Fear(mongers) And Loathing On The Red Do t Trail

“im up for catskills
just remeber my knee. i am slow as a drunk snail hiker
give me a map or a location and i will meet ya at the camp site
marko, is that an offer for a ride?”

“Phantom Soul, I take it you weren't able to get the graphic for the fearmonger picture that we talked about?

They did come out good anyway...”

“Yo maple, it could be!

I don't have to totally bust my hump, but a good little hike would be nice.

(I gotta get a bag night or two this month)”

“i work till 5 pm, i can not get out any earlier then that. sorry

twinks when are you aval fri?”

““Yo maple, it could be!

I don't have to totally bust my hump, but a good little hike would be nice.

(I gotta get a bag night or two this month)”
MarkO
3:30:54 PM
6/21/05
ignore this user

If someone didn't keep canceling trips, you would be in that position. 8D”

“Hey hey........maybe I could mosey on up to The Island and we could do a night operation after traffic has calmed down.

Maybe even have a little weenie roast Friday evening before we heads out.
last edited: 6/21/05 2:41:20 PM”

“So far this week - I'm free anytime Friday.

If MarkO can give us a ride then we should do the Catskills.

Issues with the Catskills: Water!

We could do the Blackhead Range”

“Yeah Zac.......wedding shower......pffffttttt!!!!

Hell, I'll settle for the Zitt Range!!!

I'm likin' this plan!

Is it buggy there?

Could we tarp it?

I haven't seen my New York cussin' cuzzins in a while.”

“Yeah, I won't get any bag nights in, but at least they'll be feeding me burgers and beer at this thing.”

“Burgers and beer????

You'll have to get off of that ever-widening ass of yours and hike if weekends like this become the norm.”

“sacco,
By no means is there any sarcasm intended..on the contrary...only praise for your conditioning and physique. Just don't be ripping through any shirts soon!

twinks...you'll have an e-mail coming.”
NJpacker
1:29:06 PM



Bwahahaha. good thing i didn't bust open my shirt, you'd have seen my 3" spare tire of flab.”

“There was a fearmonger graphic we talked about??? This must be one of the too-many things from Saturday night that I seem to have a hard time recollecting.... :(
last edited: 6/21/05 9:05:41 PM”

“RememBer?


GREETINGS...
last edited: 6/21/05 10:13:02 PM”

“Thanks for the kind words NJ! Looking forward to hiking again with you too.”

“...that i brought home from Harriman!

Found out that the flu-like symptoms I had been experiencing as of recent were just what I suspected:

West Nile virus. Ain't that a kicker?”

“Damn, really? What's the prognosis?”

“So many outdoor illnesses have vague "flulike symptoms" - Lyme, W. Nile, Giardia, etc. It can be hard to know when/if to see a doctor. Am I tired because of that tick I pulled off me last month or one of 10,000 mosquito bites, or am I just not sleeping enough? This has been a bad summer for deer ticks. It is always a bad summer for mosquitos where I live in Maryland.

I had an infected tick bite a week ago (pulled off the head, evidently.) Now I am waiting to see if I have any symptoms of illness. Not fun.

What do they do for West Nile? Antibiotics? I know it has the potential to make you really sick - especially if your immune system is compromised.”

“chit! that sucks man”

“Ginny, what swampy part of Maryland do you live in?

(I'm in Towson)


You gotta be goin' outta your tree, Tree.”

“According to wikipedia, "No effective treatment is known."

"Morpholino antisense oligos have shown activity against West Nile Virus in experimental systems and are currently (2005) in US clinical trials as a WNV treatment."”

“Holy Sh*T Tree!!! I hope everything is alright. Get well soon!”

“I live in Glenn Dale - between Greenbelt and Bowie. Lots of little swamps/wetlands make for lots of mosquitos. I have to wear DEET just to water the garden. We have a nice little patio - which we can never use because of the bugs. The good side though is I have seen four beavers within 2 miles of the house - three different locations.”

“Ginny, maybe it's time your patio became a screened in porch. ;)”

“Right! There is no treatment for it. But, I have been educated a bit about it, now. It's a little more common than I had thought. Most people who get it are sick for several days and their immune systems work it out with no lasting effects. Then,t here are those who may get it for a little longer period of time (like myself), maybe a week or two. Less than one per cent get very ill from it. And then it is a small fraction of those that may die from it (again correct about the elderly and those with diminished immune systems).

I think the media made me believe this was more grave than it really is. I mean, you would hear reports that say:
West Nile virus has been reported in Staten Island. Trucks are out spraying...and on and on. Makes it look worse when it's put in that context.

