April 14, 2017

For your consideration. A few of these have been solved by you.

Riddle 1

A hundred thirty-seven sisters
Drown in the sea
They breach the waves to try and breath
The youngest holds a goddess’s throne in her hands
And the goddess makes land for them.

Riddle 2

Ivory Towers in a line
Each supported from behind
Always forward, never back
Running along a single track
They say hello in passing
And often that's the last thing

Riddle 3

When I get to the floor
I dance around my partner
Around and here, around and there
Around and everywhere
I tiptoe on wires
I travel underground
Sometimes I'm found in the clouds!

Riddle 13

Her formal dress is all in black
But because she killed her husband
A spot of red confesses her sin
And sends her legs a-dancing

Riddle 16

I see a shining dog at night
Nipping at its owner's heels in flight
What one dog one sees is two
(Something hidden from view)

Riddle 23

Amatory feelings rush by day to day
I forget my place,
I wonder about things
Like where your heart goes in the long summer?
How long it stays in distant winter?
Does the snow fall?
Can you see a sunset?
Does your heart feel?
O you distant globe.

Riddle 91

Though you wear silver in the winter
And gold in the fall,
And at times dress in azure,
And dance in fog over all,
And paint your face red, scorning law,
And illuminate the stage white
When you sit in your ivory stall--
A phase you’re going through.

The Husband

Your poems showed promise
But he didn’t like your words
And when they buried you
They did it under his hateful name

A song

Life split, days are gone,
Ohio, ohio, ohio!
Tracks are set,
My feet are beat
And we’re down to the city
In the city, a garden blooms
Here are daisies and hollyhocks and daff’dils
Thimbleberry, Indian firewheel
Beebalm, sorrel, and little-leaf buttercup
Dog fennel and Pansey Jump-up
In the city, a wonderful view
Catch ‘em coming for the view
Two by two, Ohio.

32. It's been awhile.

After seven years of wondering and stress, I finally have an answer. Tuesday this week, I had a re-ocurrence of symptoms from August 2010. A temporary loss of vision in my left eye coupled with a terrible headache. Since I'm currently enlisted in the Navy and only got in with a medical waiver, I figured I was finished. I wrestled with the decision to go to medical to get looked at, but in the end, my conscience won out. I could not in good conscience remain in the service if my condition would place my shipmates in danger. Yesterday, I went to the opthalmology clinic on base and was examined.

After a certain amount of poking and prodding, plus having my pupils dilated, the doctors told me about two related phenomena in the medical field: overdiagnosis and incidentalomas. An incidentaloma is where medical imaging conducted for a specific complaint reveals an unrelated condition, usually benign growths or the like, but in my case it was the blood clot which resides in my left jugular vein. Overdiagnosis often follows the discovery of an incidentaloma. When you show a specialist something weird and unspecific, they'll assume it's related to their specialty. In my case, we showed the doctors visual field losses, incapacitating headaches, and a blood clot. They put two and two together, got four and figured I'd had a venous thrombosis which was kind of like a stroke. Since the neurologist who evaluated me was a stroke specialist, this is not unexpected. 

When I was examined yesterday, the opthalmologist pointed out that since I haven't had any new clots, but keep having symptoms, it was foolish to assume the two were related, and that the clot could've been present much longer than initially thought. They also pointed out that nineteen is a classic age for migraines to begin presenting. All of the symptoms I had given them were classic migraine symptoms. Faced with the conclusion that there was no mystery here, all I could feel was relief.

In other words, there isn't a damn thing wrong with me. The last seven years of my life have been filled with confusion, stress and worry over what was wrong with me. That chapter in my life is over. I will not be medically discharged. I won't be sent home unfit for service. I can be treated. I'm free. I walked out of the hospital laughing and crying at the same time.