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Hospital Report - Day 6 - Saturday (or there goes another $60,000 dollars I'm eternally grateful that I'm insured for.)

It's the weekend, which mean PARTY TIME at the Hospital. For me that party includes, uh, more Popsicles, extra blood tests and x-rays, and two more days of having a tube down my nose and throat into my stomach to suck out all the things i haven't put down there since my last meal on Monday.

The goal is to try and shrink my stomach down and possibly loosen the obstruction in my small intestine. (I'm sure glad the back end of the obstruction drains "naturally," because I would sure hate to have a pump up my rump too.

The obstruction in the bowel is not really the major concern.

My blood is taking a hit, and they are not sure why. Could likely be a second form of leukemia. Could be a failure of my already stressed bone marrow. Bone marrow tests will answer part of those questions. Another test, being conducted at Duke University, will establish if a anti-body is having it's way with segments of my blood.

Had a visit by Paul Blair, Dan Fischer, and Dallas Richardson yesterday afternoon. Paul and Dan are pastors, Dallas best known to a lot of us as sound man for the majority of the local tea parties and several major music events.

I'm telling you, it was the best couple of hours I've had in over a week. You'd think two ministers for two hours talking with a patient facing certain challenges, would be a somber affair.

Never laughed harder.

When the three of them left, I was in the best mood, and unhooked my restrictive tubes and took a walk around the hospital to enjoy my mood.

(By the way, I'm going on that Alaskan Cruise one way or another. Either in ashes for my fellow cruisers to scatter, or as a passenger.)

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Add 1: Thanks to drop by from a member of the "Resistance" who works here at the hospital. Had one of my first political discussions in a week.

Add 2: Dr. unhooked my nose/throat pump from the actual pump today, but left the tube in until we determined where we were at with more xrays tomorrow. So, after several hours, it dawned on me, they can always put it back down, so, out I slipped the hose in my nose and now the Shanster is a much happier guy than he's been in several days, maybe longer.

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON THE NEWS

- Gun Owner's of America have endorsed Randy Brogdon for Governor.

- Virginia's attorney general is advising the state's public colleges to rescind policies that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.Kenneth Cuccinelli says in a letter to college presidents and other officials that only the General Assembly can determine which classes of people are protected by state government nondiscrimination policies. In other words, POLICIES are set my government, not schools. Take note David Boren and Oklahoma legislators.

- A new congressional report released Friday says the United States' long-term fiscal woes are even worse than predicted by Obama's grim budget submission last month. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicts that Obama's budget plans would generate deficits over the upcoming decade that would total $9.8 trillion. That's $1.2 trillion more than predicted by the administration. To follow Obama is to destroy the economic backbone of this country.

- As if Detroit doesn't have enough problems these days, the president of the city's school board offered the shocking admission that he can't pen a coherent sentence. Otis Mathis, who oversees the academic future of 90,000 public school students, told the Detroit News that he's a "horrible writer" after reports surfaced that he sent a Feb. 29 e-mail to the financial manager of Detroit Public Schools that was rife with spelling, punctuation and usage errors. But, let me guess, he's a "man of color," and that's what important in Detroit, not whether he can spell "Dick, Jane and Sally," right?

- The principal of a South Los Angeles elementary school has apologized after some children carried photos of O.J. Simpson, RuPaul and Dennis Rodman in a parade celebrating Black History Month. A killer, a drag queen, and a thug. Wonderful role models.

Cruising Alaska - Anchorage to Vancouver

AUGUST 13 - 20 COME ON ALONG

- August 13th to 20th, I hope as many of you as can swing it will join me for a First Class Luxury cruise of Alaska and British Columbia.

5 ports 7 days. Suite rooms with veranda and ocean view. All inclusive. NO charges for drinks, tips, food, only any excursions you schedule while in port.

Spend a day along the glaciers . Do a little whale watching. See something unique. (The Rockies on STEROIDS!)

Leave from Seward, return to Vancouver, British Columbia. Lots of time for us to escape (or plan an overthrow of the bums in D.C.)

Date Port Arrive Depart

Aug. 13 Seward, Alaska - 5:00pm

Aug. 14 Cruising Hubbard Glacier 1:30pm 4:00pm

Aug. 15 Skagway, Alaska 9:00am 6:00pm

Aug. 16 Juneau, Alaska 8:00am 8:00pm

Aug. 17 Sitka, Alaska 12:30am 7:00pm

Aug. 18 Ketchikan, Alaska 9:30pm 5:30pm

Aug. 19 Cruising Inside Passage At sea all day.........

Aug. 20 Vancouver, Canada 8:00am -

Hope you'll join me. Click here for details!

IT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY

On this day in 1899, the Imperial Patent Office in Berlin registers Aspirin, the brand name for acetylsalicylic acid, on behalf of the German pharmaceutical company Friedrich Bayer & Co.

Now the most common drug in household medicine cabinets, acetylsalicylic acid was originally made from a chemical found in the bark of willow trees. In its primitive form, the active ingredient, salicin, was used for centuries in folk medicine, beginning in ancient Greece when Hippocrates used it to relieve pain and fever. Known to doctors since the mid-19thcentury, it was used sparingly due to its unpleasant taste and tendency to damage the stomach.

In 1897, Bayer employee Felix Hoffman found a way to create a stable form of the drug that was easier and more pleasant to take. (Some evidence shows that Hoffman's work was really done by a Jewish chemist, Arthur Eichengrun, whose contributions were covered up during the Nazi era.) After obtaining the patent rights, Bayer began distributing aspirin in powder form to physicians to give to their patients one gram at a time. The brand name came from "a" for acetyl, "spir" from the spirea plant (a source of salicin) and the suffix "in," commonly used for medications. It quickly became the number-one drug worldwide.