gimp, surviving your survival is a memoir, available at amazon.com
Venice Beach 2004
where gimp begins
Velvet took me out of the house, I was depressed
I was reminiscing about 3 years back - winter of 01 - I had gone down under after 911- I fell for the country & a guy named Wayne - I had plans to go back early 2002.
But the universe, life's great mystery, had other plans
General Hospital - the only burn unit with a bed available - became my hut for the next 3 months.
morphine didn't stop pain, just made it bearable
LAC-USC Los Angeles County and the University of Southern California Medical School, bad neighborhood, bad doctor's
bad dreams / they decreased my meds enough to have me sign releases for the operations
Jan '02 feet have been debrieded
Built it 1930, it is old and used Burn Unit 12th floor, LA jail ward 11th
Jan 2002, flap surgery / took a muscle from my back and put it on my arm (didn't work)
February 2002, ICU
March '02
view from the burn unit / new hospitals going up like lego land
March 2002
April 2002, released from USC to Rancho Los Amigo's Rehabilitation Center in Downey, I was told it was a great facility
April 2002
spring 2002, Rancho
April '02
at the end of June '02 I had my paw operated on in Portland by Dr Cookieboots
June 2002, Dr Cookieboots drilled tiny holes in the open bones of my fingers, metacarpals and wrist, hoping to cause granulation tissue to grow (it did) Then he removed my 5th metacarpal and turned the 5th finger into a flap
the war drums beating
Kev and I at an anti war rally
Homescrub Kitty Bear - traveled with me everywhere.
July 02, Homescrub and I flew to Smallville and convalesced for the summer
Aikeo Island
Birch Lake
Birch Lake, the family cabin, north of Smallville
October 2002 back to Babylon - LA purple mountain sunset
October 2002, freaking elephant man elbow frozen / still can see bone poking through my skin
Nov '02, I went for 2 weeks
Ken Russell and Me, New Forrest
Nov 2002, laughing was great
my oldest Friend
surreal Ponies ramble around like squirrels
back to the US
Christmas Portland '02 - finished year one, the worst is over, right? Oh no no, the worst is yet to come.
more war BS
cousin Bobby took us riding
March 2003 - in Portland, the start of the Corporate War horrified millions and they marched - I was too hurt to walk, so we sat and took fotos.
It was only covered locally, as were the same protests all over the country, corporate news firmly in the white houses pocket.
March 2003 - back in LA
Dez at Ramayana
'Inoperable, cut it off!' was the unasked for opinion of Smallville's finest doctors.
HO for short, another angle / the see through-ish gray lumps are HO bone, HO bone grew around the joint, but it's all the same, the weak, strange looking HO bone. I let a doctor touch me once in smallville with horrid results. (Never again.) The slash marks bottom left are from Dr Cookieboots in Portland.
Heterotopic Ossification - bone growing over the joint - had fused it at 80 degrees for 16 months - Dr Specialisto was going to fix it.
April 2003 - Alison brings Squeaky to the new hospital
my 15th operation
April '03 - Red and Dr Specialisto after the successful elbow surgery / my elbow had been frozen for over a year
April 2003 - happy happy
April 2003 - Dr Specialiso carefully sawed the HO bone off / Dr Alritini took care of the nerve (soft, like jello, a long thin transparent string) and my elbow slowly returned to NORMAL
pre-surgery Frozen solid / it ranges normally now, feels normal
April 03 - I used a Continual Passive Motion machine (CPM) nightly on my elbow until I left for Minnesota a couple months later
Fred
Marilyn
Homelet
I feel camaraderie with my homeless brothers and sisters - they don't scare me, I love them
Alison drove me practically everywhere until I got my van - this is the double wide trailer in one of USC's parking lots where they keep the CT Scan
Forrest helped me purchase a gently used van / spring 2003
Spring '03 - Friend took fotos of Hideous Frankenstein
great FX makeup, pure horror show
painting friend did from the fotos
May 2003 / Shelby's House / a chunk of 1st metacarpal breaking off the bone / it'd been happening all year, bone's spitting out from hand and arm
Homescrub as Buddha at Shelby's
Spring '03 me at the Getty
vultures
Kev at the Getty
Monk flew out and drove back to MN with me. Tuba City, Arizona
Monk and I at 4 corners with Get Well Soon Gifts
the flip from orange to green AZ-CO
tossed him a bud
Monk and I stopped at Mount Rushmore
Smallville
cabin in babbit
Pucca, a gift from Betsy
The You're A Bitch Lady - July '03
August 2003, friend Lloyd Kaufman in Minneapolis, doing a book tour
George
feet always Hurt
feet always sore
feet always wanted to dance
Boston
Thank You Firefighters Quest - Sept 2003 went to the Frankenstein convention in Cleveland, World Burn Congress. It was nice to feel like part of the pack.
