The pain never stops

Unwellness does not suit me. Hoping to get better soon.  I had to break down and use cortisone ointment to deal with a patch of psoriasis on the back of my neck that was driving me nuts. Nothing else helps. Even a little topical cortisone is very bad news, so I'm being careful. My mouth still is bothering me though almost healed.

This interlude of sloth is  leading to too much web surfing, and the things I'm uncovering are upsetting me a lot. Looking for pictures of Puno, I stumbled on the blogs of a simply awful man who has been adventuring in Peru. He is a gun nut and Christian Dominionist who has been fooling around with Shamans in the jungle and god knows what else he's been up to. He posted a photo of his crappy looking aging self leering at a totally disgusted-looking young Peruvian woman. A proud achievement was leaving a puddle of pee on the flagstones in front of the condor statue in Peru. Which he took a photo of! I looked at it, so you don't have to.

Long ago, when I started this blog, I wrote about a distressing article in the NYT featuring a young woman who was busily ruining her life and calling it success.  She just wrote one of those "memoirs" that seem so fashionable right now, about how she has continued to fall apart over the years, showing amazing resilience, considering that a normal woman would have died or gone completely crackers long ago. She also wrote an anti Girls screed that showed, mostly, how angry she was that someone who was not as totally bonkers as she is was so successful. I'm not linking, because I don't want this whack job coming  over here.

I suspect  a deliberate element of encouraging unbalanced women to get way out there and make asses of themselves, which is leading to a spate of these "confessional" pieces. They get a lot of hits, which is what so many sites are about.

If you want to experience the fun and games, you can look up Mimi or Ruth Fowler. But Mr. Christian Wacko Gun Nut is too scary even to mention his name here. He's no crazier than Mimi but a lot more destructive.

Comments

[Brandon]

I hope you feel better soon. At least the weather is gorgeous.

[Hattie]

Thanks, Brandon. That it is. I'm happy about that!

[Tabor]

The Internet is like TV in that you can get too much of the junk and it will clog your brain and torch your heart.

[Henry Hank Chapin]

I use 1% cortisone anti-itch cream from time to time because I suffer from the dread Hawaiian malady of--ta da--ITCHY EAR SYNDROME. Oh, it's gashly. Moreover, if it were not for cortisone, I would have only one eye. It is the designated treatment for IRITIS. Contrary to itchy ear, which is actually a breeze, you don't want to have iritis (inflammation of the iris). It's really painful. My doctor said, and I quote, "we threw everything in there but the kitchen sink." He was the good-humored type of doc. So I guess it was a lot more than the one-percent, over-the-counter, nonprescription solution for itchy ear. Based on my experience, I offer you guilt-free cortisone treatments. It works.

[wisewebwoman]

Get well soon Hattie, I can relate to the psoriasis having flare-ups myself periodically, just use some Peruvian ointment on it.
See how a post can stretch out and bring something back.
I've found myself cruisin' late at night and not liking what I find.
There are so many whack jobs out there...
XO
WWW

[Hattie]

Tabor: I'm not the addictive type, so this doesn't happen to me often, thank god. I do spend a lot of time on the Internet, but it's a pleasure. When it isn't, as a rule, I stop.
Hank: Good info here. It gets to the point where comfort overrides everything else. Or in your case, saving your eye! Now if someone would come up with a cure for tinnitus...
wisewebwoman: It's amazing, isn't it. Add the porn and you've got most of what's happening online.

[Rain Trueax]

Hope you feel better soon and i agree totally with what you wrote. Reality TV is encouraging even more of it :( It's not helping us as a people for sure.

[marja-leena]

Ouch, take care! And don't read all that nasty stuff, it'll just make you feel worse.

[Hattie]

Marja-Leena: And the worst of it is that this man appears to be a Canadian and lives in Vancouver! But, as you say, better not to read too much of this stuff.

[Henry Hank Chapin]

Wow, so you have tinnitus too. I developed it a few years ago when I thought I heard "crickets" singing. It has subsided a lot and I'm usually not aware of it. I did become aware of it again when I returned to Honolulu from Bellingham, Washington. I wasn not aware at all in Washington State. So, the question is, "Does visiting Washington cure tinnitus."

What I meant about not losing an eye is that the pain without treatment would not be sustainable for the long run. The eye would have to go. It is not self-correcting. But they've been able to treat iritis for decades now. By the way, of the five Chapin "kids," three have had bouts of iritis. Looks genetically based to me, so most people probably will never get it.

[Hattie]

Hank: My tinnitus is much worse. It 's constant and right now quite loud. Ginkgo helps some. BAH! All this little aggravating stuff no one tells you about getting old.

[Z]

Fear no cortisone, at least not topical cortisone for that. For poison oak I mainline it. No harm.

[Brandon]

I saw on tonight's local news that Colleen Hanabusa went on The O'Reilly Factor to contest his remarks about Hawaii.

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/20568394/hanabusa-oreilly-duke-it-out-on-national-tv

[Hattie]

Z: My mother always said there is no such thing as a little cortisone. So I am wary. Anyway I just could not stand the itching and flaking any more.
Brandon: That's great and makes Hanabusa soar in my estimation. And it will give her some national exposure. Maybe people will even learn how to pronounce her name right

[Hattie]

Brandon: I watched the clip of O'Reilly and Hanabusa. I think O'Reilly has rabies. Maybe someone could give him the hot shot.
More: After watching this I think she made a mistake coming on the show. She is not the kind of person who could tell him to f**k off, after all, which made it seem as if O'Reilly was scoring points against her.
Another thing: If any Asians out there harbor illusions as to racism directed against them, they should reconsider. Hanabusa was presenting the "model minority: argument (We take care of our own, etc.) while O'Reilly showed homeless people and laid back beach bums and druggies in Honolulu, which made her look like a fool!
She should have come on angry and let him have it. Called him on his racism. Just said, "You are well known for your racism" and put him on the defensive.
What a creep O'Reilly is!

[Z]

Cortisone: your mother is talking about continual use, I think. Also, over a lifetime. I say, do what you can to feel as well as possible. You have a really healthy life generally so I am sure this is all going to balance out.

I have spent the last month taking control of the health situation of my parents, 88. At my insistence, which fortunately a social worker and my brother echoed without having to be lobbied very much, their MD is now forcing them to live better and get more support for doing so. Had they taken better care of themselves all along they would not be as weak as they are now (my mother needs assistance walking due to *lack of muscle mass* due to belief it is not ladylike to get exercise, for instance). Still, age 70 does seem to be where the difficulty starts. You have to take care of yourself like a baby and also, actually, the way I did in my 20s. It was brilliant. I figured I was in a difficult graduate program so I must need a lot of exercise, fresh air, sleep and good food to do it, and to create a beautiful and positive atmosphere. Later I learned that was self indulgent (I disagree). It is what we all have to do now, though.

[Hattie]

Z: Right. And I'm kind of on my own with this since there are so few people of my age, The "Depression" babies. We are neither young old nor old old.
I'm glad you can help your parents. Keep on mind they have gotten way up in their 80's and must know a thing or two about survival. (;