Laugh and the world laughs with you!

The following is an article lifted from a transplant support group.

Laughter can be a powerful therapy for both patient and caregiver.   The benefits of laughter effect the mind, body and spirit.  The patient's emotional responses all can effect compliance to treatment and ability to cope with fear. Laughter and humor can create a positive and hopeful attitude.  We are less likley to succumb to feelings of depression and helplessness if we are able to laugh at what is troubling us.  Caregivers as well as patients benefit from laugh therapy. Caregivers are also at risk physically to  exhaustion from long shifts with inadequate staffing, exposure to infectious organisms

Norman Cousins, the former editor of Saturday Review was diagnosed in 1964 with ankylosing spondylitis, a progressive degenerative disease of the collegen tissue.  His doctors gave him little hope for recovery, indicating that a possible cause of his illness was due to heavy-metal poisoning.  Norman suspected that positive attitudes might create changes within his body which would enhance his recovery. Norman began viewing amusing films to stimulate laughter.  After each laughing episode he noted that he could sleep more soundly without sedation. 

With vigorous laughter, the heart rate is stimulated, sometimes reaching rates of above 120bpm, the normal respiratory pattern becomes chaotic; respiratory rate and depth are increased while residual volume is decreased.  Oxygen saturation of peripheral blood does not significantly change during the increased ventilation occurring with laughter.

So how is humor and laughter good for patient and caregiver?  Laughter is a pleasurable experience, it momentarily banishes feelings of anger and fear.  It gives us a feeling of power an control; we feel carefree, lighthearted and hopeful during the moments of laughter. Illness, either chronic or acute can be stressful.  Hospitalization, separation from family, invasive procedures, complex technology, or unfamiliar caregivers can all create anxiety, loneliness, discomfort, anger, panic, and depression for the patient.  These emotions are known to produce physiological changes that are harmful to the body; changes which the use of humor and laughter can ease.  Shared laughter is a uniquely human bond and serves as an equalizer and "social lubricant".

Yesterday was quite scary. We had a storm that knocked out the electricity supply. Now under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be such a big deal. However, now I am permanently hooked up to an oxygen concentrater. A machine for extracting the oxygen from the air.

If I don't get oxygen in its purest form 24hrs a day, then I slip into a state of blackout and if I can't get any oxygen to the brain, I die. Well, when the supply stopped, I switched over to gas cylinders. The trouble is that one doesn't know how long the supply is going to interupted. After two hours we started phoning arround for someone who wasn't affected by the cut so I could plug in the concentrater.

Cutting it thin, my wife started to make steps to help me into the car. We asked thenext door neighbours if they would phione us when the lights come back on. We went to some friends about five miles away. Just in case theelectricity didn't come on, at least we would be able to spend the night. One hour after arriving at our friends, the lights came on again. So back into the car and back home.

Well, you guessed it. To-day was spent pricing generators. It' just too risky to count on there not being another cut. In Cape Town it happens very often. Not so much where we are in Johannesburg, but the country seems to be slipping back very quickly.

What do you know? The transplant meeting took place this week and the head wants a consultation.What could this mean? Do I really want to go through with a transplant now, having reconciled myself that my chances of having a transplant  were getting less every day.Is it worth swopping one illness for another? Is there anyone out there that has had a transplant and can advise me.

I'm 57 years old and I'm not very happy thinking of what might or might not be.

One of the biggest culprits of wild and unsocialable behaviour, undoubtedly belong to the family Loxodonta Africana Africana, the African Elephant. This behaviour is associated with binge drinking, or as near as an elephant can get to binge drinking.

There is a tree called the Marula tree in the bushveld of Southern Africa. This tree is really bad news for most everyone else execpt Elephants and a few baboons. When the Marula comes into ripeness, these animals are irresistably drawn to the fruit of the Marula. It's fruit appear in bunches and are the same size and grenadillas or passion fruit. This fruit when it hits the stomach ferments and produces an effect equivalent to a massive intake of alcohol.

