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Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of, and finding treatments for, complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.
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Blog entries by Howard
Resistance is _________
I'm fully latching onto and into the Vitamin D Resistance realm. It just makes too much damn sense. Each of you already knows the details, as incessant exposure to direct sunlight improves my physical energy state (whereas a lack of sunlight severely detracts from my...
The night sky is especially black right now, but I cannot say why. Blacker than a black ink pen? Perhaps it is.
I shouldn't be awake right now. And really, nobody should. But I am contending with a particular kind of pain. An old familiar. The Bile Flesh Burn. It's a deep skin erosion trauma...
Differences Measured in Units
It's been a month since I moved back into unit number two, so here is a brief synopsis / evaluation / review (interesting or not)
Wait Times
or
The Fast and the Superfluous
On average, it takes an hour for someone to respond after one of us has pushed the...
Somewhat surprisingly, I'd never actually been to the Music Instrument Museum - despite having collected, played, and recorded a wide variety of musical instruments for my own music-making purposes. So of course, I was just about due. And again, now that I'm capable of experiencing "out there" I...
It's 11:07 a.m. and she's not there. Who is she? And why is she important? Well, the idea was that someone would come along with me, a person to assist out and about and around downtown Phoenix and vicinity. Could I have gotten away without the assistance? Probably. Maybe. But things would have...
A rotten streak of 18 consecutive days and nights has unceremoniously reached its end. Hooray for that. Now instead of debilitating awfulness, I am simply contending with a new roommate who snores louder than loud for periods no less than 12 hours at a time. But that's something I can contend...
Crime and Punishment
Back when I could read for enjoyment, Dostoyevsky placed near the top on my short list of favorite authors (Also belonging in that group were Jack Kerouac, Hunter Thompson, Kurt Vonnegut, Chuck Palahniuk, and of course, the best of the bunch, William Burroughs - but that...
Dateline: Sunday Evening (I forgot to post in a timely fashion)
For nearly three hours today I was de-bloated. Flat stomach. Flat abdomen. Flat everything. And the strangest thing happening involved movement and noises, unfamiliar sounds pinging back and forth within my abdominal cavity. Gross...
I guess I'm not sleeping. Literally. My friend and neighbor Dora keeps waking me up by shouting out loud into the night. Okay then, it's not night time anymore, but the sun has not yet risen, however - I do see a pale blue hue beyond my window pane.
Speaking of pain, I'll choose not to go on...
Please keep in mind that I missed the brunt of everything - but this is exactly what was happening at 3:03 p.m. (Mountain Standard Arizona Pacific Daylight Savings Time) during the brief 22 minutes that I spent in-house.
My neighbor and friend (Dora) was borderline hysterical, calling out my...
Robert is gone. He was my roommate for nine days. An eventful nine days. You see, he's suffering from dementia. And for the first 48 hours as my roommate, he was quite agitated. He neither slept, nor stayed in bed. Nor did he wear clothes, all that often - careening down the hallway with his...
Dateline: two days ago -
A frigid desert night is in the making. Freezing. Below freezing. Our version of an Arctic blast. This winter has been cold. Colder than normal. Or at least, far colder than it's been (on average) in the past decade or so. But that's okay, as the chill is much more...
I'd been outside waiting for my return ride back to the nursing home (for nearly two hours). That's right, they forgot about me. And hence, the possibility of being stuck in Gilbert, Arizona overnight on Christmas Eve was becoming a real possibility. Lucky for me, the temperature was agreeable...
I've written five full blog entries (ready for posting) in the past six days. But for a multitude of reasons, I've decided against actually posting the darned things. Why? Because my purpose in doing so is unclear. And also, I do not wish to unnecessarily hurt others, or stress others...
Isolation - Day 6 (Wednesday)
Sleep. It's something I've been doing of late. More specifically, lots of napping. The other thing I've also been doing with some frequency is wake up whenever the blaring door alarm goes off.
Because we are under quarantine, all staff members must exit our unit...
Symptom Status
I'm fine. Or at least, in most instances I am getting there. Since early this morning (Monday) my chief complaint is a semi-regular cough. So that's not much to complain about. The fever, elevated blood pressure, sinus / facial pain, and body aches, are no longer much of an...
Yep. I just tested positive. There's no way the experience could be as bad as last time, right?
My fever is at 102.3 degrees. And of course, all the rest of the symptoms.
But I should fare better this time, right? I've had it twice already. And I was outside in the direct sunlight yesterday...
Thought I would share something silly with y'all -
Background: it's 418am and it's really warm in here! So I just sent this off to management via email. And no, this is not a crisis situation. But I thought you might find this communique amusing on some level.
Good morning,
Once again I...
He exited I-10 instead of going straight, which put us on the outer fringes of Tempe, instead of Ahwatukee. No, it wasn't a fatal error, but there would be several more "errors" to come. Upon entering the chosen apartment complex (15 minutes later) the driver angled to the right instead of...
After being rejected, deflected, and neglected for so long, something positive has finally happened. No, it really hasn't been all that bad of late. Just mostly that bad. Anyway, Valley Metro Transit approved transportation for me. What this means is that I can cop a ride anywhere in and around...