WEBVTT 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:33.740 Welcome to Curmudgeon's Corner for Saturday, January 24th, 2026. 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:38.240 It's 2148 UTC as I'm starting to record this. 00:00:38.360 --> 00:00:43.520 I am Sam Minter, no Yvonne Vaudet, and almost no me today. 00:00:44.160 --> 00:00:48.520 So obviously it's been a big news week. 00:00:48.700 --> 00:00:53.140 We have a whole bunch of things. There have been more sexual assault allegations 00:00:53.140 --> 00:01:00.920 against Donald Trump's circling around right below the level where most media would cover it. 00:01:01.060 --> 00:01:03.900 There's the whole Greenland nonsense. 00:01:04.380 --> 00:01:08.200 Jack Smith did testimony. Trump's Board of Peace. 00:01:08.420 --> 00:01:16.680 And of course, all sorts of stuff related to ICE and Border Patrol in Minnesota and elsewhere. 00:01:17.400 --> 00:01:21.400 Just a couple hours before I'm recording this, they shot somebody else. 00:01:22.040 --> 00:01:27.620 And there's that memo saying that they think they can enter homes without warrants. 00:01:27.820 --> 00:01:31.620 There have been escalating protests. There have been all kinds of stuff going on. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:41.580 But I think we're just going to have sort of a preemptory short little update 00:01:41.580 --> 00:01:48.760 here to not break the string of like having a show every week for a long time, 00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:52.000 because I'll tell you guys, it's been a week. 00:01:53.870 --> 00:01:58.710 I'll mention Yvonne first before I get to me, because it's more recent as we're recording this. 00:01:58.990 --> 00:02:03.890 We were going to try to do a regular show, but right a couple hours before we 00:02:03.890 --> 00:02:08.830 were going to record today, and he has posted on the Convention's Corner Slack 00:02:08.830 --> 00:02:13.390 about this, so I think it's okay to share, Yvonne's son Manu broke his arm. 00:02:15.170 --> 00:02:21.030 And they're being treated appropriately at the emergency room or urgent care 00:02:21.030 --> 00:02:24.130 or wherever they are. and they're, they're doing okay. 00:02:24.690 --> 00:02:27.450 I mean, broken arm, but okay. 00:02:28.690 --> 00:02:33.770 And, and I spent most of the week in the hospital and only got home last night 00:02:33.770 --> 00:02:35.830 and I'm still recuperating. 00:02:36.170 --> 00:02:42.370 I'll give you the really high level, which is that I hadn't been feeling great 00:02:42.370 --> 00:02:50.050 for like a month, but the actual like specific symptoms were like rotating. 00:02:50.310 --> 00:02:57.510 Like sometimes I spiked a fever, sometimes I didn't and was fine in terms of temperature. 00:02:58.210 --> 00:03:06.510 Sometimes I was having sort of urinary tract infection type symptoms. Sometimes I wasn't. 00:03:06.870 --> 00:03:12.530 Sometimes it felt like kidney stone pain, which I've had off and on since I 00:03:12.530 --> 00:03:15.270 was 25 years old. So I knew what that felt like. 00:03:15.910 --> 00:03:21.290 Sometimes I had diarrhea, sometimes I didn't. You know, all in all, it was a fun month. 00:03:21.410 --> 00:03:24.070 I even went to the doctor once and they basically were like, 00:03:24.130 --> 00:03:25.630 well, you seem fine to me right now. 00:03:26.270 --> 00:03:28.610 What do you want me to do for you? And they sent me home. 00:03:30.470 --> 00:03:37.230 But then a few hours after I put out last week's show, I had some food with 00:03:37.230 --> 00:03:44.570 my son and then my temperature spiked from completely normal to, 00:03:46.310 --> 00:03:51.870 Literally 105.1, which is not good for an adult. 00:03:52.090 --> 00:03:58.930 And it went from like 98 something to 105 in the course of like 90 minutes. 00:03:59.250 --> 00:04:02.050 Because of course, like whenever I start to feel even weird at all, 00:04:02.190 --> 00:04:04.810 I'm like taking my temperature every 10 minutes because that's just, 00:04:04.950 --> 00:04:06.630 you know, the kind of thing I do. 00:04:08.590 --> 00:04:12.790 And I started throwing up. I threw up everything I'd just eaten. 00:04:13.630 --> 00:04:19.670 And I, and one, once the temperature hit like 104, I'm like, fine, fine. 00:04:19.910 --> 00:04:22.370 I'll, I'll, I'll like go to the ER or whatever. 00:04:22.750 --> 00:04:27.510 And I was like preparing to like drive myself to the ER. 00:04:27.750 --> 00:04:31.030 And Alex was like, no, no, absolutely not. 00:04:31.590 --> 00:04:36.890 You are not driving anywhere. I could, I could, I was shivering so hard from 00:04:36.890 --> 00:04:40.090 the fever that I could not speak, 00:04:40.390 --> 00:04:46.950 I could not type properly into my phone to text people, and I could barely walk. 00:04:47.720 --> 00:04:56.340 And so we did contact my mother to take me to the ER, and I managed to drag 00:04:56.340 --> 00:05:00.380 myself to the front porch for her to pick me up. I went to the ER. 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:11.060 Oh, and I did take some Tylenol with supplementary oxycodone that I had around 00:05:11.060 --> 00:05:13.880 for kidney stones. I took one pill of that. 00:05:14.400 --> 00:05:20.020 By the time we got to the ER to knock down the fever, so much that the admitted 00:05:20.020 --> 00:05:23.000 nurse was like, well, you don't have a fever anymore. Why are you here? 