Tuesday, January 27, 2009

New music to my ears

It had totally slipped my mind that I had ordered Frank Zappa's "Lumpy Money," a 3-disc reissue of Frank's two 1968 albums "Lumpy Gravy" and "We're Only In It For The Money." I did not remember ordering it, but I was, and am, expecting the deluxe version of Miles Davis' "Kind Of Blue" (which is on a truck in Nevada, according to the tracking). I haven't had much time to listen to it today, I had a lot of therapy. The therapists praised my progress but I felt as weak and useless as ever. Today I spent most of the time sitting on or laying down on the mat. My muscles, what's left of them, being pummeled. The distressing thing is one person noticed what looks like a potential calciphylaxis developing on my left ankle, and while getting worked on by Kathy in O.T. we both felt what seems like a cyst in my lower back. All of this caused me to reread the Wiki article on the disease making me feel very depressed. Will I ever get out of this place, and if so, how many years of a "quality life" can I eek out? This article, which was published eight years ago, has me pretty spooked at the moment, "The prognosis for patients who develop calciphylaxis is grim, with an estimated 5-year survival of less than 50%.3." I have now had it for 17 months. A couple weeks ago I almost died from Septicemia, which can be contracted from my open wounds. They said, when I was on dialysis, that had my kidneys failed several years before I would have been less likely to survive. Several months ago I was told that the open heart surgery that I had would have been a lot more involved and dangerous than it is now, both thanks to constant research in the areas. But is anyone trying to find a cure for calciphylaxis? According to the Kidney Journal they are still studying it, and an article called Treatment of vascular calcification by W Charles O'Neill just came out a few weeks ago, but it is $32 for a reprint, and I am afraid it is would all be over my head. Tomorrow I see Mary Joe, the wound care nurse from Northwest Hospital, who visits me every Wednesday, and I'll ask how her other patients are doing. Anyway.

The subject of Chinese New Year came up and I looked at this years and last's for my sign, The Water Rabbit, and as usual, in hindsight, the horoscope was spot on about the last years poor health, and it says that in 2009 my health, and my career will greatly improve. We'll see.

At least I should live to see the next few days. I pre-ordered a small individual chocolate cake with white icing from the Coffee Shack next door for Thursday (I will be 29) and Sunday I will be with some friends at my favorite pizza place. I ought to take my laptop and find a wi-fi hotspot to download the past couple months worth of stuff I've neglected.

Nothing on the TV right now except for House reruns. Maybe I will listen to music and play Solitaire. As interesting as my life sounds at times, it is pretty boring.

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