Bolivia Bombings and Family Woes

I have this recurring nightmare which I must have had more than 5 times over the last few years. I'm attending a school in Bolivia (never actually been there, have no clue about Bolivia, just somehow 'know' it's Bolivia in the dream) and I am just walking along in the courtyard area at break between classes and I see a young girl (say 2nd grade) in foetal position on one of the school benches, crying, and I wonder what is wrong, and there is noone comforting her which I find odd, and I look around and see lots of little children and they're all crouching as far out of sight as possible, many with silent tears running down their cheeks huddling down with younger siblings. It's only then that I hear the noise of a helicopter and look up to see it descending into the playground, then hovering, and I so I run undercover and get down and my heart is pounding like a machinegun in my chest, and I just am frozen in my thoughts, just hoping the helicopter passes, does not leave a bomb/drop a bomb, and hoping that nothing happens to the little girl still in foetal position, frozen on the bench.

This morning was particularly nasty, as if one weird dream wasn't adequate, it was followed by me being at another school (!), however this time I was supposed to be rostered on to teach a class for a lesson. I turned up to the school and was in a room and told to wait until someone had double checked the roster, and I was waiting hours, and getting very stressed because I felt obliged to be in class teaching but was thinking they'd just forgotten about me, so eventually I got out of the room and went behind the reception desk myself when noone else was around and I found the roster, only to discover I was supposed to begin teaching over two hours ago. So I rushed out of that building and was rushing over to that classroom when the teacher who was 'on' for that class before me bumped into me and was very angry because she'd missed some personal appointment as she had had to stay longer with that class.

I think these two dreams must show my state of mind at the moment - it's exam time and I just found out my dad's chronic prostatitis is really bad right now (actually I just found out he had it, but apparently its been underlying for ages) and they've put him on very strong antibiotics and to make matters worse he's off travelling in Seattle.

Prostatitis, by the way, is a swelling/inflammation of the prostate gland in a guy, causing painful urination, haematuria (blood in urine), dysuria (difficulty urinating), and a whole bunch of worse stuff. It usually occurs in males 30-50 but does occur in older guys, and it can be a few different forms - acute (short term), chronic (long term), bacterial or abacterial, most guys will experience it to an extent at some point in their life, and it severely affects maybe 8% of guys 30-50.

I read that only 5% of cases are usually bacterial and yet the usual first course of treatment is strong antibiotics. I can only start to imagine the damage this could be doing to the other 95% (if not that 5% also, IMO) for who it is not bacterial, killing off any internal flora/good bacteria they have. What is the bet that most guys who didnt have a bacterial infection end up with one after their good bacteria has been killed off and they're left susceptible to the bad ones. Anyway, apparently zinc is the most important thing you can take to help prostatitis. Other than that, avoiding caffeine of any form and getting some rest seem to be the way to go from what I have read.

Now, I have to go study anatomy..


UPDATE!!: Well I never! My dad reports he went back to the doctor recently and has been given the all-clear! He's been told NOT to complete the course of antibiotics, and now to get a good probiotic. What a great doctor, kudos to him a) for only using antibiotics when truly needed, and only for as long as needed b) for then recommending a strong probiotic. Hurrah!