The weekend Thread

[Brian Krashpad]

Krash: Nice! I wonder what it will be like gigging inside a cow? Maybe like this?

Haha, I love that movie. As you might guess, the place is most often a "country" bar, but one that caters to the UF student crowd. Usually with a DJ. However, on special occasions they have live music. Late last year I covered a non-country day-long local music showcase there for the mag I write for, which was the first time I'd set foot in the place. They have a nice big stage with a good house PA and lighting. Crazy that they're not using it every night for live music.

[Eric***]

Friday: Went to see a high-school production of Phantom of the Opera with which my sister-in-law was helping (stagehand, lights, etc.). It was decent -- pretty much what I expected for high school.

Saturday: Ran some errands and stopped in at a local music store to see what they had for strap locks and look for a Stingray for my friend who's shopping for one. They carried the Heritage brand at this store, so I fiddled on an H150 for a bit. It was nice, but strangely not blow-me-away nice. Much prettier than most other Les Pauls I've played, but my unrefined palette couldn't tell that much of a difference between it and my Agile. Mind you, I was playing through an unfamiliar amp (Blues Jr.) in an unfamiliar setting, so it wasn't exactly A/B, but I expected to have the heavens open up when I played that guitar.

Went for the first run of the year in the afternoon, played an Xbox game I've been getting into lately (Fable -- kickin' it old school), cooked dinner and watched The Italian Job.

Sunday: Tried out a new church, lounged around, took a nap, fiddled on the guitar. Nice day.

I love weekends like that; why'd it have to end??

So how about all of you?

[Brian Krashpad]

Friday: Came home for my usual afternoon nap and zonked for hours. Woke up briefly for some food, then went back to bed. Woke at 11:30 because I no longer have the luxury of simply sleeping off stuff, every night I have to brush, floss and soak my teeth in flouride, and I've been religious about doing that. Mrs. K noticed my neck on the left side (surgery/radiation site) was quite swollen, I knew if we went to the hospital it'd just be us sitting there all night, so I went to bed and awaited what it would look like in the morning.

Saturday: Went to church band practice in the morning, did some recording trying out some new gear but I only had a couple passes and needed to punch in the solo again, if we even have the capability of doing that. But since neck was still swollen I called my chemo doc after return to Casa Krashpad, and he said to go into the emergency room. Ugh.

So Mrs. K took me to hospital, bless her heart. Took all afternoon to get blood work done and a CT scan, then I was admitted around dinner time-ish. Was moved into the post-emergency holding area (separate bed in a curtained bay, and a telly) for a few hours and then into a first-floor room (private room but with shared bathroom around the corner and no window; various wards with "real" "private rooms" are on floors further up) later that evening.

Sunday: Spent Sunday in my "cave" room and got an ultrasound to my neck as well. Finally Sunday night I got moved up to the fifth floor to a private room with a bathroom and a window.

Monday: Doc, who'd been out of town for weekend, came by and gave me results. Had an infection called cellulitis, which's bacterial. Though commonly described as a "skin" infection, in my case I think it was more the tissue in my neck rather than the outside skin, with the "break" being my raw throat tissue rather than the usual outside skin. It can be worse in people who have compromised immune systems due to cancer. In head and neck cancer people because of the area it can get into the blood vessels and damage them; my doc had one patient blow out a carotid artery, which is why I had the neck ultrasound in addition to the CT scan, and I'm fine on that score.

Speaking of the CT scan, it's official: NO CANCER!

Was released from hospital this morning and have been sleeping at home this afternoon. Desperately need a shower. Gonna go do that and change over my pain patch (pain patches can't get in hot showers or you can OD).

Cheers.

[Robert****]

Great Brian! What a relief it's not cancer.

Hope recovery continues to go well.

[Brian Krashpad]

Great Brian! What a relief it's not cancer.

Hope recovery continues to go well.

Thanks Robert! I wasn't really worried that this incident was cancer, but was already scheduled (this coming Friday) to go in for a CT scan to ensure that the combination of surgery, chemo, and radiation had "got" everything that'd been there originally. Which my chemo doc has been saying he was "sure" of for weeks, but until now we had no proof of that. So I'm pretty tired and wiped out, but happy.

