Yesterday's weather: searingly sunny, with a record-setting high of 87ish F. That's wonderfully warm for March; what a rocking day it would have been for a push around town.
Oh, wait.
What was supposed and promised to happen was this sequence:
--Go to hospital.
--Have preparatory procedures.
--Wait a few days.
--Undergo main operation.
--Spend four to six more weeks recovering in the hospital.
--Go home via ambulance.
--Spend a slooowly increasing number of minutes upright daily/weekly.
--After a few months, be "back to normal."
--Unicorns and rainbows!
I checked in Dec 12 and went through the main procedure on the 27th, so I should have been home and getting back to life by mid-February. By now, I could have managed a little jaunt up and down East Main. Or, at least a shower, right?
No!
They didn't close one of the main incisions properly, so less than 48h after the procedure, I had a 6" x 1.5" open wound. Awesome. Sprinkle some insurance debauchery on top, and reality warped into this mess:
--Go to hospital.
--Have preparatory procedures.
--Wait a few days.
--Undergo main operation.
--Have main operation fall apart.
--Start treating new wound.
--After ~6wks, let insurance declare my situation no longer worthy of hospitalization (way to go, Aetna "doctor")
--Go home Feb 9 on complete bed rest w/rented fancybed, wound v.a.c., extraneous tubes and holes, and MWF nurse visits.
--After 3wks, go back to doctor for assessment.
--Continue complete bed rest and head back to the doctor in 8wks.
--ASPCA commercials and obituary sections.
That brings us up to date. Instead of anything remotely promising or optimistic, I have a half-healed wound and the stupid vac, there are still tubes and holes in me that doctors promised would be removed/reversed before leaving the hospital, and atrophy is taking over no matter how I exercise. I'm counting down the days until early May - that's more than four months after surgery! - when the doc will pass judgment on my condition again.
What a load of garbage. Some complications are always expected with such major medical excursions, but this is far from a "complication." What if I had had a job? I wouldn't anymore! That's probably lawsuit territory. It would have at least taken the edge off if anyone had offered anything resembling an apology, but everyone was full of excuses and even jokes. Pretty funny situation, huh.
Speaking of taking the edge off, commence pain management mini-rant. Dear "Pain Team," you're more than willing to give me 40mg of oxycodone at a time, but the 1mg IV/injection is a no-no because I'm "abusing" it to "get high?" To start, I missed the part where I was having "fun" side effects [from any of the meds], unless effective pain relief was the unacceptable result. Further, am I somehow going to abuse medicine that I have to ask for every time? Anyway, the conclusion is that many people set a plan in stone before starting, put on the blinders, and stay the course regardless of success or failure. Thus, we're using bigger and bigger chainsaws, when what I really need is a pair of scissors.
Okay. End fury. I made it through with no expletives! However, I did leave out at least as much info as I included... Hmph. Tune in next time for something irrelevant.
15 March 2012
29 February 2012
ex post
Hey all... Back!
Severely belated new year's wishes to you, and a slightly less tardy "out of the hospital" declaration from me; I've been back in cville for a number of days, and there have been many tasks waiting to be accomplished. Life moves slowly when trapped in bed. Anyway, there is plenty of info to be shared and suppressed anger to be vented - note foreshadowing in that last sentence - but I have some appointments approaching in the next few days, so I'll postpone and lump everything together...
Stay tuned!
Severely belated new year's wishes to you, and a slightly less tardy "out of the hospital" declaration from me; I've been back in cville for a number of days, and there have been many tasks waiting to be accomplished. Life moves slowly when trapped in bed. Anyway, there is plenty of info to be shared and suppressed anger to be vented - note foreshadowing in that last sentence - but I have some appointments approaching in the next few days, so I'll postpone and lump everything together...
Stay tuned!
10 December 2011
ch-check it... in
Boa tarde, chums!
Now it's real medical leave time! Various surgeries are on the docket; I'll be setting up camp at the hospital for a supposed "four to six weeks" beginning [this] Monday, 12 Dec. So, uh, barring entropy, catch you next February?
