October 26, 2019

Good News /  Bad news

Dear Janine, Nigel, Lisa, Matthew, Dani and Fr. Dick,

I have been fighting against writing this letter because I really don’t like what I have to say, but I can’t avoid it. I wrote the whole letter last night, but by some fluke, when I tried to paste it into the email, it just disappeared, and as I said, I was too angry and frustrated at the time as it was also time for me to hit the hay, that I just put it off till this morning. Well, here we go.

A friend finally managed to persuade his neurologist friend to squeeze me in yesterday although he was fully booked and probably wouldn’t be able to take me till some time late in November. He tested me in many ways but the telltale test was the thing called the Kabinski reflex. This is what I got from the internet.

What does a positive Babinski reflex mean?

Reflexes are responses that occur when the body receives a certain stimulus. TheBabinski reflex occurs after the sole of the foot has been firmly stroked. The big toe then moves upward or toward the top surface of the foot. The other toes fan out. This reflex is normal in children up to 2 years old.Feb 23, 2017

However, in time during infancy the Babinski response vanishes and, under normal circumstances, should never return. A Babinski sign in an older child or adult is abnormal. It is a sign of a problem in the central nervous system (CNS), most likely in a part of the CNS called the pyramidal tract.

The term pyramidal tracts refers to upper motor neurons that originate in the cerebral cortex and terminate in the spinal cord (corticospinal) or brainstem (corticobulbar).

He said that I need an MRI immediately. He wrote a letter to the doctor at our hospital at St. Mary’s to see about getting me into the public health system, to Albert Luthuli hospital, in case we were not able to handle the finances (we don’t have medical aid). He also said that if we could muster up the funds he would be happy to organize it privately. I was scared when he said that this MRI was URGENT. I had told him that I was determined to conduct this wedding in Cape Town and was going to climb on the plane next Wed. He said that it would not be a good or wise thing to do and it could wind up causing permanent damage to the spine. I should be resting a lot and not irritating the spine. I was sad and discouraged, as you can imagine. And you know how it is with the government health system. I might get an MRI approved sometime in January and would be going back and forth here and there and I can’t drive now (because I never know when my stupid leg it going to go into a spasm) so I have to try to find people who are willing to give up their time and give me a lift.

That is the bad news. The good news is that I have asked a very good friend, Fr. Dick O’Riorday, retired like me, to take my place for the wedding. I sent him the brochure that I sent to you for the service so that he doesn’t have to worry about preparing anything from scratch. I also sent all the documentation so that he is in the picture. He will also see Fr. Peter John Pearson who gave us the go-ahead in the first place.

    I asked him to visit you so that he just doesn’t pitch up cold, and once you have met him you will have fallen in love with him as he is a lovely person, Irish, musician, good singer, also kicked out of SA because of his anti-apartheid behaviour.  So you don’t have to worry about that. You have enough to worry about with all the rest of the arrangements for the wedding.

I guess that you will have to call the airline to cancel the flight and hope that you can get at least something back. I would have contacted you earlier but I had to wait till I was sure what was going on. I only found out yesterday.

I guess the same with the accommodation at Century City. But that, if you cancel in time, you should get most or all of your deposit back.

If I have to have an operation, which I think will be the case for all indications, as soon as the recuperation and recovery are finished, first stop will be CT to check on the newly weds. In the meantime, as with Nigel, we pray and put our lives in God’s hands.

I hope to hear about the wedding when it has happened so please don’t forget. And a few pictures but not too many because it takes forever to download the whole wedding album, especially with Lisa the phot specialist. Ha.

Love and Peace, Fr. Cas.

October 21,2018

October 22, 2018.10.22

   This is Monday. Sunday came and went and I never managed to put anything in the blog. So, here is what has been happening. On Saturday, the 20^th, I took my computer to a friend who helped me to install something that I had trouble doing and he also showed me a program where I can safely store (however safe anything is from determined hackers) all my usernames and passwords. I have a yellow pages of these and I can’t remember which is which and they say you musn’t use the same password as it makes it too easy for people who want to get into your stuff.

    Well, when I got home, I started practicing on what he had shown me and my left leg start to spasm along with the foot. And it got to the point where my whole leg got weak and was like a long dragging it around. I had to get one of those 4 legged things to help me walk. I fell down once before I got it and it scared me.

