Breightenbush

Twice a year, once in February and once in August, the Radical Faeries gather at a hot springs resort in central Oregon called Breightenbush. There are about 180 of us, maybe a few more. Most stay in shared cabins, some in tents and at least one in the main lodge, and that's me. I'm having a rather bad case of muscular dystrophy these days and can't manage the stairs into the cabins but the lodge is accessible.

I shared a ride from Vancouver with 2 rather unfocused drivers, a gay couple whose wedding I attended just over a year ago, who managed to get lost and so consumed with errands along the way that they stretched an 8 hr trip into 10.5 hrs. If they had bothered to buy a map I would have navigated for them, but that wasn't going to happen when that afforded them so many reasons to nag at and accuse each other. Really, just because we've won the right to marry up here doesn't mean that we should do it. Actually, it was quite a bit of fun when I just zoned out and promised myself not to get involved unless they asked.

The gathering felt wonderfully comfortable this time, this being my 4th one in three years. I must have known almost a quarter of the guys and they were happy to see me and full of compliments. I usually get sick on Breightenbush food, though it is healthy vegetarian fare, because they use a whack of ginger in many dishes and I am allergic to ginger. I'm the only person I have ever met who is allergic to ginger. In spite of me specifying my allergy on my application no meals were labeled when it was used. I learned that curries also have ginger in them, which explains why they give me trouble too. So I did OK with the food at the gathering but the highway food upset me each day. Thank gawd for Immodium.

One of the best things about the gatherings is of course the hot pools, but the weather was so hot (over 100F, or about 40C) that soaking in the pools was uncomfortable. I only visited them early in the mornings when the air was coolest. The other problem was the wet winter that provided a record number of flies and mosquitoes. The flies where everywhere inside and out, crawling on the food, the furniture, our clothes (the parts of us that were still covered up) and our skin. During the hottest parts of the day I stayed in my somewhat cooler, north-facing room in the lodge that was somehow free of flies. I slept so much the first day after we arrived but it was too anti-social to remain alone for too long.

One of the my favourite aspects of Faerie gatherings is all the gender-fuck drag and other outrageous costumes. Those who dress up arrive late for dinner and parade around the front deck, through the lobby and around the dining room before visiting the back deck. Hoots, cheers and the tinkling of forks on glasses follow them as they move around. Most never parade but others come with trunks of outfits. I don't mind relaxing in a T-shirt and a pair of embroidered silk granny panties, in a comfortable shirt, negligee or too-too but I can't be bothered with all the other accessories like make-up and wigs. I love being a boy but prefer to wear comfortable clothes without drawing too much attention to myself.

There was a fashion show on Thursday and a Talent/No Talent show on Friday, both held out on the lawn in the evenings when the air began to cool down. They were both fun and funny with very little "No Talent" in the talent show. The auction to raise Faerie funds for those who cannot afford the whole fare was held on the last night. My "Penis In A Too-too" window never made it. I managed to crack one piece in the window when I was loading it into the car. The driver ran a large speed bump somewhere in WA state and broke another piece and then shortly before the auction it was broken again by someone stealing a peak at it or perhaps by throwing something on top of it. I just wrapped it up and took it back home. :o(

My good friend Bad Dog (aka Joe) drove me back to Vancouver after stopping for a night in Salem, his new home. It's a pretty little town and it's pretty quiet too. BD surprised me with a knitted comforter/blanket for my bed. I was really blown away. He showered me with other smaller gifts too, a Bodem coffee press, a little toy and other souvenirs. What a treat to be away from all those flies, and the unbearable was replaced by cool rain.

Pharmaceuticals

"If you get any sweeter, Lou, they'll have to give you insulin."
- a line from the Mary Tyler Moore Show

Diabetes is just another something going wrong with my body. At least unlike muscular dystrophy there are medicines that help control it. I was diagnosed four years ago when I turned 50. So far there is no apparent damage to my eyes, the circulation in my feet or my kidneys. It was caught early on before it did any damage. My doctor and I had been watching for it as it runs in the male side of my family.

So far I have not needed anything more than Metformin to control it, a pill that suppresses the liver's ability to release sugar after digestion. Unfortunately, Metformin, although inexpensive, has many side effects such as cramps, gas and diarrhea. For the first 3 years I could not take a whole pill at a time. The doctors have wanted me to increase my dosage but my system couldn't tolerate more that 2 per day. Gradually my blood sugar was rising but the good doctors at the St Paul's Diabetes Clinic would not prescribe me insulin or a new medicine that works with the body's insulin to help it open the doors to the cells to let the blood sugar in, not at least until I tried once more to increase the Metformin.