[Eric***]

So you're done done?? Dude -- awesome! Congrats and good work on making it through everything, B.

[Tig***]

Great news, Brian! (I've never opened up the weekend thread but saw this and had to reply)
You can now close another chapter in "Life of Brian: The Krashpadded One".

[Brian Krashpad]

So you're done done?? Dude -- awesome! Congrats and good work on making it through everything, B.

Yep, in some ways I was more or less done a month or so ago, at the end of chemo and radiation treatments, but up until this hospital stay I was still awaiting a CT scan to make sure everything was gone. So now I just hafta get over this infection, and from here on in it should just be follow-up visits w/the various members of the "cancer team" (chemo doc, radiation oncologist, surgeon/ENT) for monitoring purposes. As you might expect, at first I have return visits like every month or two for a year, then every 3 months for a year, then every 4 months a for a year, then twice a year, then annually.

Something like that anyhow.

[Brian Krashpad]

Great news, Brian! (I've never opened up the weekend thread but saw this and had to reply)
You can now close another chapter in "Life of Brian: The Krashpadded One".

Thanks Tig! You should become a regular poster here. With a lot of people a weekend snapshot is a good reflection of what's happening in their lives. I enjoy reading about what everyone's up to.

[Tig***]

I just realized that I did post here once. Doh!

As long as I'm working weekends, there's not much of interest to post except for the occasional strange sites I see at night from my 25th floor view of downtown. Usually just 2:00 AM car crashes, but the overhead view of the city lights can be pretty at night. It's a whole 'nuther world.

[Robert****]

I played a gig with Myra and the boys on Saturday - an Irish evening gig...! Songs like Irish Rover, I'll Tell Me Ma, etc and some Great Big Sea songs.

Earlier that day, I was in Edmonton at the track and field indoors champs, where our University runners competed. I bailed out of competing myself - not quite in shape after too much time on the couch.

On Sunday I installed a new lock on the back entry door at home, and recorded a new video lesson for next Friday.

[bigoldron]

Speaking of the CT scan, it's official: NO CANCER!

Yay!!! We're all proud to hear that Senor Krashpad! Wonderful news!

[Monkus]

Go Krashpad, great news !!!

[guitargrizz]

Friday: I worked five to close at the bar/restaurant I've been working at for almost three years now. I didn't get out until about one in the morning or so. Smoked a joint with one of my co-workers, then went home, listened to music and fell asleep.

Saturday: Woke up around two. Looked forward to the weeked so much because I didn't have work Saturday or Sunday. First weekend off in quite some time. I woke up Saturday and then I went to the dollar store to buy some cheap items that was greatly needed in my music room (Notebooks, pens, pencils, etc.). After, I hung out with a friend from one of my old bands. Drank a couple beers in the music room in my basement. Went out to buy a pack of cigarettes, went to the park, had a few more beers and just chatted about life and what not. Came back to my house, friend left, and I went to hang out with some other friends (my old-time pot head friends I use to hang out with all the time) Smoked way too much weed throughout that night, and felt like a dumb *** the next morning.

Sunday: Woke up around two...again. Went to Stevie B's Pizza buffet by myself because I had a coupon to eat the buffet of pizza for free. I ate a shit load of pizza, got very full, and then I drove to the dollar store again which is actually right next to the pizza place. Bought some more useful items (tools, car stuff, smell good stuff, etc.) I came home, cleaned the basement, got all my stuff organized in my music room, had a few beers, made a large fire in the fire pit, and then finally came inside and went to sleep.

Now it's Monday.

[Brian Krashpad]

Had a much quieter weekend than last week's hospitalization, thank goodness. Watched a lot of March Madness-- when awake.

Friday: took off work sick and slept most all day, except for a trip into the chemo lab for a shot to boost white blood cells (last of 3 shots given Wed, Th and F).

Saturday: slept most all day, except for a belated birthday movie with El Krashpadito, saw Battle: Los Angeles. Not as bad as I thought it'd be, but basically like being in a video game, crossed with a recruiting commercial for the Jarheads.

