Have Flu, Will Travel

Well it didn’t happen as my title suggests.  I traveled, then returned home and awoke the next day with the flu.  That was yesterday.

Once a year my girlfriend and I take a weekend respite on the island of Santa Catalina.  Our weekend is typically planned one year in advance of our departure, so when the time comes rolling into view, our internal engines get revving for take off.  Or in this case, being it’s an island we are traveling to, our engines get ready to set sail.  Of course there have been a few years when circumstances on the home-front threaten to call off the voyage.  Such as when Brian’s mom was in the hospital in 2007, and such as this year when our family is still undergoing the recuperation of Cole Bent.  But alas, I needed this break so very much that I practically ran to the boat, luggage in hand, with the threatening promise to keep my phone off for the next three days (as well as the derogatory commentary which accidentally slipped through my lips that went something like this; “They’ll be lucky if I ever return!”).  And come Sunday, the last day of our Isla del Sol, I was seriously, though not wholeheartedly, considering taking myself up on the threat in parentheses.  Which is probably why I was punished the following morning with “Moctezuma’s Revenge” and had to spend most of the day connected to the latrine and when not in the bathroom, in the prone position.  Cole took over the candy duty for our neighborhood trick-or-treators last night as Brian had a gig, and Esther had other plans.  I remained on the couch, where I’m sure all the parents’ of excited children, were grateful to have me.

Today am feeling better, though a bit sluggish.

A strange occurrence happened to me while on the island this past weekend…I was plagued by hay-fever type allergies.  So much so that I actually bought allergy medicine for an exorbitant fee from the local store.  But the medicine did help stop the incessant sneezing.  It was strange for me to be in the shoes of an allergy sufferer because I have not been one in the past.  That was always my brother, Greg’s, familial position.  I was always the vocal bystander, the one who would point out to my brother how irritating his continuous sneezing was for all of us in his presence.  Anyway, I’m thinking my body chemistry is changing–which is something that has been “winking” at me for some time now.  An irritating reality!

Now the past two weeks or so, Cole has been asking me to find him an acupuncture doctor because he is interested in looking into the effects of acupuncture for his cranial nerve damage, more specifically, his face.  So while on Catalina, and because of my own personal health revelation, I mentioned the scenario to my friend.  She spoke of a doctor who came highly recommended in the arena of natural medicine, though she didn’t know much detail about her practice.  So today I followed up with the lead and learned this doctor is an MD who embraced holistic medicine because its benefits, she found, are more helpful to the patient on the long term.  Yet she still supports the influence of Western Medicine for acute scenarios, such as that of a brain tumor.  Anyway, her name is Dr. Connealy and her practice is in Irvine.  Turns out she has a broad range medical facility, with many medical partners and disciplines, including but not limited to, acupuncture.  I called and learned they do take many insurance plans, but not that of ours.  Dr. Connealy is not an Anthem Blue Cross provider which means we would have to cover the fee at time of consultation and then submit it to our insurance for “hopeful” reimbursement.  The fee?  A mere $425.00 per person.  Yes, I had hoped to go as well for my new found allergy issues as well as imbalanced hormone issues, but at $425- a pop, it’s not going to happen!

Here is where you come in…

Do any of you have a lead for Cole’s request specifically and firstly, as well as mine secondly.  I am hoping to find a naturalist doctor who is also an MD, who is in the Anthem Blue Cross network of providers.  I hope and pray you or someone you know will point us in the right direction; a direction we can afford preferably.  I look forward to your feedback.

Now back to my happy place I go, “Twenty six miles across the sea, Santa Catalina is a waiting for me…”

Tags: brain, cancer, tumor