Hi!!
I was going to tell you about so much in this post: new music, new meds, new toys, new perspectives. But then I almost died, and that interrupted everything.
It started with my gut. I just got a bit backed up, not a huge deal. Except that it triggered a UTI, which caused a kidney infection that sucker punched me with sepsis. I got fevers, tremors, convulsions, hallucinations—the works! Brendan dialed up my friends Ricky and Modjulie, a married pair of doctors (whose wedding we played at, many years ago). After discovering my blood pressure was extremely low, the two had him take me to the ER, and not a moment too soon.
Me in my private hospital room.
I got lucky. If we had waited any longer, I’d still be in the hospital. Instead, I managed to score a private room, where Brendan stayed with me for five days. I nearly had to stay for ten more, but they prescribed a course of antibiotics that I could administer at home through a PICC line. For the next week or so, Brendan helped me medicate myself (heavily!) on the couch, instead of a hospital bed. Now I’m nearly back to normal, with no long-term damage.
My at-home antibiotics, attached to my PICC line.
While I was in the hospital, I had to stop taking nearly all of my medications. We decided to take that as a rare chance to reevaluate just about everything that I’m on, and we’re cutting anything we can. I also just started seeing a new doctor with a very different approach to CFS, so we have a promising new path laid out for us. It’s been about two weeks since my last migraine, so the Pristiq is really squashing my headaches too. I’m still homebound, but these are some pretty encouraging changes—just hoping they last.
This week, I started working with my friend Ricardo. He plays drums for Lucy Dacus, and he’s laying down the foundation for a few of my tunes. I’ve got a lot of material to sift through, but I’m hoping to finish up an actual album this year to release in early 2023. It’s been a long time coming, but it will be worth the wait.
Extremely hip, handmade Soft Punch t-shirts.
I’ve still got some really excellent t-shirts left, and you would look really good wearing one. Hop on over to Bandcamp and pick one up, unless you just genuinely don’t like wearing clothes.
With everything going on in the world, I’m trying to take meditation more seriously. Opening a newspaper is enough to make hope feel far off, but meditation calms the nerves, boosts the brain, and soothes the heart. If you’ve never tried it, you might be surprised by just how much a few minutes with your eyes closed can change your day.
Lots of great newer music out there—Wet Leg, Kendrick Lamar, Big Thief—but lately I’m stuck on the boygenius EP from 2018 (again).
What are you listening to?
Warmly,
Ryan
