Foot sugery, Nose surgery, and recovery. *Graphic Pictures. If you are squeemish, don't look.*

WARNING!  
Graphic Pictures are included in this post. Please be aware and don't read further if you are squeamish.


Have you had a bad month? Well my bad month began in September, and ran in to October.

First, I learned a lesson on the dangers of using topical steroid cream.  If you have a blister, and you are using steroid cream, if that blister pops, you are in danger of having a bad infection.  How bad?  Check out the pictures.

Day 3

Started to hurt and swell up.  By day 3 my wife took me to an urgent care clinic.  It was a holiday so there were few choices of where to go.  The clinic was not able to do anything for me, so they sent us to a hospital.  At the hospital, they gave me an IV of some form of antibiotic.  The swelling went down  a little bit for a day, but then came back worse.

Day 7

Finally we went to a different doctor who gave me some Kurabito antibiotics.  There was no change so he decided to surgically clean my foot.  He poked me with a needle for general anesthesia and it was torturous.  A few minutes later he cut my foot open and cleaned out the bacteria as best as he could.  This was a very traumatic experience.

I went back to the doctor every day for a week.  He would give me an IV of antibiotics, refill my pain and oral antibiotics, but it was not getting better.  On the third visit, He changed my antibiotic to Minomaicin by my request.  He had not before then because I had taken the stuff before and had stomach problems. I was willing to take the risk this time.

Day 12

After a three or so days of Minomaicin, my foot began to heal.  The swelling started going down and the surgical cuts were able to heal as well.

Day 25

Almost a month later, this is what my foot looks like.


As if that was not enough.  I was to have surgery to correct a deviated septum (that's the cartilage of the nose,) and remove palyps in my sinuses from years of asthmatic allergies.

My foot was not 100% yet, but the doctors decided to go ahead with the surgery as it would be impossible for me to reschedule my days off from work.

They removed a portion of my septum that was crooked and cut out the palyps while I was under general anesthesia.

The palyps were huge! It is amazing I could use my nose to breath at all.  Here is one of the palyps they removed.

I was in the hospital for a week after.  Each day I would walk to the doctors room at the hospital and he would pull gauze out of my nose.  The pain was intense, but after a few days and who knows how many pounds of gauze removal, I was able to breath through my nose.

My voice was raspy from having a breathing tube in my throat during the operation, but it went back to normal after a week.

Final result?

My foot is doing much better and I can wear socks and walk on it for a short while before it becomes painful.

My nose is very clear, and my breathing has improved greatly.  Now, maybe I can get back to work!

Thanks for visiting my blog and subscribing to my YouTube channel.  I will get more posted and uploaded as my time permits.  I am also writing for a Skyrim Mod called Luftahraan, so look forward to something cool soon.

Stay Creative, It's Good For You.

Grin Isobe.

Kahjiit, Damn Dawg!

Here's a funny Gif I put together recently.  It stems from the guys at Elderscrolls Off The Record always using the word Kahjiit as an cuss word, and saying weird things like "Do you poop in the sand?"   Haha!  They keep me laughing!  This is for you guys!

Click the image to see a larger version.

From Grinning Studios

Dr. Who plot holes fixed with one swipe of the Sonic Screwdriver.

A lot of people are writing about, posting about and fanaticising (my new word) about Doctor Who.  Hell, Yeah!... well, I watched about 4 seasons worth. It was somewhat enjoyable, especially Amelia Pond, sizzling ginger, but I am wholly disappointed. I learned one thing very important.  Sonic Screwdrivers can mend plot holes.

Surgery for a deviated septum and past open skull surgery for brain hemorrhaging.

surgeon with headlamp © Lisa Eastman #52450

*Update* 09-01-2012
 For those of you that don't know.  I was going to have surgery in September, to hopefully fix my deviated septum and obstructed sinuses, but that has been pushed to October. The surgery is a fairly big deal and I will be in the hospital for 10 days to a week.  Afterwards, there will be some time before it all heals.  I might not have the ability to sing again for a few months, and I am not even going to talk about worst case scenarios. 

Before going under the knife, there are a few things I want to do.

First, I am going to sing and record my heavy metal version of "The Dragon Born Comes."  Well, only the vocals for now because I don't have time to do the entire thing.

