I first began to notice there was something wrong in the fall of '99, when his naps became more frequent (3-4 per day) - and longer (sleeping up to 20 out of every 24 hrs.!). He quickly got over this and returned to "plugging away."
In March of '99, we had a practice-casting session at the campground where we could cut loose. This is when I first became aware of Carl's Hep-C. His casts were short - much shorter than would be expected of a man his size and strength.
But it didn't really become noticable until the spring of this year. Between May and August, Carl came to visit nearly a dozen times. And of those, he may have seen the beach a grand total of five times, and fished only twice. We spent a great deal of time watching very bad sci-fi movies on the "Sci-Fi" channel. I'm sure that this was a major source of influence in his writing "The Alien Within!"
It was clear he was suffering. His pain was obvious. But the source wasn't. Also, he began to show some serious judgement impairement - more than his usual. By August, he wrote to say that he just couldn't make the [3-hr.] drive down right now, as long as he was in so much pain and couldn't enjoy it.
I last saw Carl in October - at the very start of the annual "drum-run". Carl couldn't even cast! It was hard to watch this giant of a man who enjoys the outdoors as much as he does, completely incapacited!
Since then, I have been an avid reader of "The Alien Within!" It is clear that this disease, and the treatments have had a profound impact on him. But he has taken out his anger against it in a highly unusual manner. I cannot possibly understand the agony he is going through, but his unique way of communicating provides some interesting insights and parallels. Who, for example, besides him could have come up with a nightmare that includes "Cyndi Lauper's hair!"
And so I hope you will sit back, relax and enjoy.