The symptoms were like this: extreme achiness in every joint in my body. I had to eat Tylenol or Advil every four hours or I would be agonizing. Sometimes, it wouldn't help for more than an hour or two. I was also getting headaches, extreme chills (then the sweats minutes later). I was running about 101 fever, had dry mouth, and was very weak and fatigued.

Man, this had its rough moments. I won't kid you. I'm feeling much better now. Still a little fatigued though. So, I am trying to take life a little easier for now. I don't really want to hike any great distance. I'm sure this will pass.

I have to get some more blood work done in the morning to see if the sedimentation rate in my blood calmed a little bit and the numbers go down.
last edited: 7/21/05 6:01:31 PM”

“I don't really want to hike any great distance.

You do that?

I hope you feel 100% better Treebeard.”

“No, but it sounded good, Sarge! :)

Thanks, the worst has definitely passed, thankfully!”

“sheet, man, i guess this is why you missed WV car-camping. hope all goes well for you”

“Hey Ginny, I work in PG. Howdy neighbor. Sears has a really nice screen style tent for patios, reasonable. you should check em out.”

“Tree sorry to hear your sick. Hope you get over this with no lasting effects. Get well soon.”

“Thanks, LS and BS! (Hey, that sounds funny!) It was a great trip. It was the residual that got me!

Doc took some blood this morning. I'll see what he says next week. Not feeling nearly as bad as I was, though!”

“Soooooooo, got the results back just now! Looks like I test positive for Lyme disease now!

Hmmmmmmm...

That stopped me in my tracks. Gotta start penicillen tomorrow and go to doc at the end of the week...”

“STU! omg... i hope everything is okay? nora told me a while back they thought u might have had west nile? what became of that? questions... questions... and more questions....”

“wow - that's nasty, best wishes with that TB.”

“Terrible news. I hope treatment works and keeps it to a mild case.”

“Wow, that sucks dude. Hope they found it early enough for you to be able to do something about it. Good luck with that...”

“Thanks, folks. So, I am not so sure about the West Nile. The puzzling thing is that I was first tested for Lyme on July 3rd and it was negative. Now, I am not sure if I was re-tested on the 6th, when I saw my doc. Wish I would have thought about this before and aasked him while on the phone. But, anyway, I was definitely re-tested a week ago Friday. That's the results I got tonight. He said it was acute and appears to be fresh in my body.

Now, what further puzzles me is this: if I was exhibiting symptoms before the hospital visit on the third, and it was attributable to Lyme, then wouldn't it follow that I already had it and it would show up positive?

Damn, just what I needed, something to kick my ass mentally, to boot!

What a sh_tty summer so far... :(”

“Oh, and for all you on the Harriman trip that were picking ticks off you...

...none of you got sick. me, the one who never gets ticks on him (and I still don't remember having any ticks on me the whole trip), winds up with this crappy thing. There's something that doesn't jive with the whole thing. The West Nile scenario added up perfectly. This doesn't! WTF”

“Truly sorry Treebeard. Try to hang in there.”

“I'll be ok, Sarge. Just a little bummed out right now...”

“yea, i was picking off ticks left and right during that trip and i only stayed over the one night... nasty little buggers.”

“I know, Scorch. I don't understand this. i can't even be sure when I got this...

Aw crap, I'm gonna go to bed. Think I'll shower and watch Seinfeld, get a laugh or two...

Thanks for the kind vibes, friends! Have a good night...”

“#&%!$ Stu - that sucks. Are they sure? Did you have both? So many questions.....

Let me know if you guys need anything, anything whatsoever - okay?

love,
Michelle”

“Treebeard, sounds like the test was for antibodies to Lyme, if early, may not be positive, but come positive later. From what I understand, good to catch it acute as it can be treated. Late disease is not very responsive and not very well understood.
Hang in there!”

“You're in my thoughts Tree. Praying the meds make it better fast.”

“i'm sorry to hear that Stu.”

“Thanks again, people. Interesting post, Path. I guess that takes it deeper than I was able to comprehend. I have some questions for him when I go at the end of the week. I will definitely bring that up. I really want to understand this thing.”

“Hang in there Tree, sending you only good things! Get well soon buddy!”

“Sorry to here that Stu. I hope they caught it early and you have a speedy recovery.”

“Good luck, my man!!

And don't go outta your tree!!”

“Hang in there.
If life has taught me anything it is that crappy situations WILL get better.”