Kit's letter to a cruise friend
Kittrell Rushing
Here’s the first part of two letters I’m sending to a wonderful woman Frances and I met on a cruise several years ago. You may find it of interest. Gretchen's husband, Ray, died a year or so after we met.
Thursday, 11 December 2025 Chattanooga
Gretchen,
We havet not spoken or written in some time. Memories of you and of Ray appear to me regularly. Our time together was too short, but your impact was, and continues to be, profound.
My dear Frances tells me she recently received a note from you in which you revealed ovarian cancer for which you are being treated. I think hearing the “C” word is always troubling when it’s associated with a loved one. Your situation makes Ray’s physical absence more pronounced. I assume too that being in a new house, in a different neighborhood, creates stress. The images of your room look cozy and functional, but it’s not your old world. Is your young grandchild helping you acclimate? Perhaps, with your diagnosis some of the family attention might be redirected to you.
My physical issues are of minor concern when we consider with what you’re dealing… especially when my recent surgery was so successful. I think you know that two years or so ago I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. The symptoms quickly became pronounced, almost abnormally so… severe trembling, unsteadiness, shuffling gate, incontinence, depression… all symptoms of a rapidly progressing Parkinson’s, or so we and the doctors believed. Noticeably, however, I did not react or respond to increasingly large quantities of dopamine four times daily.
Frances, my sweet and long-suffering caregiver and helpmate, thought my failure to react to the dopamine was noteworthy, especially when other Parkinson wives toldó her not only did they notice their partner react when taking the drug, they needed the drug regularly in order to function. Frances began to collect articles about the issue. The authors of one article said “normal pressure hydrocephalus” (NPH) duplicated Parkinson’s symptoms. Unlike Parkinson’s, NPH often responds to invasive treatment. Specifically, the article said neurosurgeons reported notable success in treating NPH with brain surgery. The surgery involves accessing brain ventricles and shunting a bit of brain or spinal fluid from the brain through a tiny tube into the abdomen. Surgeons insert the tube under the skin from the head to the tummy and the fluid is there absorbed, easing the pressure which causes Parkinson-like symptoms.
Frances told my neurologist about the article. He said he was aware of NPH and said given my lack of response to dopamine, we would do a spinal tap. The tap would temporarily reduce pressure, and we’d see if there was an effect. Technicians tapped my spine, and “miraculously” the symptoms eased.
Both the neurologist and the neurosurgeon told me they agreed with Frances, in addition to the Parkinson’s I was probably dealing with NPH. They both cautioned that if we did the surgery, there was no guarantee the NPH-Parkinson’s symptoms would lessen. They also warned that whenever a brain is accessed there exists the possibility of undesired consequences. Did I want the surgeon to operate? The surgeon said that if he did the surgery I could improve. If there was no surgery, there would be no improvement, and the symptoms would more than likely continue to worsen.
I don’t remember much about the surgery, just being wheeled into the operating room and being surrounded by, what seemed like several thousand scrub-dressed, masked, aliens.
I awakened several hours later. I immediately knew I was different.
I had become a woman.
Androgynously yours,
Kit
TO BE CONTINUED
mailto:kitru...@mac.com
mailto:kitru...@gmail.com
mailto:kitru...@epbfi.com
117 Ridgeside Road
Chattanooga, TN 37411
Christina Winter
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Mike Murphy
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Margo Macdonald
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Karen Wade
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phs...@gmail.com
Kit,
Kudos to Frances for doing her research. Margo’s caution is wise, but a lot of good information is available on the internet along with the bad. The challenge is differentiating the two, especially in these days of AI-generated images.
Question: It wasn’t clear to me that your symptoms had been relieved. I hope they have and that I just missed something.
Paul
Dave McComas
On Dec 11, 2025, at 8:20 PM, 'Mike Murphy' via Cubs63 <cub...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
I’ll have to read this again tomorrow morning when I can appreciate it even more!
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Kittrell Rushing
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Kittrell Rushing
Thinking of good friends on this Quiet Christmas morning .
Fritz is still asleep, wise schnauzer! My dear, long suffering wife is stirring somewhere in the house. I'm just sitting... gettin' ready to drink coffee, glance at the newspaper.
I hope your are well... happy... and surrounded by Christmas love and sweet memories.
Kit
On Dec 14, 2025, at 9:32 AM, Kittrell Rushing <kitru...@gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks, Dave!
phs...@gmail.com
Sounds very cozy, Kit. I’ve been busy taking photos of families on an Xmas vacation. Just took one of an Indian (i.e., from India) family. There are a lot of them on board. This ship, Celebrity Reflection, is geared toward all ages. Doesn’t have the water slides of Disney cruises, but there are specific activities for kids of various ages. Today we are just drifting at sea between Bimini and Fort Lauderdale, only a 2-hr ride by ferry. We arrive Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow morning. That’s convenient for us, because Allegiant has 3 non-stop flights a day between Asheville and Ft. Lauderdale. Early reservations can be super-cheap, too. Big challenge is to keep from eating too much. Lots of excellent food choices. The head chef says his staff prepares over 14,000 different dishes. I’ve been getting a full English breakfast in the morning and a freshly-prepared stir-fry for supper.
Paul
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