Pray Globally, Bleed Locally

Hi Folks -

Back from another checkup today at the NYU Transplant Center. Five weeks after the new liver has taken hold, things are still looking great. Dr. Devon John knocked two more meds off by daily list. Now I don't even have to try to stay awake to take my 10 PM pill or take a 8 AM water pill.

We've also gotten clearance to get our blood testing done locally again. That means no more pre-dawn rising, figuring out who is going to get the kids dressed, fed and off to school, and fighting rush hour traffic into NYC to get the bloodwork done early enough so the reports are back for the early afternoon checkup.

Now, our new quest will be to get to Quest Labs early on Saturday mornings and have them fax the test results STAT to NYU. I get to bleed locally now, minus the $6 tunnel fee and $25 for parking.

We've even been given the week off from seeing the doctor, with our once a week checkups now pushed back to once every two weeks. Now that's progress!

More importantly, I've been medically cleared so that Nancy and I can ''start behaving like man and wife again,'' in Dr. John's delicate words.
''Whaddaya mean,'' I asked, ''We've been arguing about money since I got home from the hospital.''

Oh, you mean we can have sex again. And it's a Full Moon tonight!
Dr. John told us of a man who refrained from sex with his wife for three years after she got her new liver. ''I didn't want to damage her (not now) new liver by having sex,'' he explained to the transplant doctor. ''Did you damage the old liver by having sex?'' the doctor said, adding ''I don't think so.''

Faithful BLOG readers will have noticed a gnome who keeps posting poems.
I can now expose the Anonymous author as none other than Rider grad Ace McCase, once heralded in words glued to his own typewriter as ''The Most Exciting Irishman Since JFK.''

Turning the tables on this tacky Tennyson, we offer:

There once was a man named Pat
who could write limericks just like THAT
Like a surgeon, he quickly would deliver
a poke at Bird's newly installed liver
with a ''I need a rhyming word - STAT!''

Fans of David and of wacky songs for kids and wacky adults, take note.
''Greasy Kid Stuff,'' a two-hour program on New Jersey radio station WFMU 91.1 FM
on Saturday Jan 29 at 10 AM - noon, will include a ''birthday'' song in honor of my new ''rebirth'' day of Dec. 19.

Hova, the show's host, pledges to play Hippie Kitten's theme song: ''Happy Doesn't Have To Have An Ending,'' by They Might Be Giants as a dedication during the birthday hollers, which usually come after 11 AM.

Webheads can easily tune in to the program at this website
http://www.wfmu.org

The shows are archived, so if you're listening to Ray Coniff LPs instead, or busy cleaning out your lint filter, you can catch it anytime you want.

Among the stream of recent well-wishes, was a telephone call from Saudi Arabia, with one of the most important players behind the scenes of the global oil industry calling to see how I'm getting along. I'll be reading the Sunday comics to Alex this weekend while he'll be pulling the strings at the OPEC meeting in Vienna - and that's fine with me.

Prayers and good wishes are tumbling in from London, from where our good friend Eithne (pronounced Aetna like everyone's favorite insurance company) writes to admit she tipped off Cliff in Chicago about my search for a liver, leading him to spread the word through the Irish-American community, stimulating moving offers from would-be living donors.

As our circle of prayer encircles the world, and we think of all the kindnesses via snow plows and food deliveries we're received this week from caring neighbors, we say Pray Globally, Live and Love Locally.

- David