The animals lose all social responsibility. Youngsters are left unattended. Partners abbused and trees knocked down. Not to mention the mess that is left all over the place. Elephants at the best of times are animals that should be respected and avoided. They are capable of destuction beyond belief. Normally the social regime works well, with the calves, mothers and bulls forming a lasting and depenable mini-society. However the Marula can very quickly bring an end to this structure. The Marula has fruit once a year. It's fruit, like any other, doesn't go on forever, thus encouraging the beasts to indulge at a rate that would not normally be attempted.

Now that cross border game parks have come into being, more Marula trees have become available thus exacerbating the seasonal problem.

If you live in England, you probably know to what I am refering. In America; do you have binge drinking there?  I doubt it.  It's a kind of Euro-African thing.

Joke of the Day

It was Saturday morning as Jake, an avid hunter, woke up ready to go bag the first deer of the season. He walked down to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee, and to his surprise he found his wife, Alice, sitting there, fully dressed in camouflage.

Jake asked her, "What are you up to?"

Alice smiled. "I'm going hunting with you!"

Jake, though he had many reservations about this, reluctantly decided to take her along. Later they arrived at the hunting site. Jake set his wife safely up in the tree stand and told her, "If you see a deer, take careful aim and I'll come running back as soon as I hear the shot."

Jake walked away with a smile on his face knowing that Alice couldn't bag an elephant, much less a deer. Not 10 minutes passed when he was startled as he heard an array of gunshots.

Quickly, Jake ran back. As Jake got closer to her stand, he heard Alice screaming: "Get away from my deer!"

Confused, Jake raced faster towards his screaming wife. And again he heard her yell: "Get away from my deer!" followed by another volley of gunfire!

Now within sight of where he had left his wife, Jake was surprised to see a guy standing there with his hands high in the air. The guy, obviously distraught, said, "Okay, lady, okay!!!! You can have your deer!!! Just let me get my saddle off it!"

If there's one thing that annoys me more than anything, it's when I hear a perfectly healthy young person say, " I'm dying for a drink", or " I'm dying to go there"or I'm dying to do this that or the other.."

 Don't you think that it would sound much better to say that "I'm longing for a drink", or I'm longing to go there"?

We all know that our life here on earth is limited. The longer the better. But for one to say that I'm dying for a drink leaves me with an empty feeling. Lets try and not fall into this habit and help others out of it. It's amazing, but so many times what comes out of your mouth usually does come to pass. I've seen it happen in my own life. I don't know the Bible that well, but I do know that most things that concern life are covered in one part or another. One of the things is that it's not what goes into your mouth, but what comes out of it that is important. I think Jesus was telling some jewish guys that they shouldn't concentrate on what is the right food to eat according to their religion, but that they should rather beware of the words that are spoken and the effect that certain words have on others.

Some people say that they are depressed, sick or bankrupt. Well I guess that you can feel depressed now and again. Two or three minutes are allowed. Snap out of it! Just think about someone that is worse off than you. There are many, do believe me. Sickness; well I guess there are different classes of sickness. If someone has an incurable cancer, then I would think that they would be entitled to say that they are sick. I also think that if they are going to feel sorry for themselves for what little time that they have left, then they will not have as full a life as they could possibly have. Circumstances differ I guess, but I'd like to think that it's much better to squeeze every last drop of life out of what time we've been given. Bankruptcy; tell me about it. If you have a bankrupt spirit, then you have my condolences. On the other side of the coin, you have an empty container ready to be filled with goodness or what ever you wish to replace your emptyness with. Don't let others fill your mind with negative thoughts. Most people think that they are helping you, but they only want to help themselves feel better at your expense. Take control of your own life.

We are not animals. Some of us act worse than animals, but what can you say? I was in the Game Park earlier in the year. On the side of the road, sitting with it's mother was a young impala. I't was  a beautiful looking little deer type animal. Well the youngster had had an accident resulting in it's left forleg being broken and the bone sticking out. It didn't seem to be in pain, but then what do I know. I think that the animal knew and accepted that within the near future that it would be attacked and eaten by a Hyena, leopard or lion . We don't have to accept such behaviour from our neighbours. We don't have to lie down and die or let someone take control of our life.