Now it's real medical leave time! Various surgeries are on the docket; I'll be setting up camp at the hospital for a supposed "four to six weeks" beginning [this] Monday, 12 Dec. So, uh, barring entropy, catch you next February?
03 September 2011
mandster...
I
wish you were here
Click. Donate. Please.
PS - I've been scraping the bottom of the health barrel all summer... I can't fight through much more than getting up and either going to the doctor or staring at computer screens, so Mr. Blog has been pretty lo-pri. Now that my PICC line is out and it's no longer Tatooine weather, maybe I can get out and push around town a bit - perhaps that will respark the energy pilot light. Anyway, apologies all around for unannounced medical leave. I'll fill you in more thoroughly when I have more than nebulous rumors and speculation. Until then...
wish you were here
Click. Donate. Please.
PS - I've been scraping the bottom of the health barrel all summer... I can't fight through much more than getting up and either going to the doctor or staring at computer screens, so Mr. Blog has been pretty lo-pri. Now that my PICC line is out and it's no longer Tatooine weather, maybe I can get out and push around town a bit - perhaps that will respark the energy pilot light. Anyway, apologies all around for unannounced medical leave. I'll fill you in more thoroughly when I have more than nebulous rumors and speculation. Until then...
25 June 2011
(us)'
Well hello there! After weeks of choosing photos and [still] being sick, I present...
Primus! As the world knows, these dudes are at the top of the proverbial short list of my favorite bands, so I was pretty psyched when they rolled on in to play a show in STL. They performed on 29 May at The Pageant, and yes, I'm slow to post.
First up: the place is tiny. As in middle-school-gymnasium tiny. Sold-out, packed-like-sardines tiny. It was a strange, but wonderful, place for Primus to play - they've spent some time touring with stadium-size amphitheatre crowds, and the band has no problem selling out any Pretty Big Venue. But here they were, the main event at something slightly larger than a third grader's birthday party... Yay.
Openers for the evening were The Dead Kenny G's (name and attitude a juxtaposition of them and him), consisting of [Claypool's friends and frequent bandmates] Skerik (saxophones and keyboard) and Mike Dillon (drums, xylophone, vibes, anything else percussive), as well as a rotating bassist, currently Brad Houser. Again, that's Skerik, Dillon, and Mr. Houser. They put on a crazy show - Skerik on sax and keyboard at the same time! - and their music is quite wonderfully wild and unpredictable. A+ to that. On the downside, though, it's basically a prolonged wacky jam session, so songs are hard to pick out and the tunes are a bit forgettable. Oh well - what fun! It's saying something when you're not booing the openers or just wishing the headliners would hurry up and take the stage, no?
So, uh, about those headliners... Primus' performance was, most accurately, exciting. They're doing the whole promo tour thing backwards: rather than putting out an album and then touring to promote it, they're on the road to hype Green Naugahyde, which isn't even coming out until September! Grrr. Ergo, they played a fair amount of new material. I can't guarantee precisely which new tunes were played, but I can think of two fresh songs that were ho-hum at best; otherwise, the new tracks were hopefully signs of good things to come! The sound was weird, energetic, dark, and, well, generally Primus-y. As usual, with Les Claypool at the helm, it's all bass-centric.
Don't worry, though, it was still a classic Primus show! They couldn't leave the building without playing a pile of fan favorites, no creo. They hit plenty of highlights - "Seas of Cheese", "My Name Is Mud", "Tommy The Cat", "American Life", and even "Golden Boy" made appearances, among others. That list pretty much covers the beginnings of my bassery... Unfortunately, a few duds slipped in too *cough cough "Over The Electric Grapevine" cough* but hey, who's counting?
It should be noted that, as you'll see, the Colonel has a new custom bass. For those keeping track, it's another four-string fretted with tremelo, but not a Carl Thompson axe. Anyway, it's a purdy chunk-o-wood, and its super-clickety-clackety fun percussive tone thoroughly complements Les' slap-pop style. That's how it works when you help build your own weapons, I suppose.
Enough words! Let's have some eye candy. As previously mentioned, I spent quite a while choosing what not to inflict upon you - starting with 230+ snapshots, I pared it down to a cheap roll of film. Caption comes after photo; images courtesy the madre. Here goes.
