Fighting Chronic Lyme Disease
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 01/23/2009 - 21:18For two and a half years, my wife has been fighting Lyme disease, and today we received two pieces of good news about her battle. The first bit of good news came from a mailing list of people in Connecticut that are dealing Lyme disease that Kim is part of. There is a bill in the Connecticut General Assembly
To allow physicians to prescribe, administer or dispense long-term antibiotics for therapeutic purposes to patients clinically diagnosed with Lyme disease.
Unless you have dealt with people with chronic Lyme disease, that may seem pretty insignificant. Of course doctors should be able to prescribe, administer or dispense whatever medication is appropriate for the therapeutic needs of their patients. Yet unfortunately, there are many hurdles to prescribing long-term antibiotics for people with Lyme disease. Some people believe there is no such thing as chronic Lyme disease and insurance companies don’t want to spend money on antibiotics if they can avoid it.
For bad cases, intravenous antibiotics is often called for, and that can get pretty expensive. Sure, it isn’t much compared to the cost of caring for other long-term illnesses, but it can still be pretty steep. Even with insurance, the last round of intravenous antibiotics took up a third of Kim’s take home pay.
It isn’t just the expense of antibiotics that is so difficult for people with chronic Lyme disease. A recent study found that Chronic Lyme disease patients often have comorbid psychiatric illness. Put more simply, people with chronic Lyme disease tend to be more likely to be depressed, anxious, have problems sleeping and other ailments.
It isn’t surprising. Walking around for weeks with an IV in your arm, unable to do many tasks you used to be able to do can be pretty depressing and can make it harder to sleep. When you add in concerns about if you will ever feel better, or how you will pay for your medicine, anxiety seems pretty reasonable as well. Who knows how all of this further affects the brain chemistry. I hope that the pressure to address chronic Lyme disease will go beyond simply permitting physicians to prescribe, administer or dispense long-term antibiotics.
This takes me to the second bit of good news. Today, Kim had another Doctor’s appointment to track how things are going with her battle against Lyme disease. The latest blood tests came back showing no current signs of Lyme disease. Now, we’ve had the all clear before followed by another bout of fighting Lyme disease, so who knows what will happen next. But at least right now, Kim doesn’t have an IV in her arm and she is sleeping better.
Some of this, we believe, is thanks to a doctor that aggressively treats chronic Lyme disease, so we are thankful right now and hope that others find good doctors that aggressively treat chronic Lyme disease. Perhaps the legislation now being considered in the Connecticut General Assembly will help make it easier for others.
In and Around Woodbridge
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 01/22/2009 - 20:20Over the past week or so, much of the attention has been focus on national news as President Obama was sworn in and various people from Woodbridge were in Washington for the celebrations. Yet there has been a lot going on here in Woodbridge as well.
Last Thursday the town Democrats and Republicans gathered to select their slates for municipal elections. The Democratic Caucus was well attended, including members of the local press. The Amity Observer produced this list of candidates.
The whole process of selecting the candidates, at least for the Democrats was very quick. A slate was presented by the nominating committee which was approved by everyone. It probably took ten minutes to go through the formalities.
Yet there was much more to the meeting than just approving the slate. First Selectman Ed Sheehy spoke briefly, accepting the nomination, and outlined some of the recent accomplishments as well as future goals. He mentioned the completion of the new firehouse and the plans for the renovation of the old firehouse and a bridge.
He mentioned that Woodbridge was the first community where 25% of the people have committed to clean energy. He spoke about the economic development commission, and plans for the Massaro Farm and a $50 thousand dollar grant for that project. He noted that the town has a AA1 rating from Moodys which is the highest a town the size of Woodbridge can achieve.
He spoke about a five-year maintenance program, revisions to the town ethics rules and improved communications between the Board of Selectman, the Board of Education and the Board of Finance. He noted that people move to Woodbridge because of the quality of education in our town. He ended off focusing on his experience and the civility that he has brought to the office.
