putting pressure on the area but I'm still breathing :)

--After thoughts --- I was a bit surprised that those who are around me that I told, mostly family members and a couple of friends, were so concerned and took the ordeal seriously. I suppose it is rather well known how bad bee stings can be for those who are allergic (and unpleasant even for those who aren't). But, you know, for those of us who are chemically sensitive with MCS many things are just as dangerous, can cause just as serious a problem as bee stings or peanut butter for that matter does for those who are allergic. It just might not be as visible...

Martha's New Blog

Something new is in the air we are sharing - Martha's new blog, "Sharing Air". Martha has much experience with MCS, unfortunately. She's a christian writer whose family were missionaries in Peru when she developed MCS. She also has FM and lyme so she fully understands what all those of us with these difficult chronic illnesses are going through. I'm sure her new blog with be both informative and interesting and I highly recommend taking a trip over there and taking a peek real soon! :)

Go here to visit her blog Sharing Air

She's been a member of the CMCS-ei chronic illness list (on yahoogroups.com) and several others for many years. There we have shared the trials of living with MCS and other illnesses, shared treatment helps and woes as well as good old fashioned friendly Christian fellowship.

Martha spent the last several years researching for the book she's written on MCS, which I hope you will find on a bookshelf in the Christian book store near you one of these days soon. This is a different kind of book on MCS then you will have seen before :)

Zona

New MCS & CFS T-shirts and Buttons!

Take a look at the new shirts and buttons up in Zona's Zone Cafepress Shops! Go to Zona's MCS Shop and to Zona's MCS2 Shop.

I will be adding more shortly so do check back!

Also if you have something you'd like to see put on a t-shirt or button (bags, labels etc too) you can send me your idea or leave it in a comment here!

Don't forget May is CFS

Stink Balls !

Yesterday I kept smelling mothballs and wondered where the smell was coming from. Turns out the new neighbor has placed them all over his yard, hundreds of them! YUCK! No wonder my legs have been tingling, heart skipping, feeling whoozy and feeling that 'chemical sore throat' (a type of sore throat I get when exposed to things like frags and chemicals) has been bothering me for days! Haven't been able to sleep either.

My husband has been vomiting and feeling very bad in other ways too. Another symptom of benzene /napthalene toxicity! YUCK.

Seems he placed these all over his yard to keep the cats out. Seems to me there are safer things one can use to do that! These stink balls aren't safe for humans either and I thought most people were savvy to that fact. Besides, who ever would want their place to smell like mothballs?! You can smell it a block away and I'm not kidding. I also live right next store to the smelly place. YUCK.

I tried to tactfully talk to him about this and let him know how we were all sick from it. You think he cared? Ha. He was more concerned about how I was bothering him by talking on the phone on my back porch. Seems he has supersonic hearing...

YUCK and ARGH


Moth balls are environmentally unsafe!
Benzene can irritate the eyes and nose and cause severe headaches, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Prolonged or repeated exposure can cause liver and kidney disease. Store mothballs in a tightly sealed container well out of reach of children and pets. The fumes from mothballs can cause respiratory problems, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services identifies benzene as a carcinogen

Sprung Like A Warped Spring (aka Spring has sprung?)

I've been not doing very well since about christmas when I got that virus. A lot more pain in a lot more places all the time it seems...and a bunch of other symptoms driving me up the wall including that (argh) overwhelming fatigue along with some other frustrating stuff I can't figure out ... Stomach/gut problems much worse etc (whine whine). Some of it might be from pollens...some years i am bad all spring so that's a possibility.

I guess I've been a bit more overwhelmed by it all than I realized. Stress of any kind can sure take it's toll huh?

So.... yesterday the plumber was here downstairs. I had told him last week that I had MCS when he said he was going to put stinking stuff down the drains. Ended up he didn't need to do that... er...or was that part of the fumes last week?? So the other day dear husband and I are laying in bed while he's downstairs when dear husband thought he smelled electric burning! Boy talk about dashing around the house trying to find what was hot! Turned out it was the plumber downstairs--- burning plastic!! When I opened the door down there I was greeted with a cloud of very stinky smoke. Of course it had come up thru the vents and the whole house reeked. We couldn't leave the house til he was gone...and where i usually sit outside on the deck was right above the bathroom window downstairs so it reeked there too. argh.

Well... my brain immediately went south for vacation along with dizziness. And dh's old terrible coughing fits kicked in. Soon as that plumber was gone we got out of here! yikes! Since then everything's been kicked up, including pain, spasms, stomach etc. ugh. Who knows if that is why but i suppose so. My brother, the contractor, said that plastic is ABS = baaad stuff. yuck!

Finances continue to be a major problem. Sadly that is too common for most of us who are disabled with these horrid illnesses.

Where There's Smoke...

For the last several days we've been sitting in smoke. There are four fires nearby and the valley is full of yucky air. About 17,000 people were evacuated, and from what I've heard, four homes have burnt down. The first day the winds were crazy which made the fire terrible to fight. At one point they had it contained, but then days later it was only 40 % contained. I'm not sure how contained it is now but I heard they allowed about 6000 people to return to their homes.