First up, across the street from The Pageant we have the Pi Pizzeria; think I could get an ink discount?
Before the show, obviously. We were at the front of the not-mosh-pit section, and the people in this photo are as far forward as they could get. Cups included for scale. When the place filled up, the floor space en frente was only twelve human sardines thick - did I mention that this venue is cozy?
The Dead Kenny G's. L to R, that's Skerik, Brad Houser, and Mike Dillon xylophoning.
Another shot of the openers, with Dillon on drums this time. White suits and curly black wigs complete the Kenny G satire.
Here they come! You'll notice a depressing lack of weird masks and hats throughout the night. I guess Les is sticking with steampunk.
That's what most of the night looked like - the Colonel more or less staring at me. Groovy.
As usual, Les takes a break to mock the people up front who are flipping him off. Always amusing, but a bit too salty to quote here! Make up your own phallic jokes as necessary.
Gratuitous blurry shot! Mr. C managed to transition his rant into "Mr. Knowitall," which the obsessed would recognize here by hand position. He is so elo-quent...
Oh my, Primus is more than just Les Claypool??? It can't be! The stripey dude on guitar is Larry "Ler" LaLonde, and the invisible drummer is Jay "Jayski" Lane. Check out Les' Dobro bass.
Les explains that Ler was worried about looking "Freddy Krueger-ish" with his attire. Point well made.
Mmm, Fender Mustang guitar solo. Not so Krueger-ish. Or Kroger-ish, for that matter.
A light shone down from the heavens, and there was... Jay Lane! And it was good.
You can almost see him back there. Nobody ever said Primus shows were well-lit.
Les makes an appearance during the drum solo, armed with his one-string whamola and requisite chimpanzee mask. Really, Ler's the one worried about looking like a weirdo?
Another example of apparent eye contact. He was close enough - who knows.
Time to saw away for a few numbers. With the derby, spectacles, and vest, he's looking like 19th century Professor Claypool.
Pedallls!!!
Sorry that it's inherently Mr. Blurrycam because of speed and lighting, but here's a glorious interlude of whacking the strings with the back of the bow. I can just feel whole orchestras cringing at the thought.
Ha! Through the blur, it's still classic. Foot up on the monitor; face in the bullet mic; arm muting the strings on the big fat fretless sixer; hands slapping away on the neck. You can spot "My Name Is Mud" from a mile away.
"Adonde va, el chico de la ciudad..." Slappity slappity whap.
Supposedly by request, Les 'n' Friends trot out for one more Primus staple pre-encore. I remember it as if it were a meal ago! And so does "Tommy the Cat."
Say, baby, that's a difficult song to sing and play at the same time.
The trio plays a couple of encores. Where do you get inflatable astronauts, anyway? (BTW, they're "Buzz" and "Neil")
And a final dose of stare plus blurhands. What a fun night, kind sirs.
--------------------------------
There you go. Tune in next time for a more well-written post submitted by monkeys!
Primus! As the world knows, these dudes are at the top of the proverbial short list of my favorite bands, so I was pretty psyched when they rolled on in to play a show in STL. They performed on 29 May at The Pageant, and yes, I'm slow to post.
First up: the place is tiny. As in middle-school-gymnasium tiny. Sold-out, packed-like-sardines tiny. It was a strange, but wonderful, place for Primus to play - they've spent some time touring with stadium-size amphitheatre crowds, and the band has no problem selling out any Pretty Big Venue. But here they were, the main event at something slightly larger than a third grader's birthday party... Yay.
Openers for the evening were The Dead Kenny G's (name and attitude a juxtaposition of them and him), consisting of [Claypool's friends and frequent bandmates] Skerik (saxophones and keyboard) and Mike Dillon (drums, xylophone, vibes, anything else percussive), as well as a rotating bassist, currently Brad Houser. Again, that's Skerik, Dillon, and Mr. Houser. They put on a crazy show - Skerik on sax and keyboard at the same time! - and their music is quite wonderfully wild and unpredictable. A+ to that. On the downside, though, it's basically a prolonged wacky jam session, so songs are hard to pick out and the tunes are a bit forgettable. Oh well - what fun! It's saying something when you're not booing the openers or just wishing the headliners would hurry up and take the stage, no?