This brings me to the Board of Education meeting that took place last night. I ended up recording it for the Government Access channel, so I didn’t get a chance to write much about the meeting. Dr. Stella spoke about the wonderful experience everyone had as the school welcomed visitors from China. As a follow-up, he proposed sending two teachers to China to help set up technology to facilitate communication between students in Woodbridge and students at the schools in China.
In terms of the increased communications between the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance, this evening there was a joint meeting of the two boards to hear Operating Budget Presentations. This is the first of four presentations. Next week, there will be presentations on Tuesday and Thursday, and then the following presentation will be the following Tuesday. Unfortunately, my schedule was a bit too packed to get to this evenings presentation, however, I hope to get to some of the upcoming presentations.
Beyond Woodbridge, Bethany is also preparing for municipal elections and there was a Board of Selectmen meeting last Tuesday in Seymour, which may have addressed some of the issues I’ve been talking about here concerning a guardrail for Haddad Road.
So, while there has been plenty of events taking place on the national stage, there is plenty going on locally, perhaps more than the local newspapers can fully cover. So, I’d ask my readers to consider attending meetings in your towns and posting them online.
Images of the Inauguration
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 01/21/2009 - 18:08When I look back at the Inauguration, there are three images that will stick in my mind. They are not the typical images of the swearing in, the President riding the limo or walking the street. These are images that we see for just about every President and don’t carry the same kind of message that the images I will remember carry.
The Crowds
A recurring image, whether it be from the We Are One celebration or the Inauguration itself, is of the vast crowds. Millions of people turned out to participate in this moment. It was the crowds the elected President Obama and if President Obama is going to be successful, it will come from these crowds acting on their renewed hope and belief in our great country that will make him successful. I hope we all stay as involved over the coming four years as we have in this moment.
The First Digital Native in the White House
Every so often, you would catch a glimpse of Sasha fiddling with her digital camera. Friends have commented on their hopes of finding a Flickr account with Sasha’s pictures uploaded. I write a lot about technology and education. I try to get people to think about how different life is for those who have always had the Internet, cellphones and digital cameras in their lives. What can we all learn from Sasha as she plays with her digital camera?
The First Dance
Live, on ABC, I sat with friends as we watched President and First Lady Obama dance their first dance of the Obama Presidency. People joked about Barack not stepping on Michele’s dress. They talked about the pressure of that first dance with millions of people watching, and related it back to their first dances at their weddings.
Recently, I’ve read blog posts and editorials talking about the importance of family. I’ve read people hoping that President Obama will present a new kind of cool, the cool that it takes to be a great leader, and a cool that is cooler than the sagging pants and gangsta slang.
I pray that black youth will see some of the new presidential cool and say, “hey, I want to be like that.” I pray that others will see young black people and wonder if they are looking at future leaders of our country.
Let us all hope for black kids with digital cameras changing the world.
Wordless Wednesday
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 01/21/2009 - 09:10
Inauguration Reflections
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 01/20/2009 - 10:39In the background, CNN blares on the television. On my social network feeds, friends talk about how they are going to celebrate this day. I hear phrases like “this moment in history” and “a changed America”. I hear the stories of common people that have traveled great distances to be at the inauguration. CNN interviews people on the mall and various people break out into songs, old songs, folk song, songs remixed to become songs about the inauguration.
I listen to stories about the Metro stations being overwhelmed with passengers, and about the cellphone system struggling to keep up with all the volume.
What are you listening to, watching, or reading? What is your experience of this day?
Updates:
As I listen to various broadcasts, I hear people talking about the tradition of the inauguration and I think about it as a great symbol to other countries of what Democracy can look like.
Update 2:
My RSS feed updates Twitter and feeds out to other sites as well. On Facebook, I received three interesting comments:
Christine Cavalier at 11:01am January 20
Aldon I'm watching on CNN, combined with Facebook. It's awesome.
Deborah White at 11:02am January 20
My, how our lives have changed. I also have both TV and CNN/Facebook livestreaming, plus my Blackberry for email.
Joyce Bettencourt at 11:04am January 20
me too.. think these media mashups that also inspire a shared viewing experience are great :)
Update 3:
Recording a local inauguration party on Woodbridge Snow Cam
