A short disquisition on disease and disease prevention. Plus an unsung disease.

I grew up in a family that harbored health experts and world-class hypochondriacs, and I am one of ‘those‘ insufferable patients – a media surfer who wants to be on the same page as her doctors. Obnoxious. Well no, I’m pretty discreet.

Many of us oldies are lining up for double-whammy vaccinations to prevent or attenuate influenza (strains expected this year) and Covid 19 (idem). RFK Jr notwithstanding, those who can generally go for prevention. Despite some negative reactions it’s still wise. We won’t lock up RFK Jr just because he has issues with mainstream science, ignores and undermines it, obsessed with unverified theories of autism. New vaccinations have been developed, the door is open for more. We’ll simply carry on, despite Olympian Trumpian cuts to universities, the CDC, major medical research projects and so on.

We oldies still recall polio, whooping cough, measles, mumps, chicken pox, if not diphtheria, etc. Weeks and months of suffering. Bovine tuberculous was still alive and well in Switzerland, and all schoolchildren received chest fluoroscopies annually (with generous doses of radiation). Measles kept me in bed  for a month, a nightmare of fevers and isolation.  And measles is rearing its angry rash again among the unvaccinated, with the risk of severe complications.

All this is a lead-in for my favorite under-the-radar disease…….

Cat-scratch fever, with the beautiful Latin name:

 

 Bartonella henselae

My younger brother was diagnosed with cat-scratch fever by the pediatrician-who-made-housecalls with his stuffed monkey puppet meant to distract a scared child. My brother was 6, I was 11 and curious about all the attention he was getting.  He had very swollen lymph glands and fever, and simply wasn’t his usual sunny self. 

I was fascinated that a cat could cause this condition. Yet I have owned many cats, have endured many scratches over the years but never had it, and I haven’t met anyone else who confesses to being a survivor. 

The sheltered life? Better flea powder? Who knows?

Westerners still live with parasites, worms, head and body lice, scabies, etc. 

So where are the Bartonellistas?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

November Morning, Driving to Geneva

 

November Morning, driving to Geneva

While I was driving east to town today 

a metaphor escaped my morning mind

as sun blew off the mist, a brilliant reprieve.

As for that metaphor eclipsed by sun:

why substitute a simile or simply curse? 

If a trope eludes me then I’ll let it be, 

it’s headed for a better metaverse.

🌥

⛅

🌤

🌞

(written that night when I couldn't get to sleep!)

• 
  

WORDLESHIP - WORDLE WORSHIP

Let's face it:  it's an addiction. Playing Wordle produces a delicious rush of dopamine - your little morning energy shot.

Wordle is a social, if not sociable game, sharpening your competitive edge with friends and relatives. With or without commentary you can rely on a daily Wordle boost to wake you up.

Many go solo, but I enjoy rubbing my grid up against other grids. 

If a Wordle buddy doesn't send you their daily result you begin to wonder--are they OK? What's wrong? Why haven't I heard from them? 

They may not be part of your intimate entourage but you now have a Wordleship that needs  to be nourished, upheld---- a commitment:  I will play Wordle and share it with you, crow when I do better than you, cower when I don't.

Some begin with the same few words that favor maximum vowels or consonants. Key words, go-to five-letter words. To me that's boring -- I use whatever word pops into my head for variety.

And you know what? I have the impression that my own scores and those of my 'opponent' friends - over time - average out the same (though I haven't charted them).

There are no champions in my book!

triumphant two     thrilling three     banal four      frightened five 

stupid six

WORDSHARE ------ TACHYPHYLAXIS

A mouthful of a word. My brother-the-doctor (in fact both brothers are doctors) offered me the Greek word incorporated into the medical lexicon. In response to my complaint that perhaps a medication I was taking was no longer as effective after a long and happy coexistence with my body. Pills, pills.

Tachyphylaxis - that medicine you loved has stopped loving you.

Certain words are just too delicious. 

Like a hand-made dark truffle from Auer Chocolatier, rolled repeatedly over and under the tongue. 

So what do you do? Reduce dose, take a drug 'holiday' (a dreadful American term that makes it sound like you're on spring break in Miami), ignore it, get over it, shop around for another med ?

But this is nothing compared to what's happening to the overseas drug industry Americans have relied on for decades which Trump has tariffed mercilessly.  European Pharma may not be saintly, but it still should be allowed to serve the public, export medicines and their components to the US without costly impediments. 

Now prices in the US are soaring......unless the Supreme Court rules that Trump's arbitrary and vengeful tariffs are illegal.

The Supreme Court is busy mulling it over.

'Tachy'  means lightly, quickly

'Taxis' in Greek means order, regular disposition, arrangement....:

We beg the Supreme Court:   Tachytaxis  (pseudo Greek).