So, uh, about those headliners... Primus' performance was, most accurately, exciting. They're doing the whole promo tour thing backwards: rather than putting out an album and then touring to promote it, they're on the road to hype Green Naugahyde, which isn't even coming out until September! Grrr. Ergo, they played a fair amount of new material. I can't guarantee precisely which new tunes were played, but I can think of two fresh songs that were ho-hum at best; otherwise, the new tracks were hopefully signs of good things to come! The sound was weird, energetic, dark, and, well, generally Primus-y. As usual, with Les Claypool at the helm, it's all bass-centric.
Don't worry, though, it was still a classic Primus show! They couldn't leave the building without playing a pile of fan favorites, no creo. They hit plenty of highlights - "Seas of Cheese", "My Name Is Mud", "Tommy The Cat", "American Life", and even "Golden Boy" made appearances, among others. That list pretty much covers the beginnings of my bassery... Unfortunately, a few duds slipped in too *cough cough "Over The Electric Grapevine" cough* but hey, who's counting?
It should be noted that, as you'll see, the Colonel has a new custom bass. For those keeping track, it's another four-string fretted with tremelo, but not a Carl Thompson axe. Anyway, it's a purdy chunk-o-wood, and its super-clickety-clackety fun percussive tone thoroughly complements Les' slap-pop style. That's how it works when you help build your own weapons, I suppose.
Enough words! Let's have some eye candy. As previously mentioned, I spent quite a while choosing what not to inflict upon you - starting with 230+ snapshots, I pared it down to a cheap roll of film. Caption comes after photo; images courtesy the madre. Here goes.
--------------------------------
First up, across the street from The Pageant we have the Pi Pizzeria; think I could get an ink discount?
Before the show, obviously. We were at the front of the not-mosh-pit section, and the people in this photo are as far forward as they could get. Cups included for scale. When the place filled up, the floor space en frente was only twelve human sardines thick - did I mention that this venue is cozy?
The Dead Kenny G's. L to R, that's Skerik, Brad Houser, and Mike Dillon xylophoning.
Another shot of the openers, with Dillon on drums this time. White suits and curly black wigs complete the Kenny G satire.
Here they come! You'll notice a depressing lack of weird masks and hats throughout the night. I guess Les is sticking with steampunk.
That's what most of the night looked like - the Colonel more or less staring at me. Groovy.
As usual, Les takes a break to mock the people up front who are flipping him off. Always amusing, but a bit too salty to quote here! Make up your own phallic jokes as necessary.
Gratuitous blurry shot! Mr. C managed to transition his rant into "Mr. Knowitall," which the obsessed would recognize here by hand position. He is so elo-quent...
Oh my, Primus is more than just Les Claypool??? It can't be! The stripey dude on guitar is Larry "Ler" LaLonde, and the invisible drummer is Jay "Jayski" Lane. Check out Les' Dobro bass.
Les explains that Ler was worried about looking "Freddy Krueger-ish" with his attire. Point well made.
Mmm, Fender Mustang guitar solo. Not so Krueger-ish. Or Kroger-ish, for that matter.
A light shone down from the heavens, and there was... Jay Lane! And it was good.
You can almost see him back there. Nobody ever said Primus shows were well-lit.
Les makes an appearance during the drum solo, armed with his one-string whamola and requisite chimpanzee mask. Really, Ler's the one worried about looking like a weirdo?
Another example of apparent eye contact. He was close enough - who knows.
Time to saw away for a few numbers. With the derby, spectacles, and vest, he's looking like 19th century Professor Claypool.
Pedallls!!!
Sorry that it's inherently Mr. Blurrycam because of speed and lighting, but here's a glorious interlude of whacking the strings with the back of the bow. I can just feel whole orchestras cringing at the thought.
Ha! Through the blur, it's still classic. Foot up on the monitor; face in the bullet mic; arm muting the strings on the big fat fretless sixer; hands slapping away on the neck. You can spot "My Name Is Mud" from a mile away.
"Adonde va, el chico de la ciudad..." Slappity slappity whap.
