Escapism

I have escaped to riverside, CA to spend Thanksgiving with friends.

Last night we went to see a couple ska bands play, it was very interesting to see the rebirth of this scene 20 years after the fact. The first band was good, the second one unimaginitive with a weak lead singer, and the third had a wider variety of influences under its belt.

Last week i saw the stones n metallica twice plus patti smith. more on that later.

heart & mind

Well our friend was diagnosed too late. Currently he is in ICU breathing with a respirator. His kidney, liver and lungs have failed him. He is a beating heart and active mind. Its as if his 2 strongest features are not willing to give up. They remain present/persistent. And they always will with me.

Right now every time the phone rings, i jump, thinking its "that call."

I still find this all surreal. How can someone so young be taken from us so fast? How can someone who can light up a room with his personality and wit be taken from us? Even people who only met him once, remembered him. That's the kind of person he is/was.

(NOTE: Sorry, if I'm not using proper nouns/names here. I'm just not ready to be so publically revealing.)

UPDATE!

Our family friend took a dip in health on sat, but sun wa showing signs of improvement!

fuck insurance companies all over the world

what good are insurance companies if they don't allow a patient to get the best health care possible??? a family friend was recently diagnosed with cancer. unfortunately he was in stage 4 by the time it was discovered. when he was first diagnosed his doictor wanted him to go to the UC Davis cancer center but his insurance refused to cover it.

within 2 weeks, he was in the hospital to be fitted with a feeding tube and an iv for chemo. (he currently can't eat because a tumor blocks the passage to his stomach.) however, compliations arose as his gall bladder as infected so instead of the needed tubing he had to be fitted with they took his infected organ out.

last night my sister called me to tell me his kidneys are failing and his legs are swelling. i've been crying on n off since then. until last night i had the highest of hopes our friend would beat this, but now i'm not so sure. i will continue to give love, give hope, but ...

i'm scared for him, his family, my family. and i hate our medical insurance industry. profiteering corporate monkey's who will burn in hell for the care they've denied and disfigurations, anguish and deaths they could have prevented but didn't because they couldn't bleed money from it.