A
few months ago I started to feel pain in my right foot. It sort of
'travelled' from the sole to the top to the back of the heel and then
the top again. I told the doctor about it and he sent me for an
x-ray which came back negative. He then sent me to the podiatrist who
couldn't find anything but said it might be tendinitis and gave me some
exercises to do which didn't seem to help. On my own I alternated
between hot and cold compresses but, again, nothing helped, so I just
went on bearing it.

Then
THE fall happened on November 8. Now 3 weeks later it all has healed a
lot faster than I expected though I still have a few bruises on my body,
a big one under my arm but nothing hurts.

On
Thanksgiving Day, as we have the past few years, Allen and I went to
the buffet at the casino and I knew something was wrong as I didn't feel
like eating!! Oh I took some plates of food and had a few bites but,
probably for the first time, the buffet made money off me! Allen took me
home and I spent most of the night sleeping. On Friday, as usual, we
went to the movie and I didn't feel too bad. I told Allen I had been
constipated for a few days--another oddity for me--but when we went to
Denny's for a bite I did eat the eggs and pumpkin pancakes.

It
was when I got home that I, literally, exploded!!! I spent all of
Friday, Saturday and Sunday either knocked out on the bed or sitting on
the commode! Even worse I didn't eat a bit of food! Along with all that
my right leg fell out from under me a couple of times and lucky enough I
was able to grab onto something so I didn't fall.

On
Monday I got to the doctor who first reamed me out for not coming to
him after the fall. He also decided to send me to a neurologist
regarding the foot.  He said it was obvious that I had caught the 'bug'
that was going around and told me to go home, rest and have a liquid
diet including chicken soup--and he isn't Jewish!! In any case he gave
me a prescription for ciprofloxacin for 7 days and told me if the
diarrhea hasn't eased up in 2 days to call him.  How about this on the
druggist's notes: "Cipro can cause side effects that may be serious or
even cause death." Doesn't that make you want to take it?

When
I got up today--oh did I mention along with this they are putting a new
roof on my building?? And that the lawn maintenance men come every
Tuesday? --  though I didn't feel that much better I did feel a little
hungry. I didn't have chicken but I did have a turkey I had cooked up
for the weekend so I put that in a large boiler and made some turkey
soup which I have been nibbling on all day.

People
are kind and mean well but when I am sick leave me alone! Of course my
not responding to phone calls only makes them more concerned and the
knocks on the door start--with pots of chicken soup!!! I put a note on
the door and a message on my answering machine that I was coming along
fine and would get in touch with them soon.

Hopefully
I will be back to my old self in a day or two but meanwhile I'll pamper
myself, eat my turkey soup, cover myself up in my fleece bathrobe and
watch some trash TV falling asleep every now and then!!!

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"I cannot give you the formula for success,

but I can give you the formula for failure

--which is try to please everybody."

Herbert Bayard Swope  1882-1958  American Newspaper Editor