Last November I was suddenly able to tolerate more and I doubled my dosage. My BS levels took a nose dive down into very acceptable levels. Months went by without major digestive problems so I began to assume everything was alright. I had more tests done for the Clinic last May but I was on vacation when they set my appointment and they did not set me another one when I asked. Normally I would have followed up but I assumed everything was fine. I eventually checked with my GP who always gets copies of my tests and I learned that they had risen again, even higher than they had been before. Yikes!

Visions of living life with blindness and amputations haunted me, especially after getting that out-of-control reading on Pride Day afternoon of 18+, more than double what it should be. I set about doing bringing my diet and BS levels under tight control. First, I fasted for almost a day until the levels fell. Then I started a record on my computer that tracked when and what and how much I ate, when I took my pills and what the corresponding BS levels were. Of the 29 sample tests I have done in the past week, 21 were within acceptable levels. The increased amount of Metformin really upset my system though, but I have my diarrhea under control with the help of Imodium.

This is how the pharmaceuticals get us by our short and curlies and wrap us around their little fingers! One drug causes side effects that can only be controlled by another, and so forth. I am fortunate that my muscular dystrophy has no available treatments. I admit though I'd pay a fortune to get my muscle strength back. So far scientists have found two cures (so far only tested on animals) that not only stop the erosion of one's strength but totally reverse the muscle loss. The problem is that muscular dystrophy is quite rare, even when you combine all the 40 known types, so there's not much demand for treatment from a pharmaceutical company's point of view so research has stopped. Besides, they don't want to invest in permanent cures. Where is the profit in that? Sometimes it's hard to keep one's sense of humour but I am tempted to laugh at my situation from time to time.

Today my friend Danzante, the big guy on the right below, told he has heard of a new drug in the final stages of testing that (of interest to him) increases the body's metabolism to burn fat and increases muscle growth (of interest to me). It's like a gym workout in a pill form. Yeah!! In fact, in my sweetest dreams, it might also cause the body to burn off more blood sugar to make that muscle. Bonus! Or it might increase the blood sugar but then I might be able to get an insulin prescription for that.....

It leaves me wondering though what side effects it might have.....

Pride Day

A week ago Sunday was Pride Day. I spent from 9:30am until after 3pm on the deck of Milestones restaurant at the corner of Denman and Davie with five friends watching the phenomenon of Vancouver's Pride Parade. There were supposedly 500,000 people watching, which is rather scary, though I doubt I could see even 1,000.

The patio of Milestones has to be one of the primo spots to watch the parade from as it is reasonably comfortable seating and it is raised a metre or so above the sidewalk, making it easy to see and take pictures of the passing 164 entries. We arrived more than two hours before the parade, which because of its added length this year, took quite a while to reach our location more than half way along the route.

To get a seat on the patio on this day takes good connections. One of my friends, "Aunty Tinkerbell", has those connections with the staff as this was once his favourite hangout. As usual, he brought 'accoutrements' which this year were rainbow feather boas and his own hat which featured a swirl of netting and silk butterflies around it. He's the one on the right above with our waitress and her penis tiara.... Immediately below them in the feather boas are, from left to right, Randy (Mentor Aum), Peter (Rainbow Strongheart), Gerry and his husband Danzante.

The other nice aspect of the patio vantage is that it is in the shade, at least until shortly after 1pm, and that means less sunburn. So many places along the route have no shade and no place to sit. My feeble legs could not hold me standing for a long time and without this wonderful seat I was not prepared to watch the parade. If AT ever loses his priviledges with the restaurant I may never see another parade.

As I said, the route was longer. It still goes south-west along Denman St, turns south-east on Pacific and then Beach Ave to Sunset Beach, but this year it started on Robson St and went downhill (northwest) to reach Denman. It now takes more than 3 hours from start to finish.

It was a decent parade with some decent floats, not too commercial all in all, but it could have used more clowns or humour in general and definitely more music. It's too bad the Radical Faeries didn't have an entry because the parade could have used some of the "outside-the-box" imagination and irreverence. There was one terrible incident up in the Davie St Village when someone went biserk and started attacking patrons on a patio at The Majestic bar with a hammer. He sent several people to hospital, including two staff, though none of the injuries were life threatening.

After the parade I walked with several others along Pacific to Auntie Tinkerbell's new place near Davie and Pacific about 2 km away. There we had a pot luck dinner of sorts. I didn't eat much, just some chicken, corn chips and a few veggies. Two friends were kind enough to give me a ride up the hill afterwards. I measured my blood sugar once I got home. It was over 18 when it should have been no more than 10!