Bound To Happen

After finishing an hour and fifteen minutes on the Harvard steps (with a brief four minute interlude due to the “yard alarm” sounding – I guess I need to explain the “yard alarm”. It is a siren which goes off from time to time for various reasons but mostly has to do with altercations with inmates and false alarms. When this alarm/siren sounds and I am out in the yard I must stop what I am doing and lay face down on the ground. This is so the C/Os in the tower can easily see what is going on in the yard and if they need to shoot they have a clear line of sight. I have yet to see a C/O shoot from the tower (I sure hope I never have to experience this) or for that matter have I seen them use the pepper spray (there have been a few almost occasions). Getting back to the shooting from the tower – from what I understand no bullets are utilized rather pieces of wooden blocks. These shots are meant to knock the inmates down, not kill them. These alarms have gone off occasionally but I have yet to see an inmate altercation here. I made my way to the telephone. I called my wife and did in fact speak with her. I also spoke with my daughter and son. I spoke with my daughter first and the very first words she spoke were “Daddy I miss you”, which made my heart drop. After she said this I instantly said, “I miss you too.” I certainly miss her so very much as well as missing my wife and son. I only spoke with my daughter for a minute because the telephone time is so precious but in this minute I realized how fast she is growing up. Each time I speak with her it seems she gets more and more mature. She told me about how they (my wife, mother-in-law aka Grandma, and my son) put up the Christmas tree over the Thanksgiving weekend and she was able to put the angel on top of the Christmas tree. I do remember over the years having to hoist my daughter up in order for her to put the angel on top of the tree. Not only have I missed this but now my daughter can do this by herself, oh my!

After speaking with my daughter it was my son’s turn and he too is getting more mature. He told me he is going to be an angel in the school Christmas play and his sister is going to be a shepherd. Of course I will miss this and hopefully someone can capture this on videotape so I can watch it at a later point. They both sounded good and seemed to be settled into their new environment. Things are moving along nicely and I am so blessed to have such a loving and caring family. Finally I spoke with my wife and she is still tying up loose ends with my case. It seems as if the case will never end until I complete my parole period. There are a few unanswered questions as I approach my release date (which is in the year 2008) and hopefully I will have an attorney who can answer those questions. This is still quite a ways away but I do need to have all my affairs in order well before this happens. I believe it is never too early to start planning. As always it was great to hear my wife’s voice and we have seemed to have worked out a weekly call. Each week it will be on either Monday or Tuesday because I can sign-up on Saturday or Sunday. I am not crazy about having to call my wife only once a week but more then this gets a bit sticky. There are too many unknown variables to try and call more than once a week so we will see how the once a week telephone call works out.

As I finished up the call I walked back to the dormitory. As I walked I felt very cold because now my sweat had dried and the low 50 degree temperature was chilling my bones. (It really does seem I can only get warm when I am working out when the temperature is this cold, maybe due to the fact that I have 3% body fat because I am always cold when not working out.) I also felt my throat swelling up and my nose was starting to run. I had the strange throat feeling when I woke up and instantly knew what it was. It was bound to happen that I should get a cold being in such a confined area with many other inmates who spread germs. It has only been 4 ½ months since my sentencing day and I was hoping to stay cold-free a little longer but this did not happen. As an aside, I have been exposed to other inmates who had colds in the county jail and at this reception center but I did not get sick. However, here there are quite a few inmates with colds so It was certainly inevitable.

I have all the symptoms of my usual type of cold which are scratchy throat and runny nose. I do also have a slight headache which I am sure is a sinus headache. Unfortunately, I cannot run down to the local Walgreen’s and purchase some cold medicine nor can I run out to the local medical center for a quick diagnosis. I have to improvise as what most other inmates who get sick do. I am not sick enough - yet - to get an emergency ducat to the medical office. I would have to request an appointment which takes 7 to 10 days and hopefully by that time the cold has gone away. I have to rely on the kindness of my fellow inmates. I asked a few of my dorm mates if they had any cold medication. One of them was able to secure me two chloritrenitron like capsules which are dispensed by the doctor. I checked the capsule and the label thoroughly prior to taking them because I don’t want to take something which I don’t need. Normally if I take a cold medication early enough into the cold my cold usually only lasts a couple of days, yesterday was the first day I felt the cold coming on so I should be okay in a few days. I will continue drinking lots of water (the only fluid available to me) and the cold should pass soon enough.

I was able to sleep restfully after taking the capsule but my nose is still running. I made it through the night but the cold was still making its journey through my body. I wanted to hold off on taking the second capsule until this evening but my nose was dripping like a leaky faucet. I did take the second one prior to the morning PFT Plus class. This second capsule did nothing to stop my nose from running but I still went outside to work. Fortunately, the yard was delayed due to fog (again) and the PFT Plus class got a very late start. The temperature is still in the low 50’s so I bundled up properly. I had my sweat pants over my shorts and I had on a thermal undershirt underneath my sweatshirt. I also had on a wool hat. I kept all of these clothing items on while I was doing the class. I was hoping to sweat out the cold. I did feel better after the class but my nose was still leaking. I went back out for the afternoon session dressed the same way. Again, I was able to get through the entire exercising and felt better when it was over but again my nose was still running. Normally after the afternoon PFT Plus class I do my own exercises but I was listening to my body and it told me to go inside and take a hot shower. I would have liked to continue to sweat out the cold but the only type of exercise which would provide this is running. I did not want to endure any high impact aerobics so I passed on the running and went back to the dormitory.
This cold is only temporary but I have to be careful not to make it worse. Yes, I am an exercise “freak” but I do know better when I get these types of colds. I want this to pass as soon as possible because Thursday starts the new PFT class and I want to be healthy for it. The only things I can do are rest and drink lots of water. Also, I have been extremely hungry over the past two days but have very little food to eat. Is the saying “starve a fever but feed a cold”, or is this vice versa. If it is indeed starve a cold I should be in good shape because I am starving. I think I have covered this subject adequately over the past few days but I forgot to mention I do have a package which was sent by my wife and it does contain food. Unfortunately, the California Prison System in no longer accepting personal packages and only accepts packages from approved companies. Equally unfortunate is I am not the typical inmate and my dietary needs are different than most. I would rather have healthy food as opposed to junk food which puts me at a disadvantage.

This brings me to last night’s dinner which was again supposed to be the filet of fish sandwich with macaroni and cheese. I had no desire to go to dinner because I know I would receive a double order of the macaroni and cheese which I do not eat. However, one of my dorm mates goes to early dinner and reports back on the evening’s meal. He came back and said they weren’t serving the fish but a chili hamburger also with the macaroni and cheese. For some reason I got talked into going by one of my dorm mates even though I knew I would get the double macaroni and cheese. Sure enough as I approached the very nice C/O and requested the vegetarian tray, I was handed a tray with two helpings of macaroni and cheese. I was able to get two tubes of peanut butter so I did make myself a peanut butter sandwich at dinner. I did make my dorm mates sitting at my table very happy by giving them the ample serving of macaroni and cheese (maybe that is why I got talked into going to dinner?) I had to make a soup after dinner for two reasons; one, I was hoping the soup would help me with the cold and two; I needed more calories for the day. I am not sure if the soup helped with the cold but it did help fill me up.