leon is back

leon is back, originally uploaded by [sic].

Leon has had surgery on his right (club)foot. It was performed by the renowned doctor Besselaar, who relocated a tendon from the shin to the side of the foot. We haven’t been able to find a picture of the doctor, but he does look like Sam the Eagle from the Muppet Show. As Leon was heading to the OR anyway (and we were facing the standard 10 extra days in hospital for hemophiliacs), the hematologist suggested to have his Broviac-Hickman catheter (basically a rubber tube in the chest) by a Port-a-Cath. A PAC is a metal box with a silicone plug that is implanted under the skin and is safer to use. In the mean time we have to pass another test, because cleaning and operating the PAC is normally restricted to registered nurses. One month later we are very much looking forward to next week, because we are hopeful we will pass the test next week and administer the Factor VII three times a week from home.

the charm of the unfamiliar

Fuelled by nostalgia and longing for their homeland, peasants from the inland, European immigrants and creoles shared poverty and disillusions about their golden dream of Argentina in the immigrant packed conventillo houses. They acted out in violent music and dance in the patios and brothels of Buenos Aires, accompanied by violin, guitar, flute and bandoneón. Thus, the genesis of the tango. To see this longing for the homeland emulated by those desperately longing for a faraway place (the essence of exotism) by the very inhabitants of the fatherland of the inventors of tango is a reversed “mise en abyme” to say the least. Think Malando, Joseph Schmidt, Pjotr Leschenkov and Olavi Virta.

percentage

As the Frisians say: "Elts praat fan my sûpen, mar nimmen fan myn toarst" (Everybody talks about my drinking, no one about my thirst). However, quenching thirst seems to be the lesser need of the modern drinker. Ominously, the x-height of the percentage seems to have grown larger than that of the actual brandname, overnight. As was to be expected, it tastes like sterno.

broken heart

Just a couple of weeks before he died, my father in law explained the technicalities of the surgical procedure performed in a Belgian hospital. In the end, medical complications and an onset of emphysema sadly caused his untimely demise.

jumping the band wagon

Well, that's what virals are for. It was a very therapeutic session with all the family members contributing.

one minute

Leon, in the backyard. Two days before the operation.