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Sasha Shulgin suffers a stroke

^Sasha is Alex's alias.

Actually the name "Sasha" is short for "Alexander" in Russian.. the same way Alex is short for Alexander here. It's common for Russian (and other Ashkenazi) Jews as well.

My dad's name is Sasha (Алекса́ндр). My name is Dima, short for Dmitry (Дми́трий).
 
wow, i cant believe it. Good to hear my number one hero is out of the hospital. He deserves nothing but the best!
 
Few updates through facebook. gregM said an update from Ann is coming soon (17 hours ago), so expect another any time.


Dear Incredibly Generous People,


Greg (who was away with Tania for four days and is now back home) told me today about the help you have been sending us (he is taking care of the contributions that have been coming in), and about so many of you who have very little to spare -- especially in this difficult economy -- but who have nonetheless sent us something to express love and gratitude to Sasha. I don't know what to say, except Thank You, and thank you again, and please, please don't send what you can't afford; if you're out of a job, wait until you're back on your feet and comfortable. We are very lucky, very blessed, in so many ways; Sasha's stroke was mild, and the effects are beginning to show signs of healing. We're also blessed by having wonderful, patient, loving and good-humored people giving Sasha round-the-clock care. They are being paid, of course, but any one of them COULD have turned out to be difficult or impatient or short-tempered, but instead, they are all easy to work with and affectionate and uncomplaining under even the most trying circumstances. And, as is always the case in situations like ours, there are moments that would try the patience of Mother Theresa herself.


Tomorrow, we take Sasha to San Francisco, to see one of the two surgeons who worked on his left foot and -- quite probably -- saved it from amputation. He will evaluate it and give us some idea of what the next step is, and how soon (presumably a skin graft).


Sasha is more alert, beginning to make puns again, and anxious to get out of bed (until he's actually out of bed, when he discovers that he actually appreciates the bed more than he realized), and his appetite is good again (there was one bad day when he ate very little, but only one). His food is still being pureed, but that probably won't be for long, since his swallowing is improving. His speech is clearer, already, and a speech therapist will be coming once or twice a week for a while. There are moments when the nerve pain breaks through, but his pain medication is really good, and the bad moments don't last long, thank heaven.


I'll keep the reports coming, except when I simply can't, but those difficult days are coming less frequently, and I can almost always write just before going to bed.


Bless all of you, and thank you so much for everything you're doing, and for showing so much love to this extraordinary and delightful man (and I say this as his wife of almost thirty years). If healing continues as we believe it will, it won't be very long until Sasha will be able to get back to the lab and back to work doing what he loves most in life, with our good friend, Paul, being his co-chemist (and furnishing good eyesight).


Goodnight -- Ann


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For the first time since the stroke, Sasha was able to join me for dinner at the dining room table. His color and sense of humor have returned. Afterwards, he had a painful night. Ann was with him from 4am until ??? They are both resting now. Despite difficulty, Sasha is healing. Your gifts have a tremendous impact. And I would like to expand the fundraising campaign; please spread the word. Thank you. ~ gregM



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Dear Members of the Most Evolved Network on Earth,


Tania and I took Sasha to the plastic surgeon on Wednesday, and we were joined by Dr. Paul, our new and already beloved primary care physician. Both doctors examined Sasha's Achilles tendon wound (since no one had thought to put Sasha on a gurney or table, they had to turn themselves almost upside down to see the ulcer), and they expressed approval and pleasure at what they saw. They also promised to put him on some kind of surface which would allow him to turn onto his stomach, next Wednesday, when they see him again.


Granulation tissue, according to the doctors, is beginning to form around the wound, and that means that healing is beginning, and THAT means making plans for a skin graft is now reasonable. Assuming, of course, that everything continues to look good. For the first time, we heard details about the skin graft experience, such as: Sasha will be in a hospital bed for five or six days -- depending on how well the graft "takes." The surgeon said, "We want to do it at exactly the right time -- not too soon and certainly not too late -- because it's a one-time thing, and we've got just one chance to get it right." Surgeons like a bit of drama, now and then, so it's best not to react to such pronouncements with too much panic.


