- Endorphin Brigade: Fruits, Vegetables, and My Journey with MS
by Richard Savadsky
ISBN-13: 978-0-9743603-3-1
64 pgs. 5.5 x 8.5
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(from the foreword)
When I was younger, I didn't look as old as I was.
Now that I'm older than I want to be, I still look younger than I am. Some things never change. Except I have MS and I'm losing my hair.
I've had Multiple Sclerosis(MS) for 34 years. Those who also have it can understand; I started with a cane, went to a walker and then wound up in a wheelchair... not counting the extras I either started with or picked up along the way like, muscle spasms, occasional double vision, sleeplessness, etc. It's now time for a change, the time for the Good!
We want to go to Mars now, we've got the technology to do it but, we don't have a cure for MS. So, what do you want to do? Cry? No!
You do what Norman Cousins did. He laughed himself (along with large doses of Vitamin C) out of his disease! And if you're healthy, laugh anyway! How do you do it? See funny movies, listen to tapes or DVDs with Sid Caesar, Peter Sellers, Milton Berle, Benny Hill, Red Skelton, Rodney Dangerfield, Woody Allen and others. See tapes or TV with Jackie Mason, or the hilarious Robin Williams. You can read a funny book. You can also read my humble offering.
I don't want to be so presumptuous that I guarantee a solution for what ails you but I do guarantee a shot at some humor.If you don't care for it, it's a free country. When you laugh or chuckle, several things happen. First, laughter diverts your mind off the constant buzz of depressing news we get every day. Second, laughter activates a chemical change in your body.
Hormones, called endorphins, are activated in the brain. Endorphins reduce stress and pain as well as cause a euphoric effect. If endorphins are secreted continuously they spread and make the body healthier. Endorphins also: enhance our immune system, improve the circulation of blood, have an
anti-aging effect, and help improve your memory.
Endorphins are a divine gift to human beings. Through laughter, let's generate many of them.
Let's start with a Brigade of Endorphins!
*****
Celery
What did you expect?
A round vegetable like Iceberg lettuce?
That's not me.
I'm a lean, mean crisp machine.
Not bloated with water like Iceberg.
You know when you're eating me.
When you chomp on me, I'm never quiet.
I'm the backbone stalk of the vegetable world and don't you
forget it.
I give crunch to your tuna fish salad.
You'll bite me in most stuffings.
You can always chomp on me in the raw.
I'm the perfect shape to scoop your favorite dip.
Wherever I am, you can't miss me.
The ends of my stalks are sort of flowery.
If you stupidly forgot to buy your girlfriend flowers,
use me as a last resort; give me to her, tell her
I'm the flowery gift of mankind.
She can eat it, look at it, cook it or stuff it.
Or, she can throw it at you and end your relationship.
Flowers don't give you these choices.
*****
Rolling My Wheelchair Forward
I just keep rolling my wheelchair forward
Hoping for the ms cure
Just get offered band-aids but no cure
Can inject myself every other day
to reduce the chance of flare-ups
Sounds like a poor trade-off for injections
I just keep rolling my wheelchair forward
Thinking of jogging 10 years ago
I completed a 10k jog
Playing tennis at the tennis court
Relaxing and drinking a Heineken beer
I just keep rolling my wheelchair forward
I once had a cane and then a walker
Could walk up and down stairs holding the banister
Now I use curb cuts to wheel across the street alone
But I can go anywhere on Island buses for wheelchairs
I just keep rolling my wheelchair forward
Winston limo picked me and wheelchair up, took us to
LaGuardia
Delta flew me to Tampa, used their wheelchair for narrow aisles
Those lovely flight attendants and I had a great time
Too bad I couldn't get only one to keep
I just keep rolling my wheelchair forward
* * * * *
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