How can you make your life more full and meaningful?

Think about it, I'm going to!

Joke of the day

A new teacher was trying to make use of her psychology courses. She started her class by saying, "Everyone who thinks they're stupid, stand up!" 

  After a few seconds, Little Davie stood up. 

  The teacher said, "Do you think you're stupid, Little Davie?" 

  "No, ma'am, but I hate to see you standing there all by yourself!" 

After spending an hour typing yesterday, you can imagine how upset I was when after trying to upload my script it was lost into Hyperspace. I was really p...d off. Anyway it kept me busy for a while.

I was thinking of the time when I left home at the age of twenty. I went to Norway. The year was 1969. The Vietnam war was still in progress and the draft was still in force in the USA. Of the guys that didn't want to go and die for the politicians, many went to Canada and many went to Europe. I'd heard that there were jobs to be had in Sweeden. When I tried to find work, they wanted a student card, which I didn't have. That's how I came to Norway.                                                                                                                                                 

What a beautiful country. It took me no time to find work. I found a job at a hotel doing odd jobs. It was the Hotel Bristol. I think it was a five star or something. It was up there somewhere.I enjoyed that time so much. I didn't have to think about anything except what I was doing at that particular moment. Starting at about half seven in the morning hosing down the sidewalk outside the hotel. Breakfast in the canteen.

I can't really recommend Norwegian breakfasts. It could be that they have a huge stockpile of fish. Anyway, they seem to have fish with every meal. The meals weren't really about the food. They more about the conversation with the other workers. Most were from outside of Norway. For me, it was like stepping out into the real world. Meeting people that were from another side of the world. This was 1969, there weren't too many packages to Florida or Phuket in those days. If you'd been to Callais, you had a slide show for the neighbours. I was from the Midlands of England, we didn't travel too much outside of the greater Birmingham area.

Those summer evenings were the best. When work was finished it was as if you had a full day before the sun went down for a few hours. Sometimes I would get on the bus or a train, and go just out of Oslo to a lake. The water was unbelievably warm. It was something to do with the peat bottom. It was so relaxing. Sometimes I would go down to the harbour and wait for the shrimp boats to tie up. They would cook the days catch and sell it fresh when they arrived. Sitting there eating shrimp, reading a book was the best. There was always something new to do.

I would love to walk alone in the forrests just out of town. For some reason Paul McCartneys song "Norwegian Wood" used to come to mind. Probably because I didn't know the words all that well. The song actually has nothing to do with woods or forrests.

I once had a girl, or should i say, she once had me.
She showed me her room, isn't it good, norwegian wood?
She asked me to stay and she told me to sit anywhere,
So i looked around and i noticed there wasn't a chair.
I sat on a rug, biding my time, drinking her wine.
We talked until two and then she said, "it's time for bed".
She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh.
I told her i didn't and crawled off to sleep in the bath.
And when i awoke i was alone, this bird had flown.
So i lit a fire, isn't it good, norwegian wood.

Bit of a let down really. I thought the words were about walking in a Norwegian wood, not using someone's house to start a fire.

There's two places in the world that I've found are fantastic for looking deep inside yourself or your mind. One is Norway the other is the Namib desert. Both countries have a population of about a million, and both countries are really condusive to just sitting quitely and listening.

To-Days Joke

Two Irishmen went into a pet shop and purchased four budgerigars. That's it, he said. That's it. They left the shop walked out of town. "That's the hill right there", Paddy said to Sean. "To be sure", said Sean.

They walked up the hill and came to a cliff. "Right"' said  Paddy, after attaching two birds to each of his shoulders. He then proceeded to jump off the cliff. He fell flat on his face fortunately landing in a bush and not hurting himself at all, at all. Neither did he harm any of the birds.

When Sean caught up with him a short while later, Paddy was heard to say, "I'll get the hang of this budgie jumping sooner or later".

