The Suffering Mold

I think I'm allergic to MD Anderson. I've been four times, and all four times I've returned home with an elaborate rash. There must be something that rubs off on me when I'm at MD Anderson. Kirk says it's nerves--naturally the place makes me anxious. Friends say it's "Western Medicine" (to them, an evil empire) that wears down my defenses so as to subjugate me to its will. Others say I should wash my hands more when I'm there, since I must be picking up a bug from various infested people.

But I say it's pollen. Mold pollen that's extra strong due to its mixing with the energy of suffering that dwells along the labyrinthic corridors of MD Anderson. All my life I've reacted to mold. And in my childhood, living near NASA and the Gulf of Mexico, there's was always plenty of mold to torture me. Before moving to Austin, where I attended college, I thought 90% humidity was normal. Rain, too, was the norm in the Houston metroplex and with it came mold that gave sustenance to lushness and decrepitude the same.

But this mold pollen is a hybrid type for it has grafted to suffering, and that is a hard one for my body to overcome.

Strangely, I have always had an awesome immune system. I've rarely been sick in my life, until now. I can count on one hand the number of times I've caught the flu (and that includes the times I've gotten strep throat.) I am allergic and I've had plenty of migraines, but fevers....rarely. I had Chicken Pox when I was a kid...just one or two on the back of my neck. But I somehow eluded contracting other childhood illnesses...at least not to the degree my friends and neighbors got them.

But this "suffering mold" is beyond me. It slams me every time. Sometimes causing a rash; sometimes creeping into the bones in the middle of my back, causing backache and tension. This time this "suffering mold" found its way into my head, giving me a nasty cold.

Thankfully, there is at least one good thing about MD Anderson's "suffering mold": the further I get down the road toward Dallas--the less power it has over me.

So what, then, will I do when I have to go there for six weeks during my transplant?