Grinderman, and just...the grind.

Well, first the good news - the Grinderman concert on Friday night was truly awesome. Nick Cave has long been an idol of mine - I have seen him discussing film live, but I have never seen him play - so this was really a thrill. With his towering, elongated form and inky mop of receding hair, Nick Cave is rock-frontman Goddery (is that a word? If not, it should be). Rock multi-instrumentalist Goddery is found in the hairy, troll-like form of Warren Ellis - I didn't think it would be possible for someone to pull my attention away from Nick Cave, but lo and behold, Ellis' sometimes cavorting, sometimes writhing craziness was absolutely transfixing. It was all just...great. My brother took a whack of good video - a taster below:



Less great is the news on Thomas.  Long story short, he isn't really getting better, and the only way to determine what the issue is, is to do a biopsy.  Which sounds simple, but is actually pretty significant surgery, with a significant price attached.  Once again, thank god for insurance, and thank double god that my policy renews December 1st, which means I have more money available for this illness starting soon.  In my long discussion with the internist today we discussed the possibilities: polycystic liver disease (no treatment really); hepatitis (manageable with meds); cancer (you know the story there).  So, no good news, it is really just differing levels of bad.   That being said, I do feel a need to know what "bad" I am dealing with, so I will put him through the surgery for the biopsy, and keep my fingers crossed that insurance will come through for me on this one.   Bleh.

Bring out the dayglo tape....

I really think I was meant to be a backup dancer.

$1100 and counting....

Well, you might ask what this photo is of.  On the right, the end of my lovely new hand blender.  On the left, the tail end of a pureed batch of venison and rice cat food, into which is stuck the giant syringe that will be used to force feed Thomas with.

Are we having fun yet?

Thom is suffering from fatty liver disease at the moment.  And no, he wasn't overweight.  But he did get fussy about his food, and eventually pretty much stopped eating.  He is a very sick boy, and the only way to try to get him through this is to force him to eat sufficient calories to get his system back in line.  Hence, the giant syringe.

I should add that before I found the giant syringe, I was using needle syringes, and they would block up with food, be hard to fill, and I would end up with pureed venison up my arms, on my legs, on the floor...so nice.  Part of me feels like I am gavaging in order to make Thom Liver Pate, but please know that isn't the case.

As for the $1100 - once again, I am happy to have insurance, because this ain't over yet!!

Yes, I'm still here...

...just not very talkative I guess?  I had a fantasy that I was going to write a detailed blog post after seeing the Sufjan Stevens concert that happened a couple of weeks ago...but I didn't.  Why not? BECAUSE I DIDN'T GO.  Why didn't I go you might ask?  BECAUSE I GOT SO F%#KING SICK I COULDN'T.  Yes, on the day of the concert I came down with a flu - the real deal, complete with temperature of 101F (sorry, sickness happens in Imperial for me), shakes, splitting headache, and racking cough.  So sick that I actually realized I couldn't go, heartbreaking though that was.  Making it all a bit less painful were the impressive nursing skills of The Boy, and the videoing bravado of my brother, who attempted to bring at least some of the concert to me.


Other than that, said-video-creating-frere had a milestone birthday (happy 70th!!), and I have taken the big plunge and invested in (drum roll please) SNOW TIRES.  Yes, after having a car in Toronto and not getting snows, and living here and not getting snows, my spidey senses are telling me it is time.

And that is about it.  For now.