We are forcast a warm 32degc to-day. That could mean more thunder showers. Fantastic! My garden is missing out on all the new seedlings that are usually planted at this time of the year. It is still looking good thanks to all the roses, banksia and various other flowers that come alive in springtime. Isn't it wonderful to witness another springtime show? Tickets are free, and there's unlimited seating.

One of the most glorious shows at this time of the year are the Jacaranda trees which blossom. They burst out in purple all arround our cities here in SA. The bees do their thing and cause the blossom to cascade to the pavements making a carpet of colour.

Some friends also decided to come by yesterday. They had just flown in from Europe. The flight was very long and not without an element of danger. As they have nowhere to stay, I offered them accomodation in the same place that they had last year. They eat very little and bring me so much delight that I'm only too pleased to assist our friends, the Swallows and Swifts.

Monday morning, usually gets me down. Isn't there a song something like that?  To-day I don't think I will let it get to me. Concentrate on the positive and supress the negative. OK.....

I shall move on and read some other persons' blog. I thought I had problems!

Alleta, my helper, spent the weekend constructing her house in a township near the city. It's a corregated iron walled and roofed home with a cocrete floor. She has built it just in case. She lives in the back of a home in the suburbs and works one day a week for her rent. She says that her nephew will live in the home that she has built. She pays no ground rent there as the Government gave her the property at no charge. I admire her. She has another property in the countryside up north where she was born. A place she goes to for vacations and to be with her family.

Just when I thought all was lost this weekend at the races, someones'  bad fortune favoured me. Swings and roundabouts! I had been having a terrible run. All the favourites had been arriving.  The next favourite would serriously dent my finances. What happened? It was winning all the way arround. Coming up to the last fence and nothing could stop it. Another loser for me. Then, down at the very last fence. Horse and jockey safe; no injuries. Relief!!! Back in the green. Do I need the stress?  Beats watching paint dry.

Joke of the day

Paddy and Seamus landed themselves jobs at the local sawmill.  Just before morning tea Paddy yelped, "Seamus, I've lost me finger!!!"
"Have you now?" says Seamus, "And how did you do it?"
"Well, I just touched this big spinning thing here like thi... damn it, there goes another one!!!"

It was thundering and lightening and raining all night long. Simply wonderful. This morning we woke to blue skies and the promise of more rain later in the day.

Many years ago when I first arrived in this country, one could set ones watch by the rain. Come one o'clock lunch time, down came the rain in the summer time. Five o'clock just as you are heading off home or to Varsity in my case, down came the rain. This was a regular occurance for many years. Then it all changed.

All things change. It has been said by some wise sage that the only constant in life is change. I think that as long as you hold on to that thought , then you might just make it through to the other side with brain intact. None of us really like change. That is unless you  happen to be living in a concrete pipe besides someone's highway. We like to cling to our comfort zone/blanket. Maybe I'm only refering to my generation, as it appears to me that younsters change partners and jobs etc  more often than their underware.The thing is, you can't generalise. I'm probably guilty of that and pray forgiveness if I have offended anyone.

If we didn't accept change, we wouldn't be reading each others blogs on our computers. We would have to wait once a week for the local newspaper and hope that the editor decided to publish our thoughts. That's why I listen to all kinds of music. Some of it I don't really understand or like, but I like to know whats happening. Maybe I still like to think that I am still young. I never thought that I would be saying it, but even when you are in your fifities or sixties, you still sometimes think in a twenties mode. It's just that the body won't let you put into practise what your brain would like you to do.

If you are still with me this far, then I would really encourage you to get up off your bum and go and fill your life with impressions, thoughts, feeling and all kinds of experiences that up until this point of time you have not been able to do. Maybe you have certain obligations that prevent you from immediately putting your wishes into action, but promise yourself that you will as soon as you are able. Life, unfortunately, does not wait for anyone. Tempus Fugit. No sooner have you left school when old age hits you and a hundred things come to mind that prevent you from walking in the foothills of Mount Everest, or paddling down a tributary of thr Amazon. God is Good. But some times you can't help thinking that his plans weren't exactlty the plans that you had in mind.

