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Here's the original version, for solo piano.
The orchestral version by Leopold Stokowski The electronic (Moog) synthesizer version by Tomita Taken from the page for the orchestral version, The Engulfed Cathedral "evokes an ancient legend in which the submerged Cathedral of Ys rises slowly out of the sea, its bells ringing and priests chanting, and then sinks slowly back again into the watery depths." For supreme weirdness, click all three and play them simultaneously. I suppose that would be your very own re-mix. ;0)
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Look to the right of this post. Don't say you weren't warned. ;0) Funny, but in my case, I'd rather it went to science than to bowling... 
I haven't heard anything. It's 6:38pm. If she's anything like the doc who referred her, she may still be doing rounds at the hospital before making phone calls after being in surgery all day. But still, I'm trying to plan stuff out. My boss wants to know if I'm going to be in to work tomorrow. I wanna know if I can schedule some rehearsals for this album I'm producing. Jai wants to know if she can play some certain gigs with the big band. March is super busy for the big band and that means February needs to be super busy for being ready. Jai is the leader of the sax section. But she's being awesome and waiting to know what's going on with me before committing to anything. It's irritating. It feels like it's rude. She's busy. So am I, though. Being unable to schedule makes it really difficult to be productively busy. >:(
I'm supposed to hear more information tomorrow. For now, I'm just trying to avoid excessive physical exertion. I don't know, but that seems like the wise thing to do. Today, just going to live - clean some house, make some music, normal Kevin stuff. I'll let you all know what I find out tomorrow. Also, from time to time, Jai may make an entry on the blog here. I hope we can keep who's posting straight. ;{P (that's the goofy-tongue-hangin'-out smiley with a moustache).
In funny news, I had Aquarellas do Brasil (translates to "Watercolors of Brazil", often just called "Brazil".) in my head today and when I drove out to get some coffee, I saw my two dear Brazilian friends from school, Wagner and Cassio. Probably purely coincidental, given that I sometimes get Led Zeppelin songs stuck in my head and I've never just happened to meet Jimmy Page or Plant or Jones.... I got the call from the doc today that she promised me. She had been in an emergency surgery, hence the late call. Anyway, she said she researched a bit about the new kind of pacemaker, but it was just slightly more detailed than what I knew yesterday. She did say that she wants to consult her partner neurosurgeon since her partner has more expertise in this region of the brain and she would call again on Monday. So, now you know as much as I. :\
I'm just going to be blunt:
I have a brain tumor. I went in to my sleep doctor for my annual check-up regarding my C-PAP machine and since I had an M.D. there, I asked him if he had any idea why over the last week I would be experiencing tingling in my left arm, leg, and facial cheek and occasionally experiencing a metallic taste at the same time. I'd had three brief (less than a minute) experiences, with the first one being the longest at about 45 seconds. He didn't know and referred me to my primary care, who wasn't available, but after describing these symptoms to her nurse, it was recommended that I go to the emergency room. So I did. They did a CT scan and informed my that I have a brain tumor that is "silent", meaning it's not actively trying to incorporate my brain into it's physical existence. It is, however, 2cm in diameter and therefore competing for real estate inside my skull. I was referred to a neurosurgeon and I got my oncologist in the loop due to my history of melanoma. That was all on Feb. 2nd. The neurosurgeon appointment was this morning. That was the extent of my knowledge at the time and so I figured I would wait until today when I would have more info to let everyone know. So, here's the update for today: I visited with a neurosurgeon today. She seems really good and from the doc that referred her to me, I wouldn't expect anything less. She gave a brief physical exam, then showed Jai and I the CT scan pictures of the tumor. She said that the PET scan that I had taken on Monday didn't tell her much. It seem that PET scans are more metabolic in nature and was more for info for the oncologist (who called and said that the results of the PET scan was encouraging: everything is located in that one spot). She told me that the CT scan doesn't reveal much fine detail. She wanted an MRI and I told her about a new kind of MRI that I had heard about that allows for MRIs to be done with pacemakers. (Pacemakers will literally fly out of the body and attach to the wall of the MRI machine). She went to make a few quick calls and I learned that I was almost correct. The truth of the matter is that there are pacemakers that are safe to run through an MRI machine. So, to make a long and convoluted story short, one possibility is that she'll send me to get one of these new pacemakers, then get the MRI done, go in and get some tissue of the tumor for biopsy, then go in to remove the tumor. Total of three surgeries. The location of the tumor causes her to look for the highly detailed info of the MRI. Judging from the location of the tumor, she sees that on the side of the tumor that is closest to the center of the brain (where the fissure or divide is) is a part of the brain that controls strength and motor skills on the left side of the body. She doesn't want to risk damaging that. To meet that end, what tends to happen is that the patient (me) is conscious during the surgery so that if she starts to bump that part of the brain she wants to avoid, my corresponding body part will react. It is my own conclusion that consciousness and motor skills are indivisibly intertwined. So, the neurosurgeon said she'd call me today or tomorrow. It's 10:45pm, so I think it will be tomorrow sometime. More details tomorrow evening. I feel hopeful about this. It appears that there's no cancer running through my body. The tumor appears to be, given the context of my history of melanoma, to be an isolated melanoma tumor. There doesn't appear to be any spread or metastasis (integrating into other body parts). That makes me feel more hopeful, but it's a lot of instances of "appears to be". Still, it eases my mind a tad. |
KevinIt's me, Kevin, but with a brain tumor. Disclaimer: I have a very dry and twisted sense of humor. This is a scary situation. The jokes ("tumor humor") could be a little dark from time to time. I intend to keep this rather interesting for you, but if I get a "how could you SAY that?!?" response from you, know it's just, well, I hesitate to use "gallows" humor, but I don't have better phrase for it. Enjoy, and thanks for your support through this time. Archives
February 2015
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