The triggers for my MG crises include the Prednisone taper, no immune suppressor, and the summertime heat.

Business has been very slow, and we are taking a hit from Uber and the other services. I need to work longer hours to make up for the short business. This will change as fall approaches. It should also be a spectacular holiday season, as usual.

There was one other event that had a great impact on my life, if you will pardon the pun. I totaled my cab on June 22nd, a full 4 weeks before my symptoms returned.

In brief, I was passed on the left on a mountain road over a double yellow line. The road was narrow with blind curves. I swerved to avoid a collision when the driver cut back into my lane. I lost control and fishtailed down the road, then went down a ravine. I hit a tree about 10 feet down the ravine, spinning off of it back up to the road. The cab came to rest about 20 yards further down the road, this time backed into the ravine--stopped by another tree.





The air-bag deployed. I escaped injury, only a bump on my left knee. I also had a few bruises along the path of the seat-belt. The great forces involved were dissipated because the car was spinning. It would have been a much different story if I had been stopped dead, so to speak, by the first tree.

The whole situation was fraught with peril. Five entities potentially had veto power over my employment, the cab company, the insurance carrier, the California Highway Patrol, the California DMV, and the San Jose Police Permits Department. I would not be able to make my health insurance payment if I lost this job.

The in-cab video limited my fault, but I was going too fast for the conditions.

We could not get the plate number for the offending vehicle, so I was financial responsible for the cab. I was lucky, the company only charged me $3,000 for totaling the cab. Believe me, it could have been much worse.

The company provided me and my day driver with another cab, one of the best on the fleet. I was back to work a day after the wreck. But there was one more stumble. I work the city of Los Gatos. The new cab lacked a Los Gatos permit, and it took nearly three weeks to get it. I probably lost about 40 percent of my income because I could not pickup in Los Gatos. I think this was the most frustrating element. I could have been back normal a few days after the collision, except for the permit issue.

On balance, I was very lucky. I could have been injured. Others could have been injured. And I could have taken a much larger financial hit than a few thousand dollars.

BTW I told my Stanford neurologist about the collision, and and I show her the photographs of the wreck. She took note of the severity, but said noting else. Stanford never asks about stress. They are very good at measuring and recording muscle impairment, though.

-Mark-