"TICKED OFF" about ALPHA GAL...This may save your life

 

                                              

                                                                 Lone Star Tick

                               Do you know about ALPHA GAL ?  

          And, no, it does not refer to a 'first lady'.

    Or do you know about the LONE STAR TICK?

If you have not heard of this potentially deadly allergy and the tick bite that can cause it, you are not alone.  Even many medical professionals have not yet learned of this rather new disease, first identified in 2002.   (For further information, search Alpha gal and Lone Star tick).

  Untreated Alpha Gal allergic reactions result in Anaphylaxis... an inability to breathe. When a clinical assistant in a medical office began experiencing AG symptoms, EMS personnel were called to transport her to a nearby hospital. The most obvious trigger for AG is eating any kind of mammalian meat. Forgoing dairy products is necessary for some AG people.  There are several subtle causes as well,  including medicines and foods that contain mammal byproducts such as gelatin in capsules.

   We became aware of this pest-borne allergy when my wife awoke at 2a.m. with severe hives, requiring a trip to the Emergency Room. In the ensuing years, many facets of our lives have changed. Since Covid we eat out only where there is outside dining but prior to that restaurants provided challenges beyond menu options (often very limited and at a risk of cross-contamination of salad ingredients). Food preparation needs to occur on a separate grill away from mammalian food.  Smell can sometimes precipitate an episode. Lingering at a restaurant with friends, we were near a large table of guests who had steaming mammal entrees. In time, Alpha Gal symptoms began.  Fortunately, she had appropriate medication.  Now we go nowhere without epipens. 

   But the prohibitions go on:                              .certain kinds of exercise can aggravate symptoms.    .the allergist at UNC-CH advised against wearing woolen garments.  My wife had recently purchased a long-sought-for woolen jacket. Never worn, it and all other woolen clothing were donated to a local benevolence.                                                             .prescription options can become limited. Methods of anesthetization must be consider prior to surgery and dental procedures. Pig heart valves, long a primary replacement in cardiac procedures, must be avoided.                                                                        .pet dandruff limits options for those who want  indoor pets.

   While there are no 'cures' for AG, precautions almost to hypervigilance are advised. Gratefully, some assistance for navigating the new terrain have begun to appear.  A local restaurant owner who left her business due to her AG later began a catering service featuring safe foods. AlphaGal Kitchen on the     web provides numerous recipe options.

     Tick season is near. If you have 'possums nearby, protect them as ticks are a part of their menu. Otherwise, take precautions.

    Satchel

 ('Thanks' to my wife who co-authored this post from her personal experiences.)   

 

    

BRACKET-OLOGY

 

                                                                        Reid

      Check your calendar, it's March.  For lots of people in the US, that signifies "Madness", at least of the basketball kind.  Do you have a favorite team? This year in our area, 3 high school teams made it to their State Championship games. However, the title eluded them all.

    I live in central North Carolina where there is a kind of year 'round mad-ness for basketball, given the proximity of several college and university teams with national prominence.  As a college freshman, I watched on tv the undefeated UNC Tarheels defeat Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas in triple overtime.  So intense was the play that one person in our state had a fatal heart attack watching the game. 

    Duke's presence in yet another NCAA tournament this year evoked my memory of a long ago athlete at that school telling a pep rally "I used to be arrogant but now I am humble and proud of it !"

   While my "career" was hardly stellar and my general interest has waned, I once upon a time enjoyed playing the game. I had not played high school varsity sports until my Junior year and spent most of that season sitting on the bench next to the coach. Sometimes that carried its own form of entertainment such as the night a guard on the visiting team was 'hot dogging' in front of our bench. Coach drawled, " Name , I would like to buy you for what you're worth and sell you for what you think you're worth." As I recall, we lost that game badly. Occasionally, I would get to play and went scoreless the entire season up  to the last game when I scored my 'all time high' of 18 points. The final score of our 77-27 win  is sealed away in some corner of my brain.

   The following year I was a starter but hardly a 'star'.  We did avenge the previous year's loss to Name's team with all our starters scoring in double digits. When we played the team from my previous school, I played respectably and when my former algebra teacher said to me after the game, "I didn't know that you could do that", I replied, "Neither did I!". Not much else of that season was memorable. Gratefully, I was a better baseball player.

   Two of my wife's great-nephews are outstanding high school athletes, especially in basketball and baseball.  Luke excels in both sports as well as track;  and this year Reid is opting to focus his energies on his basketball travel team. Their travel coach has had a colorful playing career, having once played with the Harlem Globetrotters. (Johnny coached at a nearby high school team this year. Last year that school had a lackluster season and his first year as coach this team posted a 29-5 record and played in the State championship game. They lost to a school that was also coached by a former Globetrotter.)

  This year,  Reid's consistent performance earned his selection to First Team Conference All Star team in his Sophomore season. His average per game statistics are impressive: 19.8 points, 10 rebounds, 3 steals, 55% field goal accuracy, 40% 3-point shot accuracy. His season totals were 496 points, 120 assists, 249 rebounds and 46 steals.  And, there is another most important attribute that does not show up in a statistical compilation : He is an overall "good guy".  We are proud of him---for his hard work and achievements and for who he is.

   When I told a friend of Reid's achievements, he wrote back, "I guess you are no longer the best basketball player in your extended family." No longer?  How about Never was !

   Satchel

"A month of Sundays . . ."

 

  How long is a "long time" ?  The English language expresses duration in several colorful idioms: 'a blue moon'; 'right smart while'; 'a dog's age'; 'a lifetime'; 'when pigs fly'; 'not in a coon's age'; and this one: 'A       MONTH OF  SUNDAYS'. Now that's a long time. One dictionary offered this definition : "A very long time; a period regarded as too long." Why that metaphor?  One suggestion focused on Sunday's  being a long, dreary time caused by various amusements not being allowed on that day. A movie with Rod Steiger, a novel by John Updike and a once popular song appropriated 'A Month of Sundays' as a title.

  Like many teens,  it seemed to 'take an eternity' to reach the magic age of 16 when a driver's license marked a rite of passage. When I was a child in the early1940's, December had days without number before Christmas arrived.

  This vast expanse of waiting came to mind  when I saw this Pogo comic that someone had posted on  Facebook :   (The dialogue boxes are a tad small but worth the read if you have an appreciation for Walt Kelly's Pogo-esque humor.  Also, try enlarging the view on your screen.)

   These denizens of the  Okeefenokee Swamp recognized the subjective nature of  time's duration, even though not using the phrase. In the last panel above, one critter asks "So how about 104 days for the month of DECEMBER ?" That's about how long it took for Christmas to arrive in my pre-adult years. Now another expression seems more apropos: Tempus fugit . . .  time flies.  It seems that we have just put away seasonal decorations and here we are bringing them down from the attic.  And around here this year, the pace has accelerated  with Spring temperatures in the 80's in February.

   Rumor has it that accumulating candles on one's birthday cakes has a direct effect the speed of time. I and several of my college friends have had or will celebrate 85 years in these months. With that, yet another phrase comes to mind  Carpe diem eloquently phrased by Robin Williams's  character in the movie Dead Poets Society, "Carpen diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary."

   It's been a month of Sundays since I have heard better advice.

     Satchel