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.