Updates, Clarifications and Nonsense

I get asked quite a bit about how I'm feeling and I usually say, "With my hands". Some of you might remember that as a three stooges joke but I first heard it from my Dad who was born in 1922.

The thing about getting older is injuries/illness doesn't ever fully recover...The pain and discomfort is something you learn to mitigate by concentration and/or chemicals.

It's going on 4 years this month (Jan.'24) that I had congestive heart failure caused by diabetes.

Blood clots in one leg or the other is a common after affect of heart failure and that continues to be an ongoing issue for me.

I've been "roto-rootered" several times when the blockage caused ulcers (open wounds) on my left foot. The blockage as of my last test was estimated to be back to 85-95%. It makes walking very far or very fast painful but it's necessary to keep on moving while I still can.

Another after effect of the CHF was afib (atrial fibrillation) which became constant and made it impossible to sing/work. Thanks to all that supported me through that summer while I was down, the Musicians Relief Fund and all the musicians that contributed their time and talent to the benefit.

Finally in the fall of 2022 I was given an ablation to stem the errant electrical storm causing the misfire in my heart. Now according to the app for that, my afib vary's in frequency, about 20% of the day on average.

Just when I thought I could get back to rocking and rolling the herniated discs in my lower back erupted in pain so severe I had to cancel the band shows.

It took 6 weeks of chiropractic manipulation to get me back on my sore feet. Thanks to Dave White for being a "roadie". We wouldn't have been able to go back to work without his invaluable assistance.

I've got a lot of wear and tear, arthritis, and a litany of age related issues. I still haven't recouped my full vocal range from the CHF 4 years ago. I'm grateful for being able to play as much as I do though I can't play as much as I want and need to in order to make a living.

The crazy thing about life is how different yet similar the human experience is for everybody. When I died briefly while in the hospital, my brief foray into the "afterlife" let me see how ridiculous and vain humanity is...we worry about the DUMBEST shit...the only thing that matters is how we treat one another...not beliefs, politics.

It's also been 4 years since I've had an "adult" beverage. Drank too many before I was considered by law to be an adult anyway but it's all fun and games until you go blind from self induced diabetes (Type 2) and whatnot. The great American diet of beer, bacon, processed bread, cheese and butter dipped in sugar, seasoned with salt and topped with fat, coated in chocolate....

My last vices now are weed, pizza and ice cream. I fucking hate moderation but goddamn it, it is the key to achieving balance.

So I spend most of the day craving shit I shouldn't eat...I used to be a junk food junkie. At one time I weighed 286 pounds before the CHF. I've managed to stay at 170 for a couple of years or so now.

I gave up my tobacco habit in 2017 before Irma. I still get wicked cravings but finally it's fewer and further between but the first 5 years were the hardest.

Don't start something that will finish you would be the lesson I took from that experience. Young, dumb and indestructible...

So I hope the best for all of us this year but realistically we're all just here for our fair share of abuse. That's why it's so important to be good to each other.

We live on a planet that is as likely to kill us as sustain us so can't we all just get along? Agree to disagree? Live and let live? Fuck no, let's blow shit up and make everyone miserable! Just jesting... ☮️ ❤️ 😊 👣 🎶!

Miami Dolphins belt buckle. 🤓