Sunday: slept most all day, except for two trips outside Casa Krashpad. First was a trip to church to pick up my gear that'd been unintentionally abandoned in the choir loft last weekend when I went to hospital. Had to track it down, as my bandmates had thoughtfully moved it to a safer location where it could be locked up in my absence. That was around noon.

At 7 p.m. my daughter and I went in to my office for a Pedagogy side band practice. Learned that first two bands on the bill for this Friday's show (we open) only get a 30-minute set, but that's cool because we pared it down to our strongest material. Practice was 2 hours, including set-up and tear-down, which included running the set twice, with repeats on problem areas.

Was totally shagged out after practice, but the good news is that this set rawks! Plus, this will be my daughter's first-ever rock band show in public (she's jammed at a party before with me and some friends), so I'm very excited for her. Another plus, is that this will be the band's debut as a four-piece; before we were a trio with me playing bass (daughter is taking my place), now I'm moving to guitar. The songs rock a lot harder with guitar throughout rather than our keyboardist playing the occasional song on guitar. And the last plus is that this will be my first rock band gig since Oct. 14, 2010, before all this big c mess started last year, I'ma 'bout to asplode!

Woke up this morning and felt much better than I had all weekend, possibly the new pain patch I put on last night. I'm back, bay-bee!

[Eric***]

Friday: Came home, ran 3.6 miles and then scuttled off to a practice at my former church. Before deciding to leave, I had agreed to play at the women's conference being hosted by the church. I don't like to crap out on stuff, so I made a cameo appearance for the conference on acoustic. The practice was horrible due to the absurdly bad drummer (not the usual guy, who is my friend), but we made it through. Went home and ate and talked. Moved stuff from one room to another in preparation for weekend painting.

Saturday: Got up, went to the church for the conference, had to wait about an hour to play, since they were behind schedule. Did that, packed up, left, went home. Whiled away the day playing xbox and guitar. Met up with some friends for dinner, then went back to their place for more beer and board games. Got to bed around 2.

Sunday: Woke up and tried another church, this one about 45 minutes away. Not sure why we tried it, truthfully; it's too far of a drive to be a viable option. Came home and plotted out work that we need to do to our house so that we can sell it -- we're looking to sell it this summer if all goes according to plan (which it never does, right?). Sanded and painted a railing out back, did some laundry, eventually watched a couple episodes of How I Met Your Mother, which a friend had loaned to me. It's OK.

Exciting as usual. Just got word today that my SIL (a teenager) has an eating disorder. She'll be staying with us next weekend, so that'll be interesting.

[FrankenFretter***]

First and foremost, it's really good to hear the good news, Brian. I am sorry that you're still having to battle your fatigue and that infection, but I am so happy to hear that the cancer is gone. And happy birthday!

This was my birthday weekend as well, and my brother Jason (NWBasser) came down from Washington with his family to visit. We had a great time visiting, playing guitar, and had a great brunch on Sunday at a local winery. Jason and family got me the 2010 Crossroads festival DVD, which is way cool. I also got a $100 gift certificate to Guitar Fetish from Kris (the future Mrs. FrankenFretter), along with some really cool art that she framed for me (zombie and vampire girls, painted by a tattoo artist). I also got two musical cards; one that plays Freebird (from Jason), and one that plays Rock and Roll All Night (from Kris). Matilda, Kris's daugher, is obsessed with both cards, and wants to learn both songs on guitar.

I also got a late night surprise last night: Kris ordered a new guitar for me, an Agile AL 2000 in Honeyburst (with a case, even!). So along with all the other cool stuff, I have a pending NGD coming. I'm a lucky man.

[Eric***]

I also got a late night surprise last night: Kris ordered a new guitar for me, an Agile AL 2000 in Honeyburst (with a case, even!). So along with all the other cool stuff, I have a pending NGD coming. I'm a lucky man.

Wow, purdy! What're you up to now, 4 Les Pauls or something?

[FrankenFretter***]

Wow, purdy! What're you up to now, 4 Les Pauls or something?

Nah, just three. I have control over my disease.