Supposedly by request, Les 'n' Friends trot out for one more Primus staple pre-encore. I remember it as if it were a meal ago! And so does "Tommy the Cat."
Say, baby, that's a difficult song to sing and play at the same time.
The trio plays a couple of encores. Where do you get inflatable astronauts, anyway? (BTW, they're "Buzz" and "Neil")
And a final dose of stare plus blurhands. What a fun night, kind sirs.
--------------------------------
There you go. Tune in next time for a more well-written post submitted by monkeys!
27 May 2011
fire this way
Get ready to laugh it up, fuzzballs.
"You couldn't pay me to get a Lady Gaga album!" say so many out there...
Well, apparently you can pay me, because Amazon did! After pre-ordering the approaching dcfc album on Thursday, Bezos and Friends awarded me their standard buck o' MP3 Store credit; coincidentally, that was the same day they were offering the Lady's entire "Born This Way" album as a $0.99 download. In a bout of hipster irony that only the extremely-missed Mandy would understand, I jumped on the chance.
BTW, I've run through it once now, and the music snob lightning review is that it's very rarely mildly catchy, and there's a song partially in inappropriate German, but it's mostly just crap in a hat. It is pop, after all. However, it makes me think of my lost pal and smile.
In the redeeming "music jlink actually likes" arena, Sunday is the Primus show in STL. Enjoy the contrast.
Anyway, let the jokes and rips fly. Nerf-herders.
"You couldn't pay me to get a Lady Gaga album!" say so many out there...
Well, apparently you can pay me, because Amazon did! After pre-ordering the approaching dcfc album on Thursday, Bezos and Friends awarded me their standard buck o' MP3 Store credit; coincidentally, that was the same day they were offering the Lady's entire "Born This Way" album as a $0.99 download. In a bout of hipster irony that only the extremely-missed Mandy would understand, I jumped on the chance.
BTW, I've run through it once now, and the music snob lightning review is that it's very rarely mildly catchy, and there's a song partially in inappropriate German, but it's mostly just crap in a hat. It is pop, after all. However, it makes me think of my lost pal and smile.
In the redeeming "music jlink actually likes" arena, Sunday is the Primus show in STL. Enjoy the contrast.
Anyway, let the jokes and rips fly. Nerf-herders.
11 April 2011
um, dois, três
As you've probably noticed, I tend to regurgitate dates here, and today is actually one to remember. Way back on 11 April 2008, a giant pile of doctors off in a faraway land routed out my nasal cavities, hacked my neck open, and traded some tissue.
That's right: three years ago, I had a stem cell transplant.
Crazy! Since then, it's been a wild ride. I'm obviously not skipping down the sidewalk and typing 100 wpm again yet, but my life is drastically improved compared to the pre-surgery days. Remember, my spinal cord injury is C4-C5 level. I "should" barely be able to move my arms. Now I have at least minimal voluntary muscle control down to the abdominal/gluteal level. I haven't used the power chair since 2009. I used to have only enough lung power and breath control to whistle for about three seconds; now I can consistently hit and sustain that elusive low C. So much dreamlike stuff is unbelievably happening.
So, yes, progress is agonizingly slow. Feeling "lucky to be alive" is often a stretch. However, the progress seems to be unstoppable. Weekly, even daily, new and weird advancements come out of nowhere. Relative to how I was... Wow.
Woohoo.
That's right: three years ago, I had a stem cell transplant.
Crazy! Since then, it's been a wild ride. I'm obviously not skipping down the sidewalk and typing 100 wpm again yet, but my life is drastically improved compared to the pre-surgery days. Remember, my spinal cord injury is C4-C5 level. I "should" barely be able to move my arms. Now I have at least minimal voluntary muscle control down to the abdominal/gluteal level. I haven't used the power chair since 2009. I used to have only enough lung power and breath control to whistle for about three seconds; now I can consistently hit and sustain that elusive low C. So much dreamlike stuff is unbelievably happening.
So, yes, progress is agonizingly slow. Feeling "lucky to be alive" is often a stretch. However, the progress seems to be unstoppable. Weekly, even daily, new and weird advancements come out of nowhere. Relative to how I was... Wow.
Woohoo.
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