I have been practicing how I want the song to sound and will be ready to start recording tracks on Saturday.  Hopefully the mix will be finished by Sunday and I will post it to YouTube in some fashion.  I intend to include lyrics, of the dragon speech and enunciation for those that may want to try to sing it, but get tripped up by the tongue twisting dragon speech.
 
Second, I want to say how terrified I am of surgery.  I have had surgery once before for a brain hemorrhage in the back of my skull. If you want to know what it was like, Google Bret Michaels, the past lead singer of Poison.  He had a similar brain hemorrhage and was treated the same exact way as I was, at the same hospital, by the same doctors, and had the same recovery.  1 in a million.  or 2 in a million really.

I don't take this surgery thing lightly.  It is a big deal no matter how "simple" the procedure, but the doctor has told me he has so far had a 100% success rate, and many hundreds of surgeries. That is comforting, even if he does stress the risks very plainly.  I like his honest straight forward approach.


So wish me luck! You won't be seeing me much in October, and now you know why. We'll see you From now until October and more in November.


Sincerely,
Grin


Stay Creative, It's Good For You.
Show me your nerd swagger, and leave a comment.

surgeon with headlamp © Lisa Eastman #52450 acquired from Microsoft Office Images.

On Friday February 17th, I was interviewed by Thomas Janak for the Wild Time Radio Show in the UK. 

Thomas Janak is an amazing host. I felt he really had control of the interview and lead it from topic to topic in a very interesting way.  His quick wit and confident voice really made me understand the professional quality that I myself strive for. Thomas Janak has achieved that professional quality.

Topics of the show:

What brought me to Japan. Cultural differences. What Grinning Studios is all about.  My life in Japan.  Rewards of living in Japan and difficulties of living in Japan. The earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown. The Animal Friends Niigata NPO.

Over all, the show was a lot of fun to do and I am very thankful to Thomas Janak for the interview. 

Into the Wild: Wild Time Radio Show w/host Thomas Janak

Recently I was contacted by a very creative musician, radio host, and blogger, Thomas Janak. He expressed interest in promoting his music, and other creativity in Japan. I was actually sad to tell him that I promote talents in Japan to the western minded audience.

We had a few e-mail exchanges and talked a bit. I find him and his work fascinating! So, who is Thomas Janak?

Thomas Janak is a Holistic Animal healer, animal rights activist and host of the Wild Time Radio Show. He is also an avid blogger and musician.

There is so much I could say about this amazingly talented person. He's got his hands in so many creative, philanthropic and charitable works that I haven't been able to catch up with everything he has done yet.

The Wild Time radio show is an animal rights / world conservation show on air globally every first Thursday of the month on TCR FM 106.8 FM.  Their online version includes everything else that doesn't make it on the show.

Thomas Janak invited me to come on his online show this Friday and talk about Japan.  I hope to mention a group of people that I have recently come to support, Animal Friends Niigata. The head of this operation is Isabella Gallaon-Aoki.  They are in need of donations to support the many animals they bring in every day - rescued from the Fukushima exclusion zone and surrounding areas.

AFN was one of the three founding groups of JEARS. You can find more information about them and how to donate to save the animals on their facebook page Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support.





I'm really looking forward to chatting with Thomas and hope you all check out this awesome radio show.

Inspired to play - music.

Last weekend's visit with Graham Smith inspired a new interest for music in me.  It has been a while since I have made or played any music.  My background in music is not as great as I would like it to be.  I didn't do anything musical until high school.  My older brother played the trumpet when he was in high school, and I thought that was awesome. So, when I was given an option of instrument to play for my tiny high school band, the choice was obvious to me.  I wanted to be like Dizzy Gillespie, or be like my brother.

You know all those pictures of people doing something and messing up or wiping out - with big red letters spelling out FAIL somewhere on the picture - that was me playing the trumpet for one year. In all fairness, the trumpet was loud and I had nowhere to practice except at school.  At my first concert on the band, I choked big-time!  I used to have video of the performance, but I think I burned it out of embarrassment.  Very few people clapped, and I almost jumped out of my chair and ran out of the auditorium. The biggest let down was that the Elementary kids played first, and frankly, they were better.

I gave up Trumpet, but undaunted appealed to the schools newcomer music instructor for guidance.  She asked me if I could sing. I said I love singing. In the shower, walking home from the bus stop, or any other time I was alone.  She told me she was starting a choir and suggested I join.

