My first cousin Terry Saunders died a week ago. \u00a0I remember his Corvette when I was quite little. Two weeks before he died I had a stark reminder of my own mortality as well. In a routine blood test there were nearly 30 times the normal number of liver enzymes. \u00a0I read up on it, and I should have been horribly sick with numbers that high.<\/p>\n

I had no symptoms, so I thought is was all a mistake, had a re-test and the numbers were down, but still about 6 times higher than normal. \u00a0Had my vital organs ultrasounded and my blood tested for hepatitis and everything my doctor and I could think of. \u00a0Nothing so badly out of the ordinary except those darn liver enzymes. \u00a0Did I say no symptoms? \u00a0No symptoms. \u00a0Maybe, just maybe a shadow on the liver, but so slight it would not explain those numbers. \u00a0Maybe a cancer in some other organ is making my liver work hard to make those enzymes.<\/p>\n

My doctor wanted a liver biopsy and a CAT scan but I said hold off. \u00a0My numbers were normal in September, so if there is anything it is brand new, not a month old, let me hold off a month. \u00a0I had plans. \u00a0I was going to stand tall and do things in my life that I had always intended but never did. \u00a0I wanted to run every day, eat right, begin this web site, publish, write those two new books and finish the one I started years ago. \u00a0No one in the world thinks like I think and I think what I think is valuable. \u00a0More people should think like me.<\/p>\n

But I did hardly any of what I planned during the month. \u00a0And my cousin died. But here is something interesting. \u00a0Terry had hemochromatosis \u00a0http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Iron_overload<\/a>\u00a0 a hereditary disorder that is very treatable if caught BEFORE symptoms appear. \u00a0And today I got the tests back. \u00a0My hospital doesn’t normally test for hemochromatosis but they were able to test for iron in my blood and I had about twice the normal iron. \u00a0My liver enzymes were normal again. \u00a0And my blood has been sent to another hospital for more testing so I should know more tomorrow.<\/p>\n

So now I need to step up and do the things I have told myself to do all my life. \u00a0I have not listened to myself until now. \u00a0There is no one in my life to encourage me, so I need to encourage me and others. \u00a0I have often thought religion has had a negative effect on me, but there is good in religion as well. \u00a0I need to explain all this in a clear voice. \u00a0Who cares if no one is listening. \u00a0I am doing it for others, and in so doing I am doing it for myself.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Terry I may have dodged a bullet. \u00a0I would never have been tested for hemachromatosis. \u00a0Not even Dr. House would have found it. \u00a0I am not sure I have the disorder, but I am certainly glad I was tested for it. \u00a0The things that went through my head, the songs asking people to live like they are dying, the things I have said about lives having value if and only if they are valuable to others. \u00a0What we do for humanity is our worth, I have said, and now I am looking at me, and how my life has helped others, and what more I can or should do. \u00a0And I come up wanting.<\/p>\n

Here is the beginning of the rest of my life. \u00a0My first second chance. \u00a0I hope I get many more second chances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My first cousin Terry Saunders died a week ago. \u00a0I remember his Corvette when I was quite little. Two weeks before he died I had a stark reminder of my own mortality as well. In a routine blood test there were nearly 30 times the normal number of liver enzymes. \u00a0I read up on it, … Continue reading A First Second Chance<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8FSV9-12","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64\/revisions\/70"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}