Leg is better, thanks for asking

I just completed the third week of therapy for my left leg. A combination of compression therapy, using elastic bandages, and manual lymph drainage massage has produced some promising results. The swelling is gone, the infection has cleared and all the sores have healed… for the first time in years. I only wish now that I had resisted taking more antibiotics before doing this.

Now I am also facing a decision about continuing to take warfarin to “thin” my blood as a preventative against future clots.  I am having to frequently adjust my dosage and have yet to maintain a steady level, based on INR.  Some days my INR has been so high that it puts me at risk of internal bleeding.  Once again, I’m aware of the possibility that the “cure” is as bad as the potential illness.

I will continue to wear compression stockings and perform a set of exercises intended to stimulate my lymphatic system.

The scars of several years of painful sores remain to remind me of what I have been through. Hopefully, those too will fade with time and continued care.

I am extremely grateful to Dr. Cheryl Morgan, PhD and her staff at Therapy Concepts for their help and healing touch.

Before (9/24/09)

4 weeks later

J Todd DeShong – Baylor Health’s online AIDS diagnostician – UPDATED

Normally I wouldn’t want to waste this much time or bandwidth on such a matter, but the questionable activities involved justify calling this insignificant gnat out.  He’s finally irritated me enough that I have to swat him.  Besides, I’m off my feet for a few days and have some extra time on my hands, or maybe it’s just a side effect of the  antibiotic.

The leg

I recently woke up with a sudden, acute bacterial infection in my left leg, the same leg that has had two DVT blood clots in three years and has a history of recurring and slow-healing sores.  The name for the condition that results in this type of skin problem in the leg is called venous insufficiency and the sores are venous ulcers.  It is not uncommon (unlike, say… Kaposi sarcoma).

I know what the problem is and I am aware of a treatment center I want to go to that offers a non-invasive and drug-free protocol that even Medicare is convinced helps.

I posted a picture of my leg, seeking opinions about using antibiotics to treat it, on the website AIDS Myth Exposed, which I help moderate. I  had some ulterior motives, as I wanted to see what members’ reaction would be, considering some them seem to be opposed to all allopathic interventions, regardless of circumstances. I expected a variety of responses and got some.

Unsolicited email diagnosis and digital sleuthing

J Todd DeShong, in over his head

I was pretty surprised when that post resulted in a comment on this, my personal blog, from an anti-”AIDS denialist” activist who is well known among some of us AIDS questioners for his taunting and abusive personality and caustic, even toxic writing style. I really wasn’t so much shocked that J Todd DeShong would email me with his “concern”  as I was amazed that he advised me from his workplace, Baylor Health Care Systems in Dallas, that I seek medical care for Kaposi sarcoma, a serious and rare cancer!

The IP address in question was included in the email WordPress forwards to me with every new comment, and it belongs to Baylor Health Care Systems.  This same IP address is one of, if not  the  most frequent visitor to the resistance is fruitful blog, according to statcounter.com, a tracking service I use. I’ve been curious for some time who this regular visitor to my blog might be. Now I know. (Hi Todd!)

DeShong has visited this blog from his work IP address at least

“House of Number” viewers agree to disagree

Two “HIV-positive” viewers with completely different opinions and experiences recommend this film.

Now showing at film festivals in the U.S. and Europe.  Check their website for current schedule, or sign up there for email alerts to find out when it will screen in your area.

Must-see “AIDS” film to show in KC

the HIV/AIDS story is being rewritten

I’ve been anxiously waiting to see House of Numbers, the most talked about documentary dealing with AIDS this year. Now the film has been booked to show at the Kansas International Film Festival next month.

To get an idea of the significance of the confusing and contradictory comments made by leading AIDS researchers around the world, watch the trailer here.

House of Numbers stirred quite a row of controversy when it screened in Boston this Spring, then went on to be awarded the “Best of Festival” at Golden Colorado’s Docuwest Film Festival last week.

The film will be shown Sunday,  September 20 at 3:10 pm at the Glenwood Theatre, 9575 Metcalf Ave in Overland Park. (NOTE: Date has been corrected from my original post.)

If anyone else is interested in meeting after the film for discussion, please contact me and I’ll see what can be arranged.

• “We can be exposed to HIV many times without being chronically infected. Our immune system will get rid of the virus within a few weeks, if you have a good immune system.”

– Luc Montagnier, 2008 Nobel Laureate for Discovery of HIV, in the documentary “House of Numbers,” 2009

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Help send a missionary to Oakland (updated)

This picture from the August 4, 1978 issue of Newsweek shows me boosting a fellow religious zealot over a wall during "boot camp".

I really want to attend the 2009 Rethinking AIDS conference, to be held in Oakland this fall, but am not sure I’ll be able to afford it since Michael has just been laid off from his job.

Asking for money is not a new experience for me. Getting it, however is another story. My first attempt at mission work was as a teenager. I spent a summer in Brasil building a dormitory for Teen Missions.

In the decades since then I’ve helped raise tens of thousands of dollars on behalf of other gay and AIDS-related causes, as well a political race for city council.

I didn’t raise enough money to pay for that trip to Brasil and I don’t expect to for this conference either, but I’m still willing to ask for help. I expect it will cost $700-800 to go.

If anyone can spare a few bucks, I promise to report on the experience here. I will also post a full accounting for donations and expenses, and in the extremely unlikely event more is donated than is needed to pay for airfare, lodging and conference fees (really, who are we kidding?), I’ll donate the balance to Rethinking AIDS. Fair enough?

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UPDATE:  For a variety of reasons, I no longer plan to attend the RA2009 conference and have received no donations to do so.  I’ll leave this post up as wishful thinking and for the sake of former notoriety.

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