What a difference! I went from screeching terror with a trumpet to 1st tenor in the choir. Then irony hit.  I was the worst trumpet player ever, and I am sorry to my band for putting them through such torture, but I got my come around when I joined choir.  The only other guy in the choir besides me.  He was completely tone deaf, but our teacher encouraged him and he kept trying.  So many times I had to bite my tongue and not tell him how much he sucked, and I wondered if the guys in band were the same with me.

Regardless of the suffering, I managed to do well.  Our final concert was packed.  We were singing songs from Disney's Aladdin, and I had a solo part singing Friend Like Me. It was amazing how much of a rush it was to sing in front of so many people.  Just my instructor on Piano, my mic and hundreds of people that genuinely enjoyed listening to our performance.  After my solo ended with an emphatic HA! Arms stretched out and a big genie smile on my face, the crowd stood.  I've never had a standing ovation before, and never since.  The feeling was incredible. I felt like a star. A shooting star!

When the show was over, I realized I was a falling star.  High school was ending, and so was my student life.  There was no college waiting for me.  I had a 2.9 GPA, and no money for college.  I got a single scholarship for vocal music at a community college, but it only covered the music courses and not the entire tuition.  The only way I could go to college was to take student loans, but the only way I could get student loans was if my parents co-signed the loans, and my parents made it clear they were not willing to do that.
So, as the crowd left the auditorium, I stood at the door and thanked everyone for coming.

Everyone smiled at me as they left and said my performance was good, great, brilliant and the like.  Each compliment was a nail in the coffin of my conscience and realization of my dark future.  The town I lived in was thirty miles from Phoenix, and only cared about country music.  My music was rock and I was out of place. One man, tall and strong as an ox shook my hand and told me to promise I would continue singing. I smiled and thanked him, but he did not let my hand go.  He said he wouldn't let me go until I had promised. It was hard to make that promise. I didn't have any belief in fulfilling it, but his grip was getting stronger. I don't know if he saw my conflicting emotions, but he was severe in his tone.

"Promise me!" He, said.

When I finally promised, he made sure to get my full name right and said he would be waiting for my music. It was six years before I finally went to college on student loans without my parents. I studied English and also took electronic music composition.  I made a fifty copies of a CD single, Send in the Clouds, with a buddy of mine that played guitar. The CD sold out, just before I came to Japan.  I made a total of 10 dollars after production costs.  Though I have done some music composition since, I haven't kept my promise.

I tried to learn guitar, but just couldn't get the hang of it.  When I married my talented wife, like any dutiful Japanese girl growing up in Japan, she had a piano keyboard.  I started plucking at the piano last year. I have had no lessons, but the piano just kind of makes sense to me.  I have decided to give music another try after meeting Graham Smith.  I am going to practice a song on guitar and a song on piano for the next open mic night.  I will do a song of my own on piano, and a cover of Hey there Delilah by Plain White T's. I'm going to practice until I have them both down and ready to go.

Wish me luck.

Addicted to Energy: New Pepsi Cola Energy Drink

Being a teacher of young children, energy is a precious resource that is never in short demand.  Although coffee is the most demanded supplement for the overworked, sleep deprived teacher, I personally can't stand it.  I took for granted when I lived in the U.S.A. how many energy drinks there were. In Japan, we have Redbull and a bunch of 1 shot types of energy drinks that all taste like cat piss.  Needless to say, I drank a lot of Redbull. 

Some time in August, I found a new energy drink gracing the shelves of 7-11 stores on my route to work each day:  Pepsi Energy Cola. I am not too fond of cola, but I thought, what the heck, it is less expensive than Redbull by 50 yen.  Redbull cost 200 yen for the small can.  Pepsi Energy Cola costs 150 yen for a similar sized can.  

I cracked open the can and set it in my cup holder, like I always did with my Redbull, and drove to work. On my way, and without thinking, I grabbed the can and took a sip.  In my half wake driving trance, I expected the familiar smarty sweet bite of Redbull, and was surprised instead to taste what I like to think of as canned awesome!  The sweet cola, guarana, smarty taste is fantastic!  I was also happy to feel the effect of the drink half an hour later.  The stuff is just way better tasting to me than Redbull.  Pepsi Energy Cola quickly became my energy drink of choice.  

