Welcome To Blues Travels

As many visitors have probably seen, my posts here at TPO have been so few and far between many of you might have wondered if I dropped off the face of the planet or simply stopped caring about this web site. Neither could be further from the truth. Well, maybe that is not altogether true, for I nearly did almost drop off the face of the planet….

The following is a brief (or not so brief) synopsis of the last six months of my life. If you have the patience to read this, I think you will come away with some idea of why this sight has stayed stagnant for so long.

My fragmented story begins here:

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From the moment the fire took place, life has been chaos. Not only for me, but for my brother.

He and I bounced around from couch to couch, motel to motel trying to find a solution to our dilemma: How do we find a place to live together as roommates when all we have coming in for income is my disability check (620.00 a month I received due to having Cystic Fibrosis, a rare disorder that is manageable but not without a tremendous amount of effort. FInding a job that allowed me to work around my health needs has proven to be a challenge.).

The truth is Beau and I were not able to stay in Charlottesville together. He left. He headed to Williamsburg to stay with a girlfriend who opened her doors to him. Meanwhile, I had no such option. I stayed back in Charlottesville. Thanks to my brothers networking I was not without options though. He had stumbled upon a house-sitting opportunity that lasted 2 weeks. This would buy me some time.

I took the assignment and moved into a house that had two cats (I am allergic to cats) and a moldy basement which is where I was to sleep.

While I was there two things happened: I fell ill with bronchitis and caught wind of another house-sitting assignment in Lake Monticello. The new assignment would be a 3-4 month commitment. At least this would provide me with a roof for a while.

I took that assignment and began making plans to locate a new place to live once the assignment came to a close. I applied for a housing voucher but was placed on a waiting list and told I might not get one for a year or more depending on the availability. Since that was not likely to be a help, I had to look for alternatives. So, I began apartment hunting looking for roommates and the like.

The summer was pleasant and relaxing, but I was not having any luck finding suitable. Moreover, I wanted to be near my brother.

Throughout the summer, I had several chance encounters with people who were from Williamsburg. I began to consider the possibility of going there. So, I made the decision to head to WiIliamsburg.

I sold my weights and strength equipment for a paltry $900.00. I would need money this to get set up in Williamsburg, but the $900.00 might not be enough. I just had to trust and have faith.

I arrived in Williamsburg OCT 1st. 2007. I checked in to a cheap motel and stayed there for 2-3 nights while I worked the papers and networked with a handful of people who I had come to know from my days back in the 90s when I dated a girl in Williamsburg. One of my contacts put me onto a bed and breakfast helping and older lady who was suffering some health issues. At this point my health was fine and I felt like I could do what needed to be done for her.

She was 75, was recovering from a broken hip, had emphysema, high blood pressure and a host of other issues, not the least of which was her claim to be going senile. Still, this was a job that would provide a room in a nice home for as long as I wanted it.

I was there for three months. THe lady of the house was mean as a snake, but we managed alright. At times though she showed flashes of the dementia she eluded to earlier. Nevertheless, I continued to work there.

Eating at the house was a problem. There were no kitchen facilities. Only a frig and a microwave. So, preparing foods like I was use to doing was impossible. I needed a real place to live and a better paying job that allowed me to make enough money to do more than break even on rent (which in this case was 300.00 per month - a steal.)

Toward the end of the third month at that house (the end of December) I experience what would be my first of five trips to the hospital in three months. I developed pain in my abdomen. It was excruciating. I drove myself to the ER late one afternoon and the Dr. there diagnosed me without so much as taking an X-Ray. She said I had gall stones, even though the ultrasound revealed none. She scheduled me for surgery three weeks later to have my gall bladder taken out. She sent me home.

The next day the pain was even worse. This time my brother took me to the ER for trip number two. This time a new ER doc immediately X-Rayed me. He found a blockage in my bowel. It was apparently from some fiber I had consumed without taking in enough water over the course of a few days. They admitted me for what would end up being a 5 night stay, complete with NG tubes, IV’s no water and no food. They pumped me full of pain killers to manage the pain of the NG tube which shut down my cough reflex. So, by the time the blockage miraculously cleared up 5 days later, I had full blown bronchitis and had lost 10 lbs.

I went back to my room and stayed at the house for another week or so at which point the lady I was working for became violent, threatening and incoherent. I am not sure what sent her into this tailspin, but the truth is on one particularly bad Friday, she threatened me with my life and I left the house immediately. I had no place to go other than to borrow my brothers girlfriends sofa bed for two days.

I managed to locate a friend in Williamsburg who had a guest room in his home. He had a wife and two kids, but a very big house. So, I went there. I was still reeling from the hospital stay two weeks ago, but I was rebounding.

