You may have noticed the lack of updates for the past couple weeks. Out of nowhere I had a leak in the engine room. It started as a bad headache, really bad headache, and within three hours I was in intensive care, official diagnosis: nontraumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage. Basically, bleeding in the brain that didn't kill me. So I was on my back in the hospital for a week, doped to the gills, with another week before I could resume to semi-normal activities.
They had me so sedated that it wasn't until about the third or fourth day that I realized that I hadn't heard a lick of music since entering the hospital. When a nurse came in to check my vitals (this happened every hour or so) I asked why there wasn't any music in the hospital. She said that most people who wanted to hear music in their room just used the keyboard and accessed YouTube through their TV. No one had told me that there was a keyboard in the room, not that I was in the condition to fuck around online. It hurt my head to even watch TV. But now, armed with the keyboard, the first thing that came to mind that would sooth me was one of Stan Getz's Brasil/bossa nova type things. Dude had at least four LPs of that type of stuff. I just needed something to doze to. Click.
For days, whenever my pain medications started to wear off my head would feel like it exploded. This would wake me from my Getz la-la land. Luckily, it was time for the nurse to check my vitals again because she would also ask me what my pain level was, on a scale of one to ten. On this particular occasion it was about a six or seven. The nurse gave me a shot of morphine, straight into the vein, no drip bag. I could feel the relaxation creep up my arm and take over my entire body, right when the YouTube playlist that had been playing Getz clicked over to Thelonious Monk's Monk's Dream. Folks, this was a match made in heaven, morphine and Monk. It was the first time I was able to ignore all the shit that had happened. Needless to say, my pain level would be about a six or seven again before I left the hospital, and I listened to Monk every time.
They had me so sedated that it wasn't until about the third or fourth day that I realized that I hadn't heard a lick of music since entering the hospital. When a nurse came in to check my vitals (this happened every hour or so) I asked why there wasn't any music in the hospital. She said that most people who wanted to hear music in their room just used the keyboard and accessed YouTube through their TV. No one had told me that there was a keyboard in the room, not that I was in the condition to fuck around online. It hurt my head to even watch TV. But now, armed with the keyboard, the first thing that came to mind that would sooth me was one of Stan Getz's Brasil/bossa nova type things. Dude had at least four LPs of that type of stuff. I just needed something to doze to. Click.
For days, whenever my pain medications started to wear off my head would feel like it exploded. This would wake me from my Getz la-la land. Luckily, it was time for the nurse to check my vitals again because she would also ask me what my pain level was, on a scale of one to ten. On this particular occasion it was about a six or seven. The nurse gave me a shot of morphine, straight into the vein, no drip bag. I could feel the relaxation creep up my arm and take over my entire body, right when the YouTube playlist that had been playing Getz clicked over to Thelonious Monk's Monk's Dream. Folks, this was a match made in heaven, morphine and Monk. It was the first time I was able to ignore all the shit that had happened. Needless to say, my pain level would be about a six or seven again before I left the hospital, and I listened to Monk every time.
~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:Thelonious Monk - Caravan mp3 at In Bed With Dactylo
Thelonious Monk Quartety w/John Coltrane - Epistrophy mp3 at Petit Family
Thelonious Monk - Work mp3 at Pixie Radio
The LP that saved the day:
Thelonious Monk - Monk's Dream (streaming) at YouTube
3 comments:
may Monk be with you
get well soon
Shit!.. I just read up on SAH, and that's some serious skirmish your brain's been through! Hope you're recovering and feeling better! (I take your two update posts as a sign that you are, but still; take it easy!) All the best from me + my family. Espen
Thanks for the kind words. I'm quick on the mend and with the exception of quitting smoking, I'm thinking things will be business as usual in just another week or two. I'll just have to keep an eye on my blood pressure. Luckily I was already pretty healthy. It's good to be back, I gotta say. Thanks again, T
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