James Patterson, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by Luke Perry, August 15, 2001: Saving the legacy tape no. 283 and 284

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JAMES PATTERSON ugu t 1 2001 That's why these doctors up here- Dr. Abraham, he's from India. He's my doct r that I see at the clinic. He said, 110h, we have a lot of schistosomiasis" I said "Yeah but you don't have--------------?---------------. And they've got a cure for that. That's something you pick up down in some of these South American countries. But schistosomiasis was different. So we took that treatment. But we couldn't take it all because they doctors were scared. They'd have you hooked up to IVs and an EKG while they were giving those shots. Oh, you'd get pain. He says, We're going to have to be real careful that we don't get that stuff in your vein on the outside. It will eat your skin right off. So, I took those treatments. Then right at the last, probably thirty days of that treatment, you were confined to bed. You couldn't move. You were so dang tired and wore out. And you'd go through it, and you finally get your weight back and feeling good, and then back on ... My wife used to kid me all the time. She'd say, "Well, dear, it's about time for your period." Every year about October or November I'd pass blood for three days; bright red blood. And I'd go to the hospital. And they wouldn't know what was happening. They'd scope you, and I had doctors look up my rear-end. They couldn't see any lesions, or nothing. I sent a sample of my stool back to Washington. And they'd say, "Yeah, you've got live schistosomiasis eggs in you. 11 He said, "You've probably had that all your life. 11 He said, "You just don't get ... you're a host for those eggs and they're going to stay there. 35