Also, Sasha's left leg will be elevated, much like a patient with a leg cast after a fracture, to prevent a pushing down of blood, as happens when one sits or stands, because the skin graft is very delicate, and needs to be left quiet and peaceful until it takes. He'll be able to exercise all the other parts of his body, thank heaven, but not the left leg.


Sasha is up several times a day, now, using the walker, and we're trying to get his legs strengthened, as fast as possible, because the skin-graft adventure will inevitably leave his elevated leg weak for a while.


I'll try to write the next updates during the day, so I can put in more time, giving you details and pictures of what's going on, instead of fighting the impulse to close my eyes and go to sleep.


Goodnight, Dear Hearts, and thank you for your messages. I'm going to bed.


Blessings ----- Ann
 
this is what i wonder too, drugs are new theres nothing know of long term effects, look at what we just now find out about steroids, people who used steroids are HIGHLY HIGHLY susceptable to heart attacks. what if its the same for drugs like meth, mdma and we dont even know it yet. yes mdma effects the brain much more so maybe a long term effect of heavy use is the user becomes highly susceptable to strokes? i guess only time will tell. same thing what meth, nobody knows what will happen later in life to the young people who chooose to use meth heavily in the 90's & 2000's.
who knows. get meth from reliable people. Good shardz tardz. Anyway this is tragic. BIG WTF especially seeing as how im broke is there a site you can send art work to inspired by him? and his creation? would he like that? would they like that? wtfwtfwtffffff:!:|:\
 
lol come at you? Your so cool man like wow you must be sooo tough and scary to say that behind a computer screen. Fucking quiff, you dying would be of much greater benifit to society than shuligin dying

Dont Be Upset with this CUNT......What goes around comes around and I wish you herpes in the asshole BEN
 
um a stroke at 85, i dont think you should blame the life time of drug use, i would blame being 85 !!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I can see his end comming,its so sad... I just wish his end will be painless and fearless as possible,will never forget this genius.
 
I never knew about this guy till now but seems to me that he is a good man. I hope that once he does go; that it is painless and in his sleep.
 
I wish to send him off with a fucking huge blast of DMT. Or 2-CB seeing as he named it as his favorite creation.
 
Send him off? He's not going anywhere.

That's the spirit! Hey, I just got back from sea, what happened to the updates? There hasn't been a post in almost a week.

Merry Christmas everyone (and happy holidays for those of you who like it that way), I hope everyone is doing well.
 
That's the spirit! Hey, I just got back from sea, what happened to the updates? There hasn't been a post in almost a week.

Merry Christmas everyone (and happy holidays for those of you who like it that way), I hope everyone is doing well.

Well his facebook fan page (where I was getting the updates from) has all but disappeared. Not sure why, perhaps it was because he was getting too many friend requests and facebook closed it down. Perhaps Ann or someone else figured it was too intrusive. I really don't know.
 
As someone short a grandmother in a similar situation, I'd like to cautiously advise people to give a moment's thought to the implications of reaching 85 years of age.

Stop reading now if you're sensitive.
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No one gets better from being old. That's the real problem here. I celebrate his life and the ways he has changed the world. If you ever considered writing a letter or thanking him in some way, now may be the time to do it! Sorry if this is/appears insensitive.
 
As someone short a grandmother in a similar situation, I'd like to cautiously advise people to give a moment's thought to the implications of reaching 85 years of age.

Stop reading now if you're sensitive.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No one gets better from being old. That's the real problem here. I celebrate his life and the ways he has changed the world. If you ever considered writing a letter or thanking him in some way, now may be the time to do it! Sorry if this is/appears insensitive.

I don't think that sounds insensitive at all. It sounds very sensible. You sound more of a realist than a pessimist. Of course he is old, what most of us were so vocally rejecting was the notion that A) his experimentation some way contributed to this stroke, and B) a stroke means that's it, he's at deaths door and has nothing left in him.

He is old, we should all acknowledge that, but he's young in spirit. His body is old where his mind is young. I personally believe he's got a good few years left in him, but I might be wrong.

Anyway ... update on the facebook situation ...