I moved into my friends room and began the task of looking for low income housing in Williamsburg. I found nothing but waiting lists. Luckily, my friend had no problem with me being there in his home, but the truth is everyone else did.

Moreover, during what would turn out to be a two-week stay at his home, his daughter was arrested for domestic abuse and assault and hauled away in handcuffs. The parents had her arrested. That was an awful day, but as I would come to find out it was not uncommon in my friends house. Ironically, my friend is a millionaire. He lives in a posh home in the best community in Williamsburg. You would never know the things that took place inside that house by looking at it.

Anyway, several days later the wife attacked my friend in his sleep. She tried to beat him to death. She was smallish as women go, so I doubt she would have done much harm. Nevertheless, the fight was terrifying, and somehow it involved the daughter who had been released from jail a few days earlier. It was 4 AM on a Saturday as I recall.

The next morning, my friend told me to leave. He said he needed to deal with the chaos in his life. Of course, I understood, but at the same time I had no place to go. I was being thrown to the wolves as it were. So, I lowered myself and asked him if I could borrow a certain amount of money to get situated. He agreed, but told me he had to talk to his wife about it. This struck me as ominous. He was in the dog house with her. Did he really expect me to think he would go talk to her about helping a friend of his when she hated his guts? In spite of this he promised he would talk to her. Out the door I went.

I drove around all day looking for the cheapest motel I could find. I had about 350.00 left from my disability check.

I found a cheap motel in a bad side of town that cost 40.00 per night. I figured I could buy a night or two and network on the phone. I called friends in Lynchburg VA and Charlottesville VA. No one was able to take me in. I began to panic.

At this point it needs to be mentioned that the strain of all of this was beginning to take its toll. I was getting depressed, starving slowly and not able to work out. I was despondent.

My friend surprised me a few days after I checked into the motel by calling me and telling me he had yet another house-sitting opportunity for me! He had a friend who had two homes in a nice neighborhood in Newport News. I contacted the guy who told me he wanted someone to sit for him for 5-9 months! He was given my references and they all checked out. The deal was made and I was to move into one of his homes in two weeks, That meant I needed to stay at the motel for two weeks in order to get me over that two week humps as it were.

I paid the motel owner 200.00 cash and he agreed to let me stay there. This would be tight, but the end of the month was just around the corner and I wold have another SSI check in the bank.

In the meantime I needed to get some furniture out of a friend home back in Charlottesville. She could no longer keep it. So, my friend and I (the gy whose wife attacked him) drove to Charlottesville in his truck and got the items. We were going to put them in a storage facility my friend owned. He was not going to charge me, so this would have been a big help.

When we got back to Williamsburg, we discovered that he had not checked the storage bin and wouldn’t you know it, there was no room in the bin! So, I had to put all of my things in a bin of my own and pay 65.00 per month for it. More stress.

Back to the house-sitting assignment.

Precisely one day before I was to leave for Newport News to take on my sitting duties, the owner called me and told me he had changed his mind. Just like that. No warnings, no nothing. I had already checked out of the motel which by this point in time had begun to wear thing anyway. I had no frig, not even a microwave. Police were constantly being called to the premises to arrest vagrants and unruly guests who were always fighting or banging on my door to gain entrance to my room. It was not a safe place to be. Still, without a place to stay I had no options. Back on the street.

My brother let me stay at his place one or two more days, during which time I networked a local church for the second time in 4 months. This time I made some contacts and was introduced to a guy named John Green. Over the course of the next month or so, John would hurt me. He would make my situation worse, without meaning to.

The church sent John Green to meet with me at a local burger joint. I was in total despair. To John’s credit, he proved to be a tender, loving, non-judgmental person for the most part.

He offered me a room in another dive, only this time I would have a roommate - a drunk the church was trying to help establish. We drove to the motel and the guy was passed out in his room, unable to come to he door. So, John was forced to put me in a room in another motel (an econo-lodge) for a few nights while he proceeded to work the church for leads on cottages and rooms that church members might have. I assisted by going to church functions an networking on my own. I placed ads in Craigslist and the church bulletin board. We were coming up empty.

At the last minute, an old couple came forward. They belonged to the church. The old lady had to have a knee replaced and she needed someone to care for her ailing husband while she was gone. He had Parkinsons (badly) and dementia. I was told he was kind and easy to manage, but I was still quite hesitant. So, John and I drove out to their trailer to meet with them.

The man was so nice, but the wife left me with an odd feeling. As she told it, her sister had refused to help her and she was in a spot, Based on my background (which included caring for my cancer-stricken mother from 2000-2004) they wanted me. The plan was for me to move in and stay there for 2 months while the lady rehabbed her new knee. When she came home they would allow me some time to find a new place to live. In the meantime I could begin the process of locating a more permanent situation for myself. The job paid nothing of course, but I had a bedroom in which to sleep.

