Death

You would know the secret of death. But how shall you find it unless you seek
it in the heart of life?

The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.

If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life. For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.

In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your fear, of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honor.

Is the not joyful not Joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king?

Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?

And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only the river of only when you drink from silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountaintop, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.

Kahlil Gibran

Tags: death, Kahlil Gibran

Ode to Charcoal

Charcoal 2 nights before going to Kitty Heaven

Rewind those 15 years… I was just starting high school, as the lonely, awkward teenager I was. Our cat Charity had just run away, and after searching the South Philly streets for her as a family, we had given up after a month. There was a brief moment there, when my mom convinced me that neighbors a few blocks away had stolen her and fattened her up. I later figured it was nearly impossible for a cat to gain 10 pounds over night.

Almost instantly my mom came home with a cat named “Cassandra”. My first inclination was to change the poor thing’s name, but before I had the chance, she was returned because of a faulty eye. Don’t quote me on that. A few days later our next door neighbor came to our door with two male kittens: Charcoal and Smokey (much better names for cats), and in our house they stayed for the rest of their lives. Sad, kind of, the way I worded it, but we lived in a city! Alright?

Charcoal and Smokey tore up the house bit by bit. When they weren’t satisfied with 9 Lives tinned food, they tilted the kitchen trash can, foraging for chicken bones. I did try to explain that we only ate processed food, but they just never understood. Charcoal was always eating two portions–his and then Smokey’s. Smokey dealt with his hunger pangs by getting high on cat nip. Charcoal would glance over disapprovingly.

In the early years, Charcoal slept in a shoe box I had put a blanket in for him in my room, but then one day the box collapsed, and it was onto my brothers’ lair…

I eventually moved onto university, but kept in touch with Charcoal via telephone: “Hi Charcoal, I am pulling another all-nighter just for the hell of it. This time I mixed coffee granules with jolt.”“Meowwww”. Seriously. Charcoal talked on the phone with me for years, my brother Josh had trained him to meow every time the phone was put up to his face.

Sad to say my junior year of university Smokey dropped dead by the front door. The finger was pointed at a poisonous olive from a certain martini glass, but ya know how those Philly cops work–they don’t!
The case was dropped needless to say, but poor Charcoal felt the full impact of his brother suddenly disappearing. No one thought he would live another week, but he ended up surviving eight more years.

The last time I saw Charcoal was back in August 2006. I had just dropped in on the way back from my friend’s wedding, and spent an hour or so catching up with the family cat. He talked about how strange it was to suddenly have a 6 ft cardboard cut out of Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer hanging out in the dining room, and I of course agreed, as I felt I had been hallucinating. I have pictures to prove it.
I patted Charcoal on the back one last time before hopping in a cab to go home. Looking back I think I took him for granted, never realizing he would one day be gone.

Charcoal the cat has lived a very exciting, tumultuous and adventurous 15 years. We all will miss him dearly.

Tags: cat, charcoal, Charcoal the cat, dead, Family, sad, smokey

The new Dia DiCristino blog

I decided to close down my old blog because I felt some of my posts were personal and others promotional and well, I didn’t think it meshed well. Right now I also have a twitter page, and tend to write random posts on that, but I do need somewhere where I can write more than 20 words at a time.

My last blog talked a lot about my health issues, and where I built up somewhat of a following on that, I felt people thought my health problems were defining me, when they really don’t.

So, what will this blog be about? I can’t say at the moment. Whatever I feel like writing at the time I suppose.

Cheers,
Dia

Tags: blog, dia dicristino

Important Arachnoid Cyst News

My fellow Arachnoid Cystians,

http://www.arachnoidcystawareness.com

Arachnoid Cyst Awareness has teamed up with Arachnoid Activist and Arachnoid Cyst Friends to bring you a website that educates and supports all Arachnoid Cyst patients. We now have a very active forum which brings a blogging application free from spammers, a medical article and journal base, an Arachnoid Cyst Mall which is a compilation of 4 or more shops (and it will keep growing), a pamphlet, networking page and much more.

We at ACA want all Arachnoid Cyst patients and family members to be in the loop on the latest information. We want everyone to be connected. ACA was founded in 2003, and has been here to bring support to newly diagnosed patients and to the family and friends of Arachnoid Cyst patients. We would like to help educate those who have also suffered from their Arachnoid Cyst for years. In addition to this we would like to invite our neurologists, our neurosurgeons and our GPs who have doubted us in the past to take a look around and learn what it really means to have an Arachnoid Cyst.

The usual comment a doctor makes when diagnosing a patient with an Arachnoid Cyst is, “These are congenital and will not cause any symptoms.” This is a false comment. Will there be patients that do not present with symptoms? Sure, but that does not mean that every patient will never experience symptoms. This is the one point neurologists and neurosurgeons forget.

It is important to do your own research as an Arachnoid Cyst patient, and  on the Arachnoid Cyst Awareness Website, we have put together a nice collection of journals and articles to get you started.

Do not forget to stop by the forums to register, as this in itself is the perfect way to find out about Arachnoid Cysts.

If you would like to contact the website please email us.

