Too long, dammit.

Awright...so much news to report. I have been a bad blogger again.

First, foremost: the old man is OK. He is recovering in an undisclosed location (OK...my brother's house) and seems to be in pretty good spirits. We talked on Saturday for a little while and he sounded really good. I would've liked to have talked longer, but I've been fighting a(nother) cold and my throat was not feeling so hot. In fact, I've been fighting what appears to be the same fucking cold for about 6 weeks or so, now, and I finally went to the doctor last night and got an industrial strength prescription of antibiotics.

In any case...I am super happy that Dad is OK, and I'm really looking forward to having a lot of conversations in the future about his plans for retirement. He should be back home either now or within the next day.

Next: I switched doctors. I went to a clinic in Roppongi, which is widely known as a den of sin and debauchery, with many foreigners unwittingly falling prey to its charms. Every person in Japan has heard the story of the guy who accidentally spent $2000 in a Tokyo club without knowing what he'd spent it on, exactly. These stories almost invariably originate from Roppongi hostess bars, which are clubs where Tokyo business men go to escape their wives in the company of women who pretend to find them interesting. Don't ask.

So, then. Here's the lowdown. Rather than pancreatitis, which I had already determined, correctly, that I do not have, the new and vastly improved physician told me, following a CT scan, that I have a calcified stone stuck in my abdomen. He wasn't totally clear on the location, but he is thinking somewhere in my colon. He's sending my radiology report to a specialist in Kyoto, and I'll go see him next week to see what the deal is.

The difference in competence and professionalism between this and my last clinic is so vast that it's difficult to believe that the two offer ostensibly similar services.

I could continue to blog, there's plenty of other shit going on, but I'm exhausted at the moment, so I think it's time to pack it in. Maybe I can squeeze in another one tomorrow. Goodnight, y'all.