The Day My Body Started Falling Apart

Posted on Facebook September 8, 2017

24 Years ago today I walked out of a Grateful Dead show in Ohio that left me with a cold as I walked through a rain soaked parking lot in bare feet and no shirt.  A few weeks later my cold turned into the flu when I was in Boston at a bunch more Dead shows with Beef, and Bri.  I had to miss Jerry Garcia Band shows later in the fall because I was throwing up and my body started getting bad pains in my spine and pelvis.  (No "Shining Star" or "The Maker" for me.)  I wasn't missin' the Dead's winter tour though, so I went out to California with Garb and Beef.  (We met up with LBS and Brent Lawrence in L.A., and is where I met Stymie. :) )  I had to fly home early because real bad shit was happening in my body.  (Garb and I flew together.)  I went straight from the airport to the hospital for x-rays and more tests.  I kept passing out on the x-ray table, and they were getting frustrated they had to keep waking me up to turn me over.  I didn't care.  By Christmas I could hardly walk or barely move from agonizing pain throughout my entire body. Official diagnosis in January...fucked for life. Get used to it.

I was 19 when I got the cold that triggered my collapse and robbed my body from my life in an instant. (Have to add in genetic markers and such to the cold and flu)  I liked to have my fun, but I was healthy and strong, and in an instant it was all gone.  Nothing in my entire body doesn't hurt terribly, and I have only slept one night through since then.  I've made the best of it for what is left, all I see is the potential for what could have been, and it leaves me with a ripped off feeling because I know what I would really have been capable of otherwise.

Cherish your body for the miraculous gift it truly is. Nourish your potential to manifest your dreams as much as you can!