The days grow short when you reach September

Yesterday was a day of contrasts.


Gloria and I spend quite a lot of time on line in various pursuits. We keep in touch with family, with friends, and with casual acquaintances literally around the world. She has two on-line stores selling hand-made jewelry and vintage items.

I was fortunate enough to collaborate in the compilation and publication of “A Tapers’ Compendium,” Volumes 1-3 and the addendum. This was an on-line project that generated a listing and review of every Grateful Dead concert recording, by fans or by the band, circulating among the obsessive-compulsive tapers and traders who make up a subset of the band’s fans, Dead Heads. From this undertaking, long ago completed, I’ve stayed in touch with about 25% of the people who helped with the project. Some have become quite good friends and will always have a place in our lives.

I’ve also forged similar on-line and face-to-face contacts in the on-line fly fishing and fly tying communities. We’ve met at various places to fish and to raise money for one charity or another.

Of course, Gloria and I met initially as a result of on-line correspondence that began in 1992.

One of the dicey things about on-line acquaintances is the risk one assumes by not being able verify everything one is told. When Gloria and I met, there was no real internet as we know it today. We wrote a lot of notes and spent a lot of time on the phone as well. By the time we finally met we knew quite a lot about who the other said they were. Still, her friends warned her to be cautious about meeting someone unseen from out of state. They were right.

When we met, in D.C.’s National Airport, we had only had about 24 hours to view pictures of each other. The intellectual and emotional attractions were strong but we had no idea if the physical attraction would appear. (Well, I’d seen better pictures of her than she of me – I already found her attractive). Fortunately for me, she decided she could stand to look at me and opened the meeting with a spectacular kiss.

From that moment on we experienced a strong and surrounding comfort in each other and with each other that allowed us to proceed from being strangers to being the pair we are today. That comfort is always there.

Last night, about 1830, the cable television and internet service was suddenly interrupted. We were fixing dinner when it happened and called the outage to Comcast, hoping to hasten resumption of service. Since we’d both been in Johnson City yesterday dealing with things medical and academic, we had some things to complete or catch up on on-line. We were told that our provider knew of the outage and that service would be restored shortly.

After dinner, we put on a stack of CD’s, let them play, and spent a pleasant evening reading. When we finally turned in about midnight the service was still out.

The lack of external noise highlighted something we both appreciate. We don’t need to be constantly speaking to each other in order to be content. Quiet presence serves us both. Physical presence speaks adequately much of the time.

I started a James Butcher “Dresden Files” novel Monday at the car dealership. Yesterday I read more while waiting for Gloria. I finished in during the quiet evening hours yesterday and handed it off to Gloria.

Gloria had a neurosurgical consult today. Because of her previous surgeries and her fibromyalgia diagnosis, she may have more L-spine problems that are not diagnosable without further imaging studies. The neurosurgeon did a quick but thorough exam, looked at old films and ordered a CT and myelogram. The CT is no real problem although the appointment is for Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport, close to 60 miles away. We don’t know anyone there, we’re out of that loop and neither of us cares for that. Being a patient is difficult for both of us.

The myelogram is problematic for me as they are painful during performance, easily screwed up, and often not diagnostic even if all else goes well. The sequelae, headaches and nausea, are commonly the result of incorrect patient care after the procedure. Gloria’s body, my misgivings voiced here. Obviously she has her own concerns. But chronic pain takes people into agreeing to such procedures in hopes of relieving it.

It took Gloria and me a long time to find each other. We realize how quickly even the most ordinary diagnostic or operative procedure can go wrong. Sometimes a medical background is not the best thing to possess. This is one of those times. I’m far more willing to allow an unknown surgeon to work on me than I am to think one should work on Gloria. However, it is not my choice.

It will be interesting to watch the insurance companies begin refusing to cover annual or bi-annual mammography in light of the latest advisory. All the GOP pundits and legislators are beginning to scream about “rationed care” and bureaucratic intercession. I fail to understand why a GS-3 is a bureaucrat but a private sector clerk denying coverage for a procedure or tests is just fine.

Maybe, the answer to that is in Sarah Palin’s “Big Book of Big Lies.” It seems the lack of fact checking is making itself known to real journalists. I find no reason that anyone should find her an acceptable candidate. The mob is easily led around. There’s nothing Palin could say to me or show to me that would cause me to believe a single word from her mouth

Dinner tonight will be beef stronganoff over egg noodles with haricot verte.