Well, all night and all day, the bloody thing spasms about every 15 seconds, standing, sitting, lying, whatever, all night long. I sent a message to our family doctor here and he gave me an appointment for today at 9:30am. I told him that my mouth still works fine. Ha. Everyone was thinking maybe a stroke. I don’t think so. So he tried to get me an appointment with a neurologist at a local private hospital but there was some hitch so he decided to send me there anyway but via casualty where they would have to do something. One of our Mariannhill brothers is working there at a place called Hillcrest Hospital and happened to be in casualty when we walked in ( I was in a wheel chair since I have been using a four legged walking stick so I don’t fall down). I purposely wore shorts today even though it was a bit chilly because getting my jeans over that foot is a bit tricky since it doesn’t want to bend easily. Any, he sent me for 2 ultra sounds and a blood test. I took one ultrasound for the calf, ankle and achilles tendon. He thought that there might be something wrong there. All were fine. The blood test was to see about my electrolytes and they were also fine. So he wasn’t sure where to go from there because all the while I was taking these tests and w hen he was examining me the spasms were continuing faithfully, maybe to impress him and show him that I wasn’t lying.

     In the end, he sent me to the pharmacy to get some Magnesium capsules and some Calcium something or other pills. He said to come back for an appointment next Thursday at 2pm to see if this stuff was working. After that will come, if that doesn’t solve the problem, a visit to a neurologist.

    In the meantime, I keep on keeping on. If these spasms stop I think I will see if I can drive. Poor Bishop Khumalo was tied up the whole day waiting for me from 9am to 1:30pm. People have been very concerned and have deluged me with messages of love and prayers and the odd suggestions and some who are nearby volunteered to drive me to the doctor if needed. I don’t think they realized that it could be a whole days commitment. We shall see. If I can drive myself that would be better.

   I thank all those who have been so concerned and thoughtful. It is really nice to be loved. So many have no one to show them love. I guess that is our job when we get the chance.

So that is it for now. I will catch you up on other things soon. ( I have already done my bookings for the flights to the States next year for my home leave; I sent a message to Zambia with dates for a visit there when I get back from my home leave; I have a wedding that I prepared and will be leaving on the 31^st of Oct. for it in CapeTown. These are on the cards and I hope all goes well so that they become reality.

In the meantime, lots of love to you all. Cas.

October 3, 2018.10.01

Today is the feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, the patron saint of the parish we are trying to get built with a real church. I prayed to her today to please lean on our municipality to hurry up and give the go ahead to our plans to start building. They have already passed the plans but the bureaucracy is as slow as molasses in winter.

   But, I just want to make a quick comment about the circus that is taking place in DC right now.

I am really tired of hearing about Ford and Kavanaugh’s testimonies. Going all the way back to high school and college. I am glad that I was in the seminary for high school because, otherwise, I am sure that I would have been one of those who gave “grass” a try. Then 50 yrs. Later I would have to confess that my ordination was invalid because I didn’t mention that before I was ordained. Ha.

    But, to be serious, there are two things that I would like to put before you. If I were president, I think I would like, for the sake of the American people, to choose the most neutral person I could find for the job, to avoid, what we see here, the partisanship that is destroying any semblance of common sense and ability to work together. That would be number one.

    As for Kavanaugh being the right choice, one of the reasons I would hesitate is referring to his outburst in his hearing when he accused to Democrats of purposely trying to destroy him. He has always been a Republican, and showed his partiality to the Republican party by his outburst, which, to me, foreshadows how he could easily make decisions that favour his party rather than decisions that are for the common good of the Americans as a whole. In other words, he is far from the neutral person, I think, should be chosen for this weighty job. It is my bed time now so I will close here and see you another time. We also have our problems here with divisions in the government and in the ruling party, the ANC, which is no longer the ANC that I was chaplain of when we were in exile in Zimbabwe and Zambia. Good night. Cas.

Sept. 27, 2018

   I am tired of hearing Nikki Haley at the UN castigating Iran for its support of “terrorism” all over. What hypocricy. Here are a few things you and she can think about in that regard.