December 2, 2018. Madison, Mississippi. Gout.

Attitude is everything. This week, my friend Suzanne, urged me to be prepared for something else to come along for Ken. Her husband who suffers from chronic mobility issues due to polio is the same as Ken. Something is always happening to him. Sure enough, Ken began to have severe pain in his right toe. He was so uncomfortable at brunch today with the family that he asked Kashina to take him home. When Christina brought me home, Ken was extremely uncomfortable so I gave him pain medication. And he took a nap. When he woke up, he worked through all the options causing the pain. He finally asked me to call our doctor on her cell phone. She returned my call at 5:00. Between the good doctor and Ken, they decided he was having an acute attack of gout of all things. He is now taking Tylenol along with ibuprofen. Tomorrow she will call in a prescription for gout medicine. Ken is hoping that is the problem with his big toe. But it could be nerve issues, or his neuropathy, or even Parkinson's. We will find out. But the attitude is the most important. If you expect other things will happen to Ken, you are not irritated or surprised. It just goes along with living with Ken. After all he has lung disease, Parkinson's Disease and heart issues, so any one might cause troubles somewhere in his body. His lifetime of disease has caught up with him. But he is 82 and is walking and talking. So here we go. But he never expected to have gout.