I seem to be in a high state of meloncholy. (Never could spell). Have a wonderful day. Do something good for someone. It will come back a hundredfold and even if it doesn't; so what!

Joke of the Day

A father took his young son on a fishing trip. Once in the boat, the son asked his father, "How does the boat stay on top of the water?". The father answered, "I don't know". Later, the son asked his father, "How do fish breath under the water?". Again the father said to his son that he didn't know. "Do you mind that I ask you questions all the time father ?", asked  the son. "How on earth are you ever going to learn, if you don't ask questions." replied the father.

How many days do I have left before my big interview in the sky? I wished I knew. I suppose half of the world’s population would also like to be privileged with the same information. I have this stupid disease called Idiopathic Pulminary Fibrosis. My own body, for some unknown reason, turned around and decided to attack itself.

They tell me that once diagnosed there is a median life expectancy of between two to three years. I’m permanently hooked up to Oxygen. But, you know what?

                          I Love Life!

Yes, that’s the pity of it all. I read other peoples blogs that complain of all measure of things. Matters that can be altered and adjusted. Things that can be attended to or changed. I think maybe, if only I had your problems!

I have had a reasonably good life. I have never really worked in my life, unless you want to call Real Estate Sales, working. I have had a lot of fun, lived a full life and have experienced the better things in life. It could have been better, but it sure could have been a lot worse.

The one stable in my life that could not have been better, has been my wife. We have been married for 34 years. She can’t cook , but she must have been able to do something right.  For the last 33 years she has been trying to make me a better Christian, but I guess I just don’t make the grade. Don’t worry, I know where I’m going, so that doesn’t phase me, but I don’t think I’ll be sitting up near the top of the table if you know what I mean.

When they told me that I had a limited time to live, I didn’t really believe them. I was still feeling reasonably healthy. I walked the dog every day for 5 kms, and led a full life. Now and again I struggled to get my breath.

I think that it was after the Doctor gave me the pills that things took a massive dive. All of a sudden I was blacking out. No oxygen to the brain. Then I found difficulty in doing the smallest thing. I became breathless just going to the toilet. Not nice.

It’s six months down the line now and things seem to have stablised. I am permanently hooked up to Oxygen and lead a life in front of my computer. Thank goodness that I had the forsight to become literate intime. I have learnt so much about computing and web sight design etc. I also make a small amount of money online which keeps me busy in the afternoons. Yes, you made a whole pot of money Mr. Gates, but I thank you all the same for making my last days more fulfilled and interesting. Do you know, I live in South Africa- originally from England- but I am able to read their local newspapers before most English people. See the website at  Newspapers Direct.com / Press Display.com.  Truly amazing.

I saw a blog reflecting the views of a youngster that was complaining of his debt at his inability to handle the stress that it was causing.  Why is he worried? He’s got the money. The bank should be worried whether they are ever going to see it again!

 Wrong attitude? Not your average good citizens’ attitude I suspect, but very powerful for handling stress.

I have been very fortunate to live here in Africa for the past 30 odd years. There have been times that I have been witness to the most amazing scenes played out by the animals in the wilderness.

When I first arrived, I saw myself as the “Big White Hunter”. I soon realized that once you take a bead on an animal and pull the trigger, that’s it. Game over! Yes we ate each  animal that was shot, but any idiot can aim a rifle and pull the trigger. That’s when I took up photography. Animals have the most beautiful eyes and lashes. The sales of Revlon mascara would leap should the advertising agencies use an Impala’s eyes for their model instead of one of the agency girls. Not to mention Giraffe, Duiker and Eland.

Enough already. From a total of four postings I don’t think that I have had more than two visitors. So if you are number three thankyou and stop by again. Totsiens!

Todays Joke

A guy is sitting at home when he hears a knock at the door. He opens the door and sees a snail on the porch. He picks up the snail and throws it as far as he can. Three years later, there’s a knock on the door. He opens it and sees the same snail. The snail says ‘What the hell was that all about?"