A little update

Sorry, not writing much.

There is a Slow feature soon to come on the Georgia Straight website where Tom Anselmi totally blows me away with a couple of his answers... He's a fascinating cat and I'm really hoping to catch at least one or two of their momentous upcoming ten night stand at the Penthouse. I also put out feelers for a Bison interview but that doesn't seem to be materializing (this might change). Will I suck up my discomfort and go see Bison? Will I make it to at least ONE Slow show of the ten?

I dunno. (Heather Haley, formerly of the Zellots, will be singing with Slow on April 8th, by the by).

Meantime I am still sidelined with these kidney stones. I have spent most of the morning with a dull ache in my back and pain in my left ball, which is all good, because it is a kind of pain that seems to correlate with the stone moving. It is still uncomfortable. I have taken two T3s to minimize that, am guzzling a concoction of RealLemon and carbonated water (because it is said that citric acid can help dissolve stones), have rubbed some deep heating rub on my back, and have been using a "personal massage device" to actually massage my back, for whatever good that might be doing. Nothing so obvious as yet but one never knows.

As you may gather, my second lithotripsy was unproductive. I did pee out one tiny fragment and the stone MIGHT be a bit lower than it was, but that's about the best news I got: it is still clearly visible on the X-ray (though it seems a bit more ghostly, like it's maybe thinner? Not sure what that means). Stent removal has been delayed til mid-April; I go to the urologist to consult with him about the next step, which will either be a third (and possibly also unsuccessful) lithotripsy, or else a ureteroscopy, which involves getting lasers and whatnot up my penis, through my bladder, and into my ureter to break up the stone. (Adrian Mack, bless him, likened the procedure to sending a tiny Donald Pleasence up my dick with a jackhammer). The first procedure - the lithotripsy - is less intrusive but it seems to be, alas, quite ineffective; the OTHER urologist in the story, who supervises the lithotripsy, has said we should not repeat it, if it didn't work this last time. I gather my main urologist, however, has real concerns about proceeding with the ureteroscopy, which has a higher risk of, say, burning a hole in my internal tubing. There was some brief back-and-forth, with me calling offices to learn that both men didn't want to proceed, that I likened to "kidney stone ping pong." "I don't want him, YOU take him!"

So what's a guy to do? Anyhow, I consult with my main urologist today. I am well ready for this adventure - which began in June or July, recall, when the stone actually passed from my kidney - to be OVER; to have both the stone and the stent out, so I can sleep and pee and function normally. I am sort of inclining towards trying the laser option, since it has not yet been tried, but it worries me that the guy who will be performing it seems to want to discourage me from going there.

That's my life at present. Lotta gigs I won't be mentioning. The Creaking Planks have something coming up at the WISE Hall... that may be where Jeff Andrew will have a gig, soon, though I forget. I feel pretty removed from it all at present. Weirdly, my blog has never had more readers, though, so...