A note from Karl…
So I’m sitting outside 3 weeks later, 9 hospital days, 10 therapy sessions, a morphine withdrawal and a $110,000 medical bill. The planes flying above me are making me want to be going somewhere actually. Not sure why, I think there’s something slightly romantic about seeing a plane in the sky and wondering where it’s headed. Some of you may have read that I broke my arm/wrist pretty badly a short while ago. It was pretty much smashed to pieces until the wonderful Dr Wagner and Dr Champagne (yes) put me back together over here in America. The whole situation has really made me think about a few things, some nice and some not so nice. A swift reality check that no one is invincible is a good first lesson. Put it this way, it could’ve been a LOT worse than it was. I actually feel ridiculously lucky that it was just my arm that got damaged. Yes, it’s not what I wanted to happen but you have to take what life throws at you sometimes and this is my part of that. The hospital actually turned out to be quite fun once the initial surgery was done and the pain was under control courtesy of an IV drug called Dilaudid which pretty much blew my mind everytime I pressed the little buzzer to call the nurse in. As a side note to that, it occurred to me near the end of my stay there that you’re basically made a drug addict for a brief period then sent back into the World to deal with it and make sure you can get off it again. That takes a strong will, trust me. I can completely understand how medical drugs can destroy so many peoples’ lives through addictions, weather starting in a hospital or just on the street. The withdrawal from my $400 worth of prescription pills has been pretty awful, not something I had thought about until Spencer worked out  that was what was going on. Anyway, I got looked after very well in that place. But then at the cost of $110,000 you’d hope so. I did wonder for a second that it was too easy to get pretty much ANYTHING in that place within about 10 minutes. Pack of baby wipes? No problem, that’s probably $40. I feel terrible for the families here that have to face the hardship of trying to pay insane medical bills for situations that they were unfortunately exposed to that no one ever wants. I heard that these bills are the main reason for bankruptcy in the United States and I’ve seen first-hand why. Hopefully one day this will be resolved for good and everyone, no matter who you are, will receive the treatment they need, at a cost that’s not going to destroy their lives. Anyway, I don’t mean to go on but I wanted to write something for you guys. I know that you’re waiting patiently for this new record and it’s happening, I promise. This situation shouldn’t actually end up causing the release to be any later than planned I don’t think. We’ve just slightly readjusted the plans. It just means less time in cold England, which I’m actually fine with. So there’s always something positive to come out of shit situations. Oh and Spencer was awesome in the hospital, completely made all the difference and got me through those rough days. A true friend will go and get sushi so you don’t have to eat hospital food for 9 days. Take care and we’ll see you in the New Year. Karl.
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