Lyme Disease Comes Home
My daughter is a bit of a hypochondriac.
It’s not that she imagines wounds or diseases. It’s more that when she is afflicted she will obsess, study and discuss all aspects of an affliction to anyone who will listen.
Last week she tested positive for Lyme Disease. She even sent me a picture of her rash.
In addition, as I expected, she embarked on a massive research effort on the disease and sent some appropriate links along to me.
Which is not to say this is a disease to be taken lightly. Indeed I became very concerned about daughter’s health. It was me who needed to be calmed with her reassurances that the physician had her on an antibiotic regimen that she was confident would cause a cure.
Still, that’s a nasty rash on her leg.
And Lyme Disease is a nasty, stealth disease.
From the American Lyme Disease Foundation:
What is Lyme Disease?
Lyme disease (LD) is an infection caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, a type of bacterium called a spirochete (pronounced spy-ro-keet) that is carried by deer ticks. An infected tick can transmit the spirochete to the humans and animals it bites. Untreated, the bacterium travels through the bloodstream, establishes itself in various body tissues, and can cause a number of symptoms, some of which are severe.
LD manifests itself as a multisystem inflammatory disease that affects the skin in its early, localized stage, and spreads to the joints, nervous system and, to a lesser extent, other organ systems in its later, disseminated stages. If diagnosed and treated early with antibiotics, LD is almost always readily cured. Generally, LD in its later stages can also be treated effectively, but because the rate of disease progression and individual response to treatment varies from one patient to the next, some patients may have symptoms that linger for months or even years following treatment. In rare instances, LD causes permanent damage.
I myself took a nasty tick bite and ended up with the signature bullseye rash. I went on the same antibiotic treatment protocol as Melissa and have since had no discernible symptoms. Interestingly, I still test positive for Lyme Disease so I’m not sure it’s a disease that ever leaves the system completely.
The simplest solution to Lyme Disease is to avoid exposure to the carrier of the spirochete that causes the disease. Which would be to stay out of deep woods and out from under leafy vegetation that allows the ticks to drop upon unsuspecting mammals with no detection.
Which is all well and good but often impractical advice. The next plan of action would be to wear long sleeve shirts, pants and shoes when venturing out during prime tick season.
It’s also a good idea to check yourself in the shower for ticks. Children also should be checked after extended romps outside for signs of ticks.
Below is the link to a web site with a compilation of all web sites and their descriptions on the subject of Lyme Disease.
Chiff.com
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The Ugliest Dog in the World
Stolen directly from an AOL introductory screen, I have to agree with the judges on this one.
This poor pooch should be loved all the more for his ugliness.
More Miscellany posts HERE
“Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms”-(my life in American politics)-Ed Rollins
I knew of Ed Rollins before I even picked up this book. Ed Rollins, yeah...that guy. Yet another political pundit often gracing my television screen, spouting opinions and analyzes with what background I knew not.
Now I know.
Ed Rollins’ main claim to fame is the election of Ronald Reagan. He then was engaged in the non-election of Michael Huffington in California, Christie Todd Whitman in New Jersey and here’s a hoot, the presidential race of Ross Peroit.
I picked the book up on a whim. I’m a bit of a political junkee. I figured...why not?
It was an interesting read though I got to tell you, this guy is so in love with himself a casual reader might want to be forewarned.
Though he spends endless words describing his mistakes and horrible choices, this reader was not fooled. In the end it was the stupid Ross Peroit who derailed his presidential bid; or the self-absorbed Arriana Huffington -wife of Michael, or the too-involved husband of Ms. Whitman-all other parties besides the author who did in their own campaigns.
What amused me was the story behind the stories of many of these same political pundits who guest on “Meet the Press” to give background to fools like me. Arriana Huffington---what a hoot. I’d seen this woman often enough with her thick accent and amazing knowledge of American politics. In this book I discover she is a mean and ruthless conniver, determined to get elected via a handy husband vehicle.
Christie Todd Whitman, once in charge of Bush’s EPA.....a rich bitch with no clue about us little guys? Who woulda thunk?
Ross Peroit didn’t have a clue, so the author would have us believe. Actually, I believe it. I voted for Mr. Peroit oncit, one of the dumber things I’d ever done in my life.
Rollins details the rivalry between him and James Carville, Clinton’s campaign chairman. This is an interesting insight. Hey, I’m sorry. And I don’t like Carville. But Carville is leagues above Rollins in political ability.
The really, really best part of this book, the part that made me laugh and cry and hoot and holler, was the tale of how Rollins finally did himself in. While I’m not a political pundit with no televised exposure, even *I* would have known not to do what the all-knowing Rollins did in a moment of collapsed self-restraint.
“To what do you attribute the victory of Todd-Whitman,” Rollins was asked casually.
Rollins, unbelievably, describes the Whitman’s campaign activities of paying black church leaders to “stay quiet”-in other words, if you must publically support democrats, how’s about a few bucks and you say nothing?
Of course Rollins then spends some time convincing us that such activities never took place during the Whitman campaign; that he’d engaged his mouth before activating his brain; he had no proof of such an assertion. And even if these activities were engaged in, such as “walking around” money is perfectly legal in the state of New Jersey.
There was quite the scandal over this little faux-pas by Mr. Rollins, a man who should have known better to utter a word even if he SUSPECTED this kind of activity. To go on a public forum and declare this strategy as main cause for victory....whew, what a moron.
In fact, Rollins calls himself a moron quite liberally. He admits his words were ego-driven. He was on a post-campaign “high”, he didn’t know what came over him.
If nothing else, pick up this book just for the detail of this episode.
More book reviews HERE
More pics of week HERE
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