This is not as bad as the BIG fire of 2003. But for those of us with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and other chronic illnesses any smoke is bad! Whenever there is a fire any place the valley fills up with smoke as it gets bottle-necked in here. That's true even for some fires down in Washington.

Since the big fire in 2003 they have changed the way they measure the air quality. So it's real hard to know just how bad it is.It doesn't seem like it's as thick as it was then.. that fire was much bigger. But it seems like it must have burnt into some new kind of trees etc yesterday because it started bothering me much more and the smoke smelled a bit different.

For the last few days we've been confined to the bedroom, the only room with an air purifier and window air conditioner. (It's been in the 90s and the house is hot) Surprisingly Dh hasn't had the awful coughing fits. But he can't leave the room without having his lungs hurt and feeling miserable. Neither can I, though I've ventured out long enough to throw in the dishes and get supper.

Exposures like this can cause all kinds of symptoms for those of us with MCS: headaches, dizziness, fatigue, fuzzy-brained, brain spin, achiness!, breathing difficulties, focusing problems, blurred vision, sore throat --- and more, all of which we've had.

Last night I was awake more than asleep. I couldn't breath and it was too warm. Tonight the AQ number is higher alreadythan it was late last night. Late nights seem to always be worse than during the evenings. Soooo... looks like we might bein for a trying night again. Daughter has to be at work at 10 am and I am hoping that hubby-pooh will be up to driving her because I know I won't be able to!

Life Outside The Box- New "toon' by Zona

(Click on comic to pop-up a bigger version, or go to Zona's Zone site. Link to your right... or click here)

Stay tuned for new comic strips and inspiring stories of the life of a slightly eccentric PWC (Pmcs too!).

Stimulated Right Off The Deep End !

Well they did it. Congressmen and Senators (in the good ol' US of A) voted for a 1100 page "stimulus" bill they didn't even bother to read. Can you believe it? And boy am I stimulated! (which isn't such a good thing for those of us with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome who often suffer from being over stimulated by ordinary sensory input.) I want to scream---- so I'm going to scream right here to you and hopefully someone will hear me, though, sadly it's a bit late.

Did you know that hidden in there somewhere between saving the mice and keeping toilet artists funded (of the National Endowment for the arts type--- hey, I'm an artist and yes of course I'm for artists. Real artists. Not toilet painters.) is a section on health. But wait! Don't get too excited for it is NOT good news, especially for those of us with these wierd, misunderstood, under researched chronic conditions that are hell to live with. You see besides setting up electronic medical records it also calls for setting up some kind of Big Brother Health Overlord who will determine when a treatment is not in line with their opinion of good value for the buck spent.

We already have a dickens of a time affording those 'alternative health aids/treatments', like the suppliments that help some, various types of therapies like chiropractics, massage therapy, muscle testing etc. which typically come out of pocket. I know many people with CFS, FM and MCS who are like me and react to most prescription drugs and survive off these alternatives. Some people are lucky enough to have a doctor who prescribes or recommends, at least, using some of these. With the lack of decent research it's no wonder that all these years later they're (the medical doctors) are still wandering in the dark. But then of course we have the wonderful CDC still intent of pushing the "it's all stress" theory.

Now think about that for a minute. For twenty years the government agency has move at rocket speed from denying this is a real illness to acknowledging there are these sets of symptoms, but they are caused by not being able to handle stress. And now the government in their supreme wisdom believes that they are better able to manage the whole health care industry by supervising what doctors are doing for their patients AND determining when what they're doing is too expensive, not correct etc. Much like they run medicare and the post office. ARGH.

Here's a hint of what might happen to our health care. Ruin Your Health With the Obama Stimulus Plan: Betsy McCaughey and Health Care That Kills . While some may say this is just bloviating I think those of us familiar with what has happened, or should I say what hasn't happened in all these years in acknowledging these illnesses, let alone treating them, by our dear governments wouldn't doubt for one moment that it's not going to get any better now!

Makes me think about those $50 "do it yourself suicide" pills they're now handing out in Oregan. It's pretty pathetic that they're so worried about patients getting addicted to pain meds that doctors are intimidated, but seem not at all concerned about prescribing DEATH. Hmmm let's see... addicted or dead... hmmmm. Ya, right. We can't have people running around out of pain. I fear this may become the way of thinking with this new board too, considering after all this was placed in a 'stimulus package' aimed at our economic situation supposably...

Some folks out there who have heard about this are worrying about Grandma and what this may mean for her in the near future. And yup that's ugly. Take a gander at this quote for the article---

Daschle says health-care reform “will not be pain free.” Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them. That means the elderly will bear the brunt.

Do you think there would be any difference in attitudes towards chronic illness/conditions?

For the life of me I can't believe that any sane "representative" of we the people would vote for a bill they didn't even read. But worse yet, I can't believe that any sane voter would reelect the buggers either! (yet they probably would). Heaven help us!