Friends:
We have had, in a personal/family sense, a somewhat rocky road
this year -- and stress is to my present albatross, Systemic Lupus [SLE],
what pitchy pine is to a fire. When I detected, in my primary
medic's telephone voice a couple of days ago, some obvious concern,
I put our Jeep into 4WD and, accompanied by faithful Maria, drove
several miles on snow-slick roads to get the requested comprehensive
blood test. The faithful nurse called me yesterday afternoon to
indicate the results are "normal, with only a slight kidney
dysfunction." By "normal," the implication, of course, is within the
context of a serious version of SLE which, genetic in nature,
potentially deadly, and always unpredictable will never go away.
But this absence of internal disasters -- especially in the context
of the preceding year -- is welcome news. The kidney glitch is a
still persistent carryover from the earlier period of open, raging
warfare -- and, in itself, has never engendered any heavy medical
concern for a long time. Ending the steroid Prednisone finished off
the Pred-induced diabetes and exorbitant weight gain, trimming 80
excess pounds and returning me to the appearance of normalcy. I
take a number of pills each day and my primary Lupus control med,
Plaquenil, which can irreversibly damage one's eyes, has not done so
-- as per careful tests by an Ophthalmologist, two extensive ones as
recently as last week. Plaquenil does temporarily cloud one's
eyesight -- this always clears as the regular dosage winds down --
but, even though it can be tough to read conventional print, glasses
enable me to drive and maintain my accident-free record. In any
event, despite persistent fatigue, it's clear I am not heading to
the Spirit World just yet.
Beginning at a relatively early age, I spent several decades
assuming that, given my various involvements, I might well die
violently. And there were for sure a number of times where That
brushed me hard -- in a few instances, very hard. But I simply kept
going, kept fighting in a variety of ways --never
particularly afraid of death. In due course, I began to think I
might even live, as some of my forebears did, to a very ripe old age
indeed,
When this especially savage [a word I do not use lightly] version
of SLE struck me well over three years ago, it hit many vital
organs, led to several hospitalizations, and brought Death very,
very close indeed on a number of occasions. We [me, family and
friends] rallied quickly. When, at one juncture [as I related soon
thereafter], I lay in deep coma, a physician asked Eldri if they
should allow me to "slip away," Eldri -- with eyes narrowed -- said
with atypical terseness, "Bring him back." And I returned.
And I do my best to fight on. In addition to maintaining a
global view, we do maintain and write for our massive Hunterbear
website which continues to draw a great many from the Four
Directions and I regularly answer all of the consistent trickle of
reasonable questions on its varied topics that flow in on a daily
basis. And we keep our hand in on local and regional issues. I am
glad to report that "law enforcement issues" -- obviously endemic in
much of the United States -- have subsided in these parts. Four
years ago, a young Native man -- Shoshone/Bannock -- was shot and
killed off-reservation by trigger-happy police who mistook a
harmless household item he held as a firearm. We raised Hell on
that and, although there was a not unexpected whitewash, problematic
matters in that general venue ended sharply and there have been no
especially untoward incidents since. We do keep a very close watch
on everything hereabouts.
And we have also, inevitably, been drawn into the general Lupus
War nationally -- and to some extent internationally. Since this is
a relatively rare disease, frequently fatal sooner or later, and
surprisingly unknown -- which has a special and very
disproportionate appetite for Native Americans, Blacks, Chicanos,
some Asian groups, and women generally, I speak and write about it
as much as possible. In January, I will be giving a fairly long
King Day talk -- as I have regularly in various settings for some
years -- to hospital people of many kinds here at Pocatello and, in
addition to bringing in a variety of contemporary social
justice issues, I will certainly discuss Lupus and the need for
deepening and broadening study and the urgent necessity for a very
substantial increase in the relatively skimpy Federal research
funding for this horrific disease which, as yet, has no cure. At the
same time I give whatever support I can to Lupus victims over a very
wide geographical range [most of them "minority" people, some of
whom are having a very tough time] -- and, of course, these
recipients of my best thoughts reciprocate with much support for me.
Life for me is sometimes like being on a sloping plateau --
bounded by cliffs below and cliffs above. But we are now more on
the upper end of that slope than otherwise -- and I am setting my
sights for the climb to yet higher ground. So I continue to keep
going and keep fighting. Always have and always will. The cut,
shuffle and deal, while not always to my liking, has had so far many
satisfactions indeed and will most likely have more. In any
case, poker-faced and generally stolid, I keep Playing Life -- and
Death.
Nialetch/Onen
Hunter Gray [Hunter Bear], Eastern Idaho, November 30 2006