And that is all there is to the story. Six weeks later I was entirely recovered, though the regeneration of the nerves and re-activtion of the muscle fibers was agonizingly painful. Day after day the muscles cramped and stiffened as though I had lain in bed for three months, then risen to run 10 miles. I lived in a hot tub, the only thing that would stop the cramping. But, gaining strength each day, I was exultant. One year later I happened to see an ad in the Journal of the American Medical association of the government's offer to pay all costs for neurological complications arising from the problematic Swine Flu vaccination program. In the criteria for that diagnosis, it listed progressive lower limb motor paralysis as an unusual variant of the more typical Guillain Barre' Syndrome. I had had the swine flu shot 6 weeks before the first symptoms. But what about The Cure. Certainly most of us use fishing as an escape or relief from stresses and pressures and emotional exhaustion, certainly I do. At least that all makes a wonderful excuse, if we are looking for one. But surely the spiritual healing power is also not to be underestimated. Roderick Haig-Brown, in his most famous quote, stated that, from his many years experience as a justice-of-the-peace in rural Vancouver Island, he had concluded that 90% of the problems that afflicted people were caused by either whiskey or sex, rather too much of the former and too little of the later, and both of indifferent quality. To that I would only add, and too little fishing....of any quality. I suspect that for many of us, if the Grim Reaper wants us, he had better invest in waders and a net...and use barbed hooks. Trump Doyle McKenzie Flyfishers June 1991
			<= Back
		Table of Contents				Fishtales Start		Order/Contact