IMPRESSIONS OF MY LIFE: AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A RECHERCHE POET

 CHAPTER 211.  MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE JOLLY OLD GRIM WEEPER 2016

 

My wife and I drove to Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia. I was to report to the Neurology Department at 909 Walnut Street. It is just down from the Walnut Street Theater.  Even though I had worked in Philadelphia for nearly 30 years and lived there in the late 1960s-early 1970’s did not make me an expert for getting arpund.  

We drove north on 1-95 and exited off at
Callowhill St, which took us along a ramp that split in a Y. To the right it led onto the Schuylkill Expressway. I didn’t want to be in that morning traffic, so I went off to the left through Chinatown. Cars were everywhere, and a couple of drivers with Jersey license plates almost hit me. After twisting on this street and that, one very narrow where I had to squeeze around a bus, we finally ended up on Walnut and went right past the front of where I was going.

I had been informed that Jefferson would validate parking and I saw a garage down the same block Walnut, so I pulled in there. They took my car but when I picked it up I discovered this garage had no connection to the hospital and I had to pay the full fee, which was high. Well, live and learn.

Lois and I walked back a block to the entrance of Jefferson. This  was where I was suppose to go.  Inside the revolving doors was a guard station. I wen to it, signed my name and the guard pasted a visitor sticker on my chest. Last time I was there they didn’t do that. You just went in and up to where you were going. I don’t know why this security has changed. Not long a go a person was murder in Jefferson. No guard to greet hi and even thoughbhe was apparently carrying a long rifle, no one challenged him.

We were sent to the second floor. 

We stepped off the elevator into a large room with chair with
people waiting. In the front and center was a wide semi-circular counter with people at computer screens behind it. U wanted to this, but no one there looked up I then noticed facing outwards a screen for sign in. You had to key in your name in full. My fingers no longer worked well and I couldn’t quite get my name in for the screen erased what I had managed. I wondered why they had this. Did they now realize that this neurology and many people come here had difficulty with normal tasks.

But one of the people behind the counter then ask my name and they checked me off and told me to have a seat.   Lois and I sat along the  wall A woman came from the back to us. Her name was Dr. Judy Guarnieri. She was a nurse practitioner and became my chief liaison at the  clinic. She retired this year (2021).  She led us down a hallway and into am examination room. There were two others already waiting inside. To the side

sat a young Doctor, his name was Anthony Allen and he way have been an intern. He didn’t say much during this visit. 

The Doctor who did most of the talking was seated in the center of the room against an examination table. He was actually the head of neurology and was considered one
of the two best neurologists in the Philadelphia Area. He has since left Thomas Jefferson in 2019. He is now the Chief of the Division of Neuromuscular  Disorders at the UVA Health System in Virginia.  Dr. Rakovevic was born in Montenegro and grew up in Bosnia. When war broke out he moved to Ottawa, Canada He was a kind man and very touchy-feely.

When Lois and I enter and sat down after introductions, he reached over and put a hand gently on my knee. He came right to the point.

“Mr. Meredith, what you have is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis better known as ALS. It is sometimes called Lou Gehrig Disease.”

I looked up ALS when I got back home. Fist thing I read was, “an incurable, untreatable, progressive, ultimately fatal disease.  Well, Merry Christmas, Larry.  The name comes from the Greek for no muscle nourishment, however it is a disease of the nerves. No now yet know why or how one gets it. I always get the rare things, except winning the lottery.

The nerves reach a point where they know longer communicate with the muscles they control and the muscle atrophy, that is waste away. “Lateral” is the location of these nerve cells in the spinal cord and “sclerosis” refers to the scaring and hardening that occurs. As the nerves die the brain can no longer tell the muscles how to behave. One progressively loses voluntary movements. This may include the ability to speak, eat, move and breathe. The is what Stephen
Hawking had. He lived  with it for about 55 years. He was a 21 year old college student when he came down with and died at age 76, after his initial doctor told him he had two years to live. This doctor was wrong, but no one quite knows why he lived so long. Most die within 2 or three years of diagnosis. I have a theory as I am now will into my sixth year and still getting about somewhat. 

It is sometimes called Lous Gehrig disease because he was
the first celebrity to have it. Gehrig was a famous baseball player, playing on the New York Yankees from 1923 until 1939. As a player he ranked right below Babe Ruth. Gehrig had a lifetime batting average of .340 and hit 493 Home Runs. He was known as the Iron Man, having competed in 2,130 consecutive game, a record not broken for 56 years until Cal Ripkin surpassed it in 1995.    (Photo Right: Babe Ruth views Lou Gehrig’s body.)

ALS forced Gehrig into retirement in  1939. He died at the age of  37 in 1941, the year I was born. This is not the only irony. When my daughter Noelle was in Junior High School, she gave me a watch for Christmas. IReally liked that watch and wore it for years. It may have been the last watch I wore; I don’t wear any today. And no, I don’t think I caught ALS from a Lous Gehrig watch! 

Lois was beginning to cry. We drove home and informed all
our kids that daddy had a lethal disease. Now exactly the way we had wished to end the year.