happy
October 2003 / Damien and I drove to Portland, then down Hwy 1 - in Henry Millers Big Sur
Babylon
November 2003 - tossed off BLM land for the offense of Stuffed Animals
December 2003 - Damien and I at Tweak House
February 2004 - Damien and I fix up the guest room at Tweak House
Feb 04 / Damien and Homescrub napping
tweak house basement escape / notice the post it notes on fridge and bulletin board to the R - notes helped me 2 deal with short term memory loss
LAC-USC Burn Unit
This device lets me move my thumb, making my right hand useful
on the road again...
January 2004 - Death Valley
Jan 04 / Death Valley
Toxie Wayne in OK
I started working on CafeDeb.com that winter in Minneapolis
March '04
March 2004 / the last metacarpal to give up it's dead
back to Babylon
May '04 - Tom & Bruce's in the Hollywood Hills
Venice Beach
the one thing to love about LA , the ocean
Spring 2004 - I knew there was more I could do about recovery / Litzel had a Pilates studio in Pasadena / she knew i was broke & gave me a co-pay only deal / I finally said goodbye to the sling, it had become a security blanket.
moved to Venice, a block from the hoops
blisters on knuckles from...?? maybe the pressure garment? with no nerves left on the back of my hand it could have happened anytime in the past 24 hrs
at LACMA
although they have a tough time spelling english, they do kill drugs traffickers
happy drunk
November 2004 - me & driver Kertut in Bali
Monkey Forrest
menage in bali
dolpin salt
momma & rockbaby
December 2004 - arm & back of the hand finally healed on the outside
Jan 2005 - & healed on the inside, no holes! my strange hand and arm regenerated new bone
No Holes!
crazee hand healed
Firefighters Quest sent us to WBC, & picked up the tab
WBC in Baltimore www.cafedeb.com/CD29/members/fotos/worldburn.htm
angela, me, nancy, paul
back 2 Babylon
Sept 2005 / Integra stapled over fragile granulation tissue
September 2005 / plastic surgery to remove the simian scar
2 weeks later
Oct '05 - foot covered with Integra 2 weeks
a doctor i didn't hire wrote a letter pretending she was on my team / Integra sat for 2 extra weeks on fragile granulation tissue
the skin graft failed thanks to the bitch Katchru
December 2005 / another skin graft
slow heal
santa monica
me and Dr Alritini - I like these 2 fotos together - this one is April 2003
and this one, April 2006
Dr Coolchick
January 2005 / therapist Chris helps me walk without a limp
ICU Nurse
Doc Century City / reverse vampire treatment
Dr Specialisto
Arm Therapist (not to be confused with my hand therapist)
Dr Goodfella
my dear friends
Betsy
Birgit
Cheryl
Dr Carol
Georgene and Rowan
Melinda, Charlene and Me
Alison
Monk
PaulDDB
Hank
Cohoon
Calvin
Tom & Bruce
Scott Forrest
Tricky
Mom and Dad
Ross and Carson
Kev June 2002 - Me still in a wheelchair
Me kinda happy / spring 2006
Bye Babylon
Foxy The Little Dog
http://www.amazon.com/gimp-surviving-your-survival-memoir/dp/0595510655/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221236656&sr=1-1
