I have been inflicted with a number of diseases, plagues and other acts of god that make me the equivalent of a 21st century Job. Rodents, bed bugs, cholera, diseases of the skin, salmonella, west nile virus, and of course, warts. And that's just the beginning of the list.  Why am I so damn 1600's? I know the developing world is hip right now, but really - cholera?

This blog is for those of you who have that morbid curiosity.  You know who you are. You like the creepy crawly feeling you get when someone talking about infestations, bed bug bites, and the like. If you don't like that feeling, you might want to stop reading now.

Also, this blog is highly educational.  I have become schooled in the lingo of extermination; I know how bed bugs lull their victims with their two-pronged anesthesiatic bites; I have been successfully killing the warts on my feet with my own treatment in my bathroom, using Spanish fly juice bought from Canada.  All of these medieval plagues are tough to beat, and neither doctors nor exterminators have foolproof solutions.  You might find here, in your search to rid yourself of your Shakespearean health problems, an answer.  Welcome, lepers. Enjoy.

3rd of August 2009
 

Blog Hero - Tree Man of Indonesia

To start at the beginning of the wart saga, click here.

I’d like to take a break from my rather mundane story (seriously, are you guys really reading this blog?) and tell you about someone who truly suffers from warts: Tree Man.

I have been fascinated by the Tree Man, who lives in rural Indonesia, for some time. Dede is in his mid-thirties and seems like your average Joe fisherman who just wants to live a normal life. Tragically, he has out of control warts (understatement of the century).  Due to a weakened immune system (he’s only 100 lbs., at least 20 of which are warts, has Hep B, and osteoperosis, among other issues), the HPV virus, which causes warts, has been able to grown unchecked on Dede.

Fortunately, Dede has been getting treatment in Indonesia from both local doctors and a dermo from Univ of Maryland who has been traveling from USandA to see Dede in Indonesia.  Read more about him here from this very trusted source of quality journalism, CNN or here, UK’s Telegraph.

A young-Obama-in-Jakarta fist pump to you, Tree Man. I feel about an ounce of your pain.

I almost went to Indonesia by accident once. Was flying from Brisbane to Cairns (or vis versa?) and there was a lot of confusion about which line I should be in. It really wasn’t clear. I got in the line of people going to Jakarta and got all the way through to the jetway. No one even looked at my boarding pass. Realized just in time when everyone looked a little more like this

than like this

.

Crikey! Oh well. Would have been very cool to have gone to Indonesia without planning on it.

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