Sasha Shulgin
Well, hallelujah ladies and gentlemen! Facebook just sent us a letter of apology for disabling our account and, amazing as it seems, WE ARE BACK! Nice to be back among you all. ~ gregM (for Sasha & Ann)
 
UPDATES!

Via his caringbridge page ...

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2010 1:33 PM, PST


Ann Shulgin's update is below. As you may already know, Sasha Shulgin's Facebook page was disabled yesterday. Please do not be confused: There are many other Alexander/Sasha Shulgin pages that exist on Facebook, but right now none of them connect directly with Ann and Sasha. I will fix this, but until then please distribute this entry far and wide. Thank you. ~ gregM


To All our Friends,

Today we returned to the plastic surgeon's office and he unwrapped the wound vacuum and took a look at so-called "granulation tissue," which has begun to grow over the Achilles tendon. It's doing beautifully, said he, and decided to wait another two weeks to maximize the signs of healing, and if the foot looks appropriately good, granulation-tissue-wise, he'll set a date for the skin graft, probably December 27th. I felt a true sense of relief, probably because -- this time -- I'd actually seen the signs of healing on the wound/ulcer, and could indulge myself in a tiny bit of certainty that all this surgery, all this pain and anxiety, was really going to culminate in a healthy left foot!

It's been almost a full year since this foot problem began!

I would love to write more, and will do so after tomorrow, but tonight it's getting too late, and I have to get up in the morning in time to cross the San Rafael Bridge before the noon-ish traffic congestion slows everything down to a crawl. It's my Mental Health Day, the day I get to play with my five-year old granddaughter for a few hours, painting pictures and making wonderful things out of Sculpey clay. The day I'm called Nanna!

Thank you all for your love and appreciation of Sasha -- and me.

Blessings -- Ann


MONDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2010 10:06 PM, PST

Dear Patient (I hope) and Loving Friends,

I've had a bad head-cold the past two days, and couldn't even begin to think of writing anything at all on this or any other surface. In fact, I couldn't begin to think, period. Today, however, I feel better, having slept a lot, taken much echinachia, some vitamin C, and lots of hot apple cider. Oh, yes, and bowls of chicken soup, cooked by our wonderful Tibetan care-giver, Chime (pronounced Chimmy or Chim-ay).

Sasha is doing very well, wound-wise. Another problem has arisen, but thank heaven it's amenable to several good medicines. This is a tendency to arise in the night about once an hour, needing -- or feeling the need -- to pee. (In case these details offend you, please remember that all males, including kings and presidents, as well as spiritual leaders and alchemists, have prostate glands [usually one each], and they all pee now and then.) This nightly overdoing of a natural act is, in this case, due to the enlargement of said gland, and this state of affairs can be easily remedied by modern medicine, and will be. Otherwise, our caregivers, each and every one a semi-saint, will lose too much sleep to retain their good and loving natures, and will eventually fall prey to their Dark-Sides, or collapse. Or something.

I send you all thanks and more thanks, in the meantime, for your messages and contributions and for taking time, in the midst of the seasonal turmoil, to think of Sasha and me.

Blessings to all of you ------ Ann


THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2010 12:39 AM, PST


Dear People,

The only reason for the silence of the past few days is that I became -- well -- sort of discouraged. Maybe a bit depressed. It happens sometimes. Today things changed for the better, because we saw the plastic surgeon again and he expressed approval and delight at the sight of Sasha's main wound (they call it an ulcer). It has lots and lots of granulation tissue, which is what we've all been waiting for. And he set a date for Sasha to go into hospital for the skin graft: Wednesday, December 29th. Next week. For about six days.

I'll continue this tomorrow, when I've had a good night's sleep. I promise I will write much more, but tonight I'm very tired, so bed is the best place for me to be, and I intend to wake up with some amount of energy and I will devote the day -- most of it -- to completing this report and also wrapping presents (which will be several days late for Xmas, but that's just the way it's going to be).

May you all sleep well, too. And forgive me again for failing to communicate for so long. I'll try not to let it happen again. No promises, but at least I'll really try.

