Died and Gone to Heaven, Metaphorically speaking

Your brain on Buddha

I feel like I just won the lottery - got a long-awaited call from my nephrologist that I can very slowly ramp down on one of the immunosuppressents I take to keep my donated kidney from being rejected by an alert immune system.  Why would you want to go down on these lifesaving drugs?  Because they suppress your immune system.

Take last night - I was suddenly stricken with Herpes on my lips - cold sores to you - so suddenly that it scared me.  I felt unwell, and the whole left side of my face felt irritated and involved, including that eye.  My eyes are one of my favorite organs.

A whole lot of people have had cold sores and harbor the herpes virus forever in their bodies, but it is dangerous to the elderly and to the immunesuppressed.  I happened to have a doctor appointment today, so I mentioned it and he looked at it and talked to me about it.  It looks okay, and he didn't prescribe an anti-viral, but I should call immediately if this infection gets worse. . . .

This is why it is said a transplant is a treatment for kidney failure, not a cure.  So, you know, you do what you have to to stay alive, but you don't always enjoy it.  Even if you meditate.  Zen is not about eternal bliss, but about being fully alive.

I always like to post pictures, but you sure don't want to see pictures of cold sores, or if you do, GIY.  Above, one of these pictures intended to make you want to meditate.  Perhaps I should note that my kidney was given to me by a woman I hardly knew, who had sat with our Zen group one night when I was doing orientation.  That's quite an outcome of being in a meditation group.  Unusually good karma, indeed.

And that makes me want to post a favorite puppy-dog picture, which I may well have posted before.  So here:

 

May you have some good luck today, too.