I feel (not so) good.

It is going to be a fucking drag to break the news to Richie that James Brown is dead.

I can't keep this news from him. Regardless of what he's feeling like right now. I have to. It's my duty as his eyes and ears. He's sworn off TV and the Radio as part of his healing strategy, but I get him the paper every day. And it's going to be in there, of course.

As far as Richie's condition, things are actually better, believe it or not. There is now a theory of why Richie's experiencing what he's experiencing, and it is a curable, and also thankfully not fatal condition. It's called Hyperparathyroidism and basically results from the Parathyroid glands going out of control and leeching calcium from the bones and putting it into the bloodstream.

Hopefully if that is the explanation things will resolve well. If not...as Borat would say, "not so much."

Update: the other possibility is Multiple Myeloma. As cancers go, it's not horrible, but it's not great. You can die of it, but you can also linger for years and years and maybe even do OK. My Great Aunt Charlotte had it, but it wasn't what killed her. What usually kills people with Multiple Myeloma is infections (it suppresses the immune system) and the consequences of thinning brittle bones.

We find out about the bone marrow biopsy tomorrow. We hope.