Bless all of you ------- Ann


SATURDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2010 4:56 PM, PST


Dear People Here, There and Everywhere,

Continuing the story of next week's skin-graft surgery: As I told you last time, they (the Medical They) were wanting to do the procedure next Wednesday, but it turned out they couldn't get a reservation at the hospital (I assume all the surgical rooms were filled, or something), so the new date is Tuesday, the 28th of December, at around 10 a.m. Sasha will go into the hospital the night before -- Monday evening, the 27th -- timing his arrival to avoid the nurse's shift change, which happens at 7 p.m. Which means we'll get him there around 8 p.m., when the nurses are fresh and relatively non-grumpy. This state of being is always helpful when one is a new patient (also fresh and non-grumpy). Especially when the patient (in this case, Sasha Shulgin, in case you're losing track ) has a tendency to correct people's English grammar, as well as to create puns of widely varying degrees of acceptability. The English grammar thing is invariably the same mistake, no matter what or where the hospital, and Sasha can always depend on a nurse, or orderly, or -- for that matter -- a doctor, to make that mistake: "Why don't you just lay back and relax, Doctor Shulgin (or Sasha)," or some version of the same thing. Sasha's response is instant and enthusiastic, "LIE, not LAY!" Almost always, this exchange takes place in a hallway, with Sasha on a moving gurney, surrounded by cheerful escapees from English 101. Being fresh and presumably well-slept, these angels of mercy always thank him for correcting their error, while I do my part, lifting my voice just enough to be heard by The Professor on his fast-moving gurney, "One of these days, Sasha, you'll correct the Wrong Person, and then, you'll be S-o-r-r-y!!!!" What I should say, of course, is "Next time, My Boy, wait until AFTER THE SURGERY before you insult the surgeon or the surgeon's girlfriend."

Oh, well. (Sigh.)

The skin-graft is not guaranteed to take, unfortunately, but we hope and cross all available fingers and toes. All I know is that They will position his left leg in the air, or at least higher than his heart. This position will be held by the left leg for most of six days. Since elevating that leg under normal circumstances always causes Sasha extreme pain, the surgeon plans to do some kind of temporary nerve-block, as well as giving him interesting amounts of I.V. Dilaudid (or Dilauded? Deluded? Never mind.) This plan helps alleviate my considerable panic at the thought of what might otherwise happen. All of these medical procedures seem to be a constant battle between the rocks and hard places, an unending effort to keep the patient steady on his high-wire -- particularly when the patient is an older human, beset by several quite different physical problems all at once. What may require a thinning of the blood (trying to avoid a stroke) may work directly against a tendency to intestinal bleeding -- et and also cetera. And to think I actually spent several decades wishing I'd become a doctor! Holy Smokes, Batman!

What will happen when Sasha leaves the hospital, none of us know(s). We'll cross that whatsit when we come to it.

That's it for tonight, my friends. Stay safe, have a really happy holiday, and sleep late. Ann


SATURDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2010 5:16 PM, PST


Dear Excellent and Superior Human Beans (also those entities who have migrated from other planets),

Merry Xmas, Happy Hannukah (slightly late) and Joyful Solstice (also slightly late, but who cares)! I hope you all slept well and long. This is going to be a very short but positive note, since I have to spend many hours today wrapping what used to be Xmas presents, but are now Happy New Year presents.

I think I probably failed to report on last Monday's good results of a barium swallow test that Sasha underwent. The results were that, apparently, he no longer lets thin fluid down his windpipe, as was the case right after the little stroke. Which means that he can now have water ("Tried it once; didn't care for it," he says), soup and just about anything else he wants, without thickening. The only favorite thing he can't have yet is red wine, which has been his favorite drug for many, many years. As long as he's on pain medications, even the least bit of alcohol causes discombobulization, so it will wait until this whole leg and foot thing is over, and things have returned to whatever passes for "normal" in this household.

Happy holidays, dear people. Take care of yourselves and try to avoid anyone with symptoms of a head cold, because the one going around here is highly contagious and you're better off without it, believe me!

Blessings and Thank You for being there -- Ann (and Sasha)
 
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