No, it is not an actual "CHANCE" card from a MONOPOLY game but, it should be. Any game based on the concept of creating a money grabbing monopoly needs to include The Medical Profession. For the first 40 or so years of my life the same General Practice Physician kept me healthy and did so in an office that did not require an appointment. He worked solo, no receptionist, no assistants, nada. I believe a family member did the billing and clerical duties at home. His day started at about 4:30am and ended at roughly 9:00pm and during that time he managed to "do the rounds" and visited all of his patients in numerous nursing homes, 3 local hospitals, and for those who were home he made House Calls. His Office Hours were in the afternoon and evening and you were seen in the order that you arrived. No appointments, and everybody politely waited their turn in a large waiting room with about 12 chairs and plenty of current magazines, real ones that he paid the subscription fees for and that covered a wide range of interests appealing to males & females, both children & adults. No freebie Drug Company propaganda or fliers. Only his name was on the office door followed by MD. One doctor, not 10 or 15 listed as a "Medical Group" and most certainly not followed by LLC. He was a genuine one man medical treatment provider. He was NOT PRACTICING, he PERFORMED and not once in the 40+ years that he was MY DOCTOR did he fail to fix what was ailing me. He was in his 80's when he retired due to his own failing health and passed away about a year later and I keep his obituary in a place that I consider the highest honor, neatly folded in the pages of my Bible. He never needed the fictitious Chance Card I sarcastically created based on the ones found in a Monopoly game. That card I dedicate to far too many of today's doctors who hide behind abbreviations like Inc. Corp. or LLC and continue to PRACTICE guided by diagnostic software and pharmaceutical salespimps.

A not so brief explanation....

Hello, A brief explanation is in order so that viewers of this blog can understand what I am trying to accomplish here.

In 2002, at the age of 50, a neurological disorder ended life as I knew it. Possibly it was always present, simply dormant, and awakened by mid-life changes or may have been the result of a very negative response to a new drug my doctor had prescribed. After roughly 2 years of aggressive testing by the best specialists that Boston has to offer, no clear cause was found. I was however, diagnosed with Narcolepsy and Cataplexy, two closely related neurological conditions. For the unfamiliar, Narcolepsy is the condition where one instantly and without warning, falls into a deep sleep. Cataplexy is and extension of severe Narcolepsy which in a similar nature to a Narcoleptic "sleep event", results in temporary paralysis.

Both conditions are incurable and at best, only marginally respond to medications. I was instantly "rubber stamped" as handicapped and declared unemployable since situations like instantly falling asleep or becoming paralysed make rather dangerous to be around people and creates a significant legal liability.

My life changed completely but, by far the biggest and most distressing change was one I least expected.

The temporary disruption of a Narcoleptic or Cataplectic attack, is temporary, rarely lasts for more than 120 seconds and on their own, essentially harmless. The issue is that harmless quickly escalates to life threatening if I am walking up or down a flight of stairs, driving a vehicle, or even simply standing up. One becomes a "rag doll" and falls down and/or loses control of whatever it is they are doing. Falling is never fun but, falling while soundly asleep eliminates the ability to at least attempt to brake the fall or direct the path of the fall away from harmful things. To avoid these dangers there are have two options, stay seated in a chair or horizontal on a sofa or bed and keep the fall from happening.

However, throughout life, I had always maintained a high profile and to do so, set my personal "bar" very high for just about everything. My conditions instantaneously took me out of the proverbial loop for everything and what was was formerly a high profile life quickly became a no profile life and I became INVISIBLE.

I hope this blog will help the outside world once again see what I can still do in spite of the fact I rarely leave my home. Retired from the working world provides a lot of free time to pursue things that were not possible previously, purely because there wasn't enough time.

One area that was the most neglected was a natural ability for things artistic. I am an artist but, the title of artist is most often preceded by the word "starving". Pursuing my artistic abilities was never cost effective. Whoever coined the expression, "Money isn't everything", clearly either had lots of money or lots of problems that money couldn't fix. Eitherway, they didn't live in today's high priced world or had zero responsibilities.

Generating a solid income with art is tough and typically your efforts generate the most money after you are dead. An artist must adopt a rather "bohemian" life style, OK I guess if one is solo but, add a wife and kids, a home to keep them warm and comfortable, cars to get them around, well fed, and attired in a manner acceptable takes bucks. Good bye Bohemia and Hello Corporate world.

From this point on written text will be minimal and photos will be the bulk of whats offered. I hope you enjoy what you see and look forward to any comments.