I moved in that very day. After a few days the lady left for surgery and Leroy and I stayed there together.

It was a lot of fun. Leroy and I had a blast! For two weeks I helped him. I told him stories, made him laugh, prayed with him for his recovery, read the bible for him etc. But it was not to be.

Within two weeks the lady of the house had decided she wanted to come home and she called one evening and told her husband to tell me to get out, that she was coming home and that she needed the place to herself to do her rehab. I had no choice. I had to leave. Back out on the street.

I drove to Williamsburg again and began looking for the cheapest motel I could find. I had a few hundred dollars and no hope left. I was more depressed, more despondent and full of despair. Homeless shelters were not something I could do because of my concerns for my health and the health needs I had. So, finding a cheap motel and hoping for a miracle was al I could do.

I found a nice Sleep Inn that offered me a break on the price and I checked in. After a few days John Green came buy and helped me out with a few nights. I paid for three, the church paid for three. Another outreach ministry paid for two, so I had a place to stay. But what then? I was going hungry. I was losing weight. I was not working out. I was feeling poorly and fearing for the worst. Still, I tried to keep my hopes up.

Out of the blue, while I was at the Sleep Inn two things happened. I got word of the fact that I had been approved for a housing voucher! I needed to come to Louisa to sign the paperwork. The second thing that happened was that the old lady whose husband I had cared for was feeling guilty. Her knee was much better and she called me to invite me back to the trailer for as long as I needed. She said she wanted me to relax, to let them love me and she wanted me to think of them as my parents. Oh yes, I raised my eyebrow more that once as I listened to her voice message, but still it was a ray of hope.

So, I stayed in the motel for a few more days with the idea that I would go to Louisa to get a voucher and be able to find an apartment within days. I could come back to the trailer in Toano VA and use that as a base from which I could apartment hunt. But neither of these options would pan out in the way I had anticipated.

Oh, by the way, during my stay at the motel I picked up Scabies, a dangerous mite infestation. Apparently, there were mites in the room that I was unaware of. My back developed what looked like Leprosy. Back to the ER I went to get a diagnosis. They gave me a cream and that fixed the problem. Hospital visit number three.

Several days later I headed to Louisa to sign the paperwork for my Voucher. Once I got there I was informed that the voucher would not be given to me that day. I had to wait several weeks for it! At least I had the trailer back in Toano to go to. That was a relief.

I decided to stay at the Best Western just outside of Charlottesville for a night to see if I could locate some housing in that area. I was provided a room courtesy of a friend for one night. During the night i got sick. Fever, cough. You name it. I had it.

The next day I went to MACAA to fill them in on developments. MACAA had a ministry that afforded me a few more nights in the motel. This would buy me more time to apartment hunt in the area. But by now I was so sick I could not even leave my motel room. On Friday I was taken by ambulance to Martha Jefferson where I was diagnosed with Pneumonia. They admitted me and I was very sick, so this was my only option.

I was there for 5 days. They made me even sicker with lose stools that dehydrated me so badly that my blood sugars went crazy. I had no sleep during that time. Hospital stay number four. And this for a guy who has never stayed overnight one of these places my entire life.

To Martha Jefferson’s credit, they took fairly good care of me. They released me after a week and sent me on my way. But by now I was so short or breath. Whatever I had contracted had really damaged my lungs. I had poor Oxygen flow and bad hemoglobin O2 levels. I was unable to do the simplest of tasks.

I drove back to Toano and moved into my bedroom in the trailer. Unfortunately, things did not improve. I had lost so much weight. I was still dehydrated and has lose stools. That eventually cleared up, but the breathing issues did not.

Late one night at the trailer, I was bitten by a bug on my left arm. I had an asthma attack. I used my inhalers to fight off the symptoms but by daybreak I was not getting any better. Back to the hospital I went. I drove myself this time.

The checked me in at Sentara (who had misdiagnosed my blocked bowel only a few months earlier).

They said I had Pneumonia and admitted me. Hospital stay number 5. Only this time it was for ten days.

During my stay there I lost more weight and was dehydrated even further. In three months I had lost a total of 23 pounds from stress, anxiety, starvation, sickness and more. I was down from 160 to 137 pounds. They released me from that den of death just a few days ago. I am trying to recover.

I have lots more to tell but I need to stop.

I am currently in Lake Monticello. I have to leave by Wed morning. I may have to travel to Philidelphia to stay with a friend, but I do not think I can do this. I don’t want to. I want to stay in Charlottesville. I have the Voucher coming to me in two weeks. I have offer to rent a room for 500.00 per month without a lease. This includes utilities. The problem is I have ten dollars in the bank.

I am recovering as best I can, but I am unable to last much longer.

As I said, this is the short version, believe it or not.