Sincerely,

The ACA Team
http://www.arachnoidcystawareness.com
http://www.arachnoidactivist.com

Tags: aca, arachnoid, arachnoid activist, arachnoid cyst, arachnoid cyst awareness, arachnoid membrane, cysts, neurologist, neurosurgeons, the aca team

My Bleeding Eye

My eye has felt really sore and bruised for a couple days and I noticed this morning that it looks like I burst a blood vessel. I never noticed this happening before in my eye, and was wondering if anyone with a VP shunt out there has experienced this. It may have nothing to do with my shunt, but lately I get a lot of nosebleeds on the same side as the bleeding eye and what do you know? It is also the same side where my shunt is.

I have been having problems with my shunt for over a month now and I am slightly worried this is all connected somehow.

Tags: vp shunt

Mandarin Friend

My brother Joseph bought me the entire set of Felicity DVDs for my birthday and I have been watching nothing but since. Of course it immediately reminds me of my own college days, the people I would hang with and the interesting experiences we all had.

Unfortunately a friend from back then, Lori, just died 3 days ago, and I found this out yesterday. I have so many memories of this person because we were always around each other my freshman and sophomore years of university–we shared some funny times and some depressing times. Our fathers both died 10 days apart which we both found to be somewhat freaky. When my dad died, Lori said, “I don’t know how you could be sitting in class right now because if that happened to me I wouldn’t be able to survive.” Then 10 days later she was going through the exact same thing. The summer after this we were both working for this music therapy conference–about 40 people came over to Immaculata from Japan and we had to look after them. It was one bizarre year for us.

Lori and I both worked at Camilla hall and she really helped me out when I got yelled at for not wearing the appropriate white trousers. She went and bought me a pair in which an elderly nun immediately vomited on. We both laughed.

I remember Lori making sure I was OK after I found out my cousin was killed in a car crash that following semester. She was a good friend. I am saddened that so many I have known have left this world too soon. Lori was an extremely talented poet and pianist. One of my favorite memories of her was when we were eating our usual geriatric meal in the cafeteria, I was talking about hair frizz and different methods to avoid this, and out of the blue she shouted, “Mandarin friend?!??!” You had to be there.

I feel so sad that she died all alone…no one should die all alone…no one…

Tags: college, felicity, lori riggins, univeristy

Cortisone Injection Reaction

If you are experiencing lightheadedness, dizziness, vertigo, night sweats, fever, feeling out of it, extreme fatigue and stomach pain after a cortisone injection, you are not alone. I had a cortisone injection 4 days ago into my knee, and ever since I have basically felt like my anemia came back, but guess what? It isn’t the anemia, it is a reaction the cortisone injection caused.

Immediately after my injection I started to feel lightheaded and out of it. The next day I was so tired I couldn’t even move, and now four days later it isn’t letting up. I called the duty doctor who says it is the cortisone injection and nothing to do with my blood. He says it will fade off in a little while. It can take over a week for this side effect to go away, which leads me to this question: Why did the rheumatologist tell me there were no side effects? I asked about 3 times before the injection and she said no! That is just bull shit. What did she desperately want me to have it? Besides it being extremely painful, now it has knocked me down for almost 5 days!

I have created a thread about this on my forum: http://diadesigns.com/cortisone

Tags: cortisone injection, knee pain, side effects of cortisone

How to move your pets abroad — the best way to travel

I have been racking my brain on how to get my two small dogs over to America with me when I move back. Both have separation anxiety to the point where they will pee all over me when I return home. Because of this I now take my dogs wherever I go. I attach Figaro to my buzz chair and drive down town while he walks alongside. So, imagining the stress they would both endure as cargo on a plane makes me uneasy about putting them through that situation. Even though they are both small dogs, no airline will allow them on board on an international flight. I can understand this because of the noise and well…smell if they needed a poo, but it makes traveling frustrating.

Figgy Wiggy

I was recently told about the Queen Mary 2. It is 6 day cruise from Southampton to New York which not only allows pets on the deck, but has a luxurious kennel experience for dogs, so much so that they get pampered by their own “Kennel Master” and get given “gift bags” which include a coat. :)

One would think that a 6 night cruise across the Atlantic would cost a lot more than an 8 hour flight, well not so. The total price for two people is $1,900 and that includes all meals, free drinks 24/7, a 1 bedroom suite, all entertainment and an overall brilliant experience.

Me and my Figs at a dog show

In an age where flying is becoming more and more expensive, the cheaper option to move from London to New York is to sail. Did I mention you can bring as much luggage on board as you need? Well that in itself is fantastic, since nowadays you are only allowed 1 suitcase on a business class flight without paying extra fees.

Pinocchio and KFC bucket

If you are moving from England to America, need to bring 2 or more pets, have an enormous amount of luggage, want your experience to be as stress free as possible, missed your last holiday because of moving plans and like cheesy cruise ship entertainment, the Queen Mary is definitely the easiest option for you!

Tags: abroad, america, cabin, cargo, chihuahua, defra, dog, doggie, england, jackhuahua, moving pets abroad, pets, queen mary 2, yorkie-russell