Sorry to be absent!!

My trip halfway around the world to idyllic Hawaii turned out to be...um...a bit of a challenge. First, rain pelted the gorgeous North Shore of Kauai for virtually my entire stay. It was heavy; it was relentless. Second, I got sick--don't think I've been sick in over a decade, but bone-weary when I got on the plane and surrounded by coughing, sniffling children, I succumbed. Third: I came home with a SERIOUS case of "jungle funk." Four doctors, including two tropical disease specialists in Manhattan, are raising their eyebrows and saying "you got me."

What started as a freckle-sized red dot on the palm of my right hand became within two weeks a silver-dollar sized oozing blistery mass that itched like mad. It felt much like poison ivy but was UNDER the surface of the skin. As soon as I arrived back at CAS, it began spreading up my arm.

SHIT!! I must have had a tiny tear in my skin--a splinter? too much playtime with my boyfriend's pet goose--who loves sitting in one's lap for hours at a time, but who'll also peck and pinch one's palm....hmmm? a little tear when I slipped on a muddy hill and went backwards onto my hands? However it happened, there was an opening, and something VERY unwelcome entered and announced itself with flair.

I'll spare you the drama. Whatever it was could have been deadly. But while four doctors have no idea what it is, they all agree on what it isn't. And what it isn't are all the scary things -- you know, the stuff that can cause liver and kidney damage, loss of the affected limb, even, potentially, loss of life.

In the meantime, while we're anxiously awaiting the results of bacterial and viral cultures, I'm trying not to scratch, taking STEROIDS--which freaks me out--and antibiotics, and trying to dry this grossness on my hand with a topical powder diluted in water.

Anyone know a good liver and kidney cleanse? I want to be good to my poor organs once I get off this damned prednisone.

All this, by the way, is merely a long-winded apology for tuning out for the last ten days. I'm back, guys, festering hand and all, with lots of news!!

Wouldn't you know that the NBC piece aired while I was in Hawaii? I got a cell phone call, but not in time to contact more than just a few of my peeps. If you want to see it, go to our website: http://www.casanctuary.org, and click on "What's new at CAS" for their video. Also, be sure to check out all the great TV and radio coverage of the last couple months by clicking the "In the News" button.

Hmmm...the piece on Catskill Animal Sanctuary was a quick one. Would we hear from people?I wondered. Well, let me say to anyone who runs a nonprofit that if you have a story with national implications, three minutes on national news will do more for your organization than all your previous efforts combined!!

We've heard, to date, from over 200 people from at least thirty states, including Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, New Mexico, Texas, California, Washington, and Oregon. Volunteer offers have flooded in, as have adoption applications, warm e-mails and letters of support and encouragement...and one marriage proposal.

Mostly, though, what's come are donations: $5, $10, $50, $500, $2,000--and one check for $25,000.

Thanks, NBC, from all of us at Catskill Animal Sanctuary. A new barn--our third this season in response to the foreclosure crisis--goes up beginning Wednesday.