A month rolled past and I continued through my daily commute, always stopping at 7-11 to pick up a snack and Pepsi Energy Cola. Until, suddenly, they were all gone!  I asked the clerk, 'where's the Pepsi Energy Cola?'  Perhaps you can imagine a mechanic walking into a car parts store, asking for what he would assume is a common part for any car, and the clerk looking at him like the part didn't, couldn't and would never exist:  As if I had dreamed it up.  I had to rush out to my car, and get the empty can I still had from the day before and show it to her.  When I handed it to her, she looked like she was touching something completely new.  I saw her stocking the shelves just the other day, but she acted like she was seeing it for the first time.  

'I'll ask', she told me, and disappeared into the back room. She was gone for some time, but when she finally came back she told me they no longer had Pepsi Energy Cola.  I said I know - and she looked confused.  I asked you if you would be getting any more.  She nodded and smiled: so I knew she understood.  But then she shook her head.  We will not be getting any more.  She told me. I was sad.  I liked going to that 7-11 because, the girls that work there are all gorgeous and helpful, if not extremely bright.  I think she may have thought she hurt my feelings directly.  So I smiled and thanked very politely thanked her for checking for me.  

I had to find another conveni (convenience store) that sold my drink.  There were four 7-11's, one Save On, one Circle K, and one Daily Yamazaki between my home and my work. All the 7-11's pulled the drink from their shelves.  Circle K and Daily Yamazaki didn't have any Pepsi Products that I could tell.  My last stop was my lucky break.  Save On had the drink!  I was saved!  

Another month went by and now instead of stopping off at 7-11 every morning, I was stopping at Save On.  I am sure you are thinking, why not just stock up at the supa (super market) and stop going to the conveni?  Right?  Well, strangely, these energy drinks are only sold at conveni's.  Rather inconveniently convenient for them.  I don't mind stopping on my hour long drive every day for a break anyway.  And life was good, until the other day.  On my day off I went to a different Save On closer to home: that also always had my drink. The shelf was empty! Like someone had just come through and cleared every last one of them.  I panicked and ran out the door.  There was another Save On just a block away.  They were out too. I went home mystified. 

The next day, I went to work and stopped off at my usual Save On for a Redbull, but instead, I found the Pepsi Energy Cola.  Excited I took the can and showed it to the clerk.  A nice, if not as pretty lady.  Much smarter than what I was used too.  She said, she wasn't aware of any end to the stocking of the item.  Just to be sure, I bought 6 of them since I didn't have enough to buy the whole shelf.  As I was sitting in my car holding my drink and ready to pop the top, someone knocked at my window.  It was the clerk again.  She told me they would keep ordering the drink and in-fact had more shipments coming.  I thanked her for checking for me and told her I would see her again in 6 days... When I ran out. 

If you have a chance to try this drink, I recommend it with all my addicted conviction.  It's awesome stuff!

Pepsi Energy Cola was re-released October 2012. Read the article at the following link: Pepsi Energy Cola: How does it taste?.

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Wedding Technology.

Last weekend, my wife and I had our wedding in Japan.  My family couldn't be there but, undaunted, I decided to bring my family to the wedding via Skype.  They were able to join in the celebration from thousands of miles away. It was fantastic! I am amazed at our day and age of technology.  It reminds me of what one of my science teachers told me once, "Just because it can't be done, doesn't mean it won't be done."

Did someone tell Orville and Wilbur right that humans will never fly?  Did someone tell Henry Ford he could never make cars better than a horse carriage?  Did someone tell Thomas Edison Artificial Light without fire was impossible?  Did someone tell Nicola Tesla he could never supply power to the people better than Thomas Edison?  And last but my current favorite, Did someone tell Steve Jobs that he could never make hand held computing for the masses?  If you answered yes to all of these questions, give yourself a cookie.

It isn't about what can't be done, its what can't be done right now.  What can't be done right now, is tomorrow's next innovation.  So when I say I want to talk to my great, great, great, grandfather - regardless of his being dead a really, really long time - it just can't be done right now. But, maybe my great, great, great grandson will be able to talk to me.  If I am intrepid, maybe I can take some of those generations away from the wait and let my Grandson talk to me after I have passed. That is my dream. 

Call me crazy, but It can be done, just not right now.  Cheers to technology and the future!

Link of the day is devilsworkshop.org from where I got the picture.