LOSING AND FINDING FRIENDS!!
I has been a while since I posted, so I thought I should. It has been a hectic couple of weeks, but that is not the main reason I have not posted. There are 3 reasons I haven't: I haven't really felt like it, I seem to have lost my best blogger buddy, and I found an old friend.
I haven't really felt that I had much meaningful to say lately. Not that I ever really did, There was nothing that was really blog-worthy. Don't get me wrong, things have happened as you will soon see, but I wasn't sure how to write about them.
My best blogger friend, "C.", decided to leave Blogger. She claimed it was because of the security around the site. She said she went to LiveJournal, but I do not have access to that site. There were times when I found myself writing a post, and I would wonder what she would say to it. She would sometimes hammer me on what I had said, but I valued the fact she would give her honest opinion. C, if you do read this, you can comment anonymously, I wouldn't mind.
That would be the friend lost, now for the friend found. This is a long story, so bear with me.
I first met Dennis 20 years ago. We became good friends. We worked together, went to bars together, and even tried to start a couple of businesses together. We were best man at each others weddings.
Around 15 years ago, he hurt his back at work. His job involved some heavy lifting which got the better of him one day. He was not able to really work consistently after that. He would find a job, work for few months, then his back would go out. He tried everything he could think of. Doctors could not figure out what was wrong.
Eight years ago, when I moved to Ohio, he was working. He seemed to be better. He had done some therapy, had learned some things to minimize the effects of the pain. He said he still had pain, but could manage it.
We kept in touch even after I moved. With every call, though, He sounded worse. Finally, he told me he would be driving through my city on the way to move back to Boston where he was from, and wanted to know if he could stay with us for a couple of days.
When he was here, I noticed that something was different. He told me how hard it had been, trying to make it with chronic pain, and with the doctors not being able figure it out. I figured out that the difference was desperation.
After that I did not hear from him for a year. At that time he sent me a letter and some pen art he had done. He had gotten hooked up with a good hospital and pain clinic, and finally has a diagnosis. He had 2 degenerative back conditions that there was not a cure for. He was going through therapy, and learning to cope with it, but the pain was always there.
At that time, he did not leave a return address, or phone number where to reach him. I could not get back in touch with him to check on him, or to see how he was doing.
Every so often I would google his name to see what I could find, and always nothing other than a foreclosure record from his house 5 years earlier. I almost gave up on ever hearing from him again.
Last week, I googled his name again, this time leaving out his middle initial, and BAM!!! All these hits on his name came up. The first ones were from Chicago, I thought it must be a different person with the same name.
That is until I looked a little closer. Something caught my eye. The ones from Chicago were for the National Pain Foundation. Okay, I was still skeptical, but intrigued. I opened the web site, and, low and behold, there was my friends picture.
It seems he is now a national spokesperson for the National Pain Foundation, and was just about to complete a walk from Chicago to Santa Monica along Route 66. 2400 miles.
Since I have gone this far, I will tell you that my friend's name is Dennis Kinch.
Though the National Pain Foundation, I was able to get in touch with him, and had a nice long talk with him the other night. He was doing well, and really glad to be doing something to bring attention to an organization that had helped him when he was in pain.
If you want to read more about him, go to www.nationalpainfoundation.org, and click on "where's Dennis".
So I may have lost my best blogger buddy, but I found my best friend. Not a bad two weeks.
Later,
Deej
I haven't really felt that I had much meaningful to say lately. Not that I ever really did, There was nothing that was really blog-worthy. Don't get me wrong, things have happened as you will soon see, but I wasn't sure how to write about them.
My best blogger friend, "C.", decided to leave Blogger. She claimed it was because of the security around the site. She said she went to LiveJournal, but I do not have access to that site. There were times when I found myself writing a post, and I would wonder what she would say to it. She would sometimes hammer me on what I had said, but I valued the fact she would give her honest opinion. C, if you do read this, you can comment anonymously, I wouldn't mind.
That would be the friend lost, now for the friend found. This is a long story, so bear with me.
I first met Dennis 20 years ago. We became good friends. We worked together, went to bars together, and even tried to start a couple of businesses together. We were best man at each others weddings.
Around 15 years ago, he hurt his back at work. His job involved some heavy lifting which got the better of him one day. He was not able to really work consistently after that. He would find a job, work for few months, then his back would go out. He tried everything he could think of. Doctors could not figure out what was wrong.
Eight years ago, when I moved to Ohio, he was working. He seemed to be better. He had done some therapy, had learned some things to minimize the effects of the pain. He said he still had pain, but could manage it.
We kept in touch even after I moved. With every call, though, He sounded worse. Finally, he told me he would be driving through my city on the way to move back to Boston where he was from, and wanted to know if he could stay with us for a couple of days.
When he was here, I noticed that something was different. He told me how hard it had been, trying to make it with chronic pain, and with the doctors not being able figure it out. I figured out that the difference was desperation.
After that I did not hear from him for a year. At that time he sent me a letter and some pen art he had done. He had gotten hooked up with a good hospital and pain clinic, and finally has a diagnosis. He had 2 degenerative back conditions that there was not a cure for. He was going through therapy, and learning to cope with it, but the pain was always there.
At that time, he did not leave a return address, or phone number where to reach him. I could not get back in touch with him to check on him, or to see how he was doing.
Every so often I would google his name to see what I could find, and always nothing other than a foreclosure record from his house 5 years earlier. I almost gave up on ever hearing from him again.
Last week, I googled his name again, this time leaving out his middle initial, and BAM!!! All these hits on his name came up. The first ones were from Chicago, I thought it must be a different person with the same name.
That is until I looked a little closer. Something caught my eye. The ones from Chicago were for the National Pain Foundation. Okay, I was still skeptical, but intrigued. I opened the web site, and, low and behold, there was my friends picture.
It seems he is now a national spokesperson for the National Pain Foundation, and was just about to complete a walk from Chicago to Santa Monica along Route 66. 2400 miles.
Since I have gone this far, I will tell you that my friend's name is Dennis Kinch.
Though the National Pain Foundation, I was able to get in touch with him, and had a nice long talk with him the other night. He was doing well, and really glad to be doing something to bring attention to an organization that had helped him when he was in pain.
If you want to read more about him, go to www.nationalpainfoundation.org, and click on "where's Dennis".
So I may have lost my best blogger buddy, but I found my best friend. Not a bad two weeks.
Later,
Deej
posted by deejinator at 3:57 PM
0 comments