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:31.480 But luckily, once I got seen by the actual doctor, they took it more seriously. 00:05:32.140 --> 00:05:35.280 I mean, I guess the incoming nurse just wanted to know what was the immediate 00:05:35.280 --> 00:05:36.760 cause of you coming here? 00:05:37.340 --> 00:05:41.560 And it was that fever spike, because I tried to tell her the longer history. 00:05:42.340 --> 00:05:45.940 Anyway, once they had the longer history in mind, they set me up for the full 00:05:45.940 --> 00:05:51.180 battery of tests, imaging, blood tests, urine tests, blah, blah, 00:05:51.300 --> 00:05:54.540 blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Summary. 00:05:57.400 --> 00:06:05.260 I was in sepsis. So for those of you who don't know, that's basically like a 00:06:05.260 --> 00:06:11.500 bacterial infection that had gotten to my blood, and that's potentially life-threatening. 00:06:12.060 --> 00:06:19.500 Really significant and rare form of bladder infection and kidney infection. 00:06:20.020 --> 00:06:25.240 For those of you who like medical terms, let me see if I can pronounce these. 00:06:30.880 --> 00:06:38.940 Emphysematos thylonephritis and emphysematos cystitis, which basically meant that not only, 00:06:39.860 --> 00:06:44.100 were my kidney and bladder infected, but they were infected in a way that was 00:06:44.100 --> 00:06:48.160 producing gas in places that gas was not supposed to be. 00:06:48.740 --> 00:06:54.060 So as soon as they had all that sort of diagnostic information. 00:06:54.060 --> 00:06:58.140 Well, they put me on antibiotics, like practically the moment I got there, 00:06:58.280 --> 00:07:01.500 but they put me on stronger antibiotics. 00:07:01.900 --> 00:07:04.740 And we're like, we're admitting you. And not only are we admitting you, 00:07:04.860 --> 00:07:10.260 but you need someplace that has a urologist that has the right knowledge about 00:07:10.260 --> 00:07:12.480 this kind of thing that's available immediately. 00:07:13.180 --> 00:07:18.140 And so we're switching you to another hospital where that's available. 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:24.940 So I got a nice ambulance ride from Mill Creek down into Seattle and transferred 00:07:24.940 --> 00:07:28.400 to another hospital. By the time I got there, you know, they'd been pumping 00:07:28.400 --> 00:07:33.240 me full of antibiotics. I actually felt kind of okay. I was like texting people. I was like. 00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:38.660 Given updates on the curmudgeon's corner slack. I was otherwise, 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:43.680 you know, whatever, but I actually started going downhill from there. 00:07:44.340 --> 00:07:52.780 And I sort of lost track of time and space and where I was and what was going on. 00:07:52.860 --> 00:07:57.960 And I don't remember all the details of everything, But bottom line, 00:07:58.680 --> 00:08:01.980 this was also like, 00:08:02.140 --> 00:08:07.960 I did have kidney stones up in there that were not coming out on their own, 00:08:07.960 --> 00:08:13.820 that were in positions that were problematic and were probably triggering the infections. 00:08:14.260 --> 00:08:23.260 But where everything was, they were unable to sort of get to them in the ways 00:08:23.260 --> 00:08:27.780 they would normally get to a kidney stone. they needed to drain off the infection. 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:32.660 So they, you know, they, they basically needed to insert a drain into my right kidney. 00:08:32.900 --> 00:08:37.060 So I had a procedure to do that. That was fun. That was exciting. 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:43.960 And while they continued to pump me full of, you know, powerful antibiotics. 00:08:44.980 --> 00:08:52.880 And so I've been, I was in the hospital draining and, and, and while they were 00:08:52.880 --> 00:08:55.300 carefully monitoring all my vitals and stuff. 00:08:55.540 --> 00:09:01.240 I guess this was, I guess, Monday night was when we went to the ER. 00:09:01.480 --> 00:09:07.180 And so I was in the hospital Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday into Friday, 00:09:08.040 --> 00:09:11.860 finally came home Friday night. And, you know, sort of, 00:09:12.650 --> 00:09:20.170 I was probably the least with it and everything, you know, maybe Wednesday, Tuesday, Wednesday. 00:09:20.510 --> 00:09:23.970 I don't know. Like I said, my memory is hazy and vague. 00:09:24.190 --> 00:09:30.050 The actual procedure to add the drain that I needed was like Tuesday afternoon, I think. 00:09:31.310 --> 00:09:34.910 Anyway, I'm feeling a lot better now. I'm home. 00:09:35.310 --> 00:09:40.570 They are not done with me. I have to, I've got this surgically implanted drain 00:09:40.570 --> 00:09:44.790 in my kidney that's going to be with me for a couple weeks probably while I 00:09:44.790 --> 00:09:48.950 continue to take antibiotics to make sure the infection is completely knocked out. 00:09:49.210 --> 00:09:54.590 And then I need to go back in for them to fish those kidney stones out of me 00:09:54.590 --> 00:09:56.990 that were causing the problem in the first place. 00:09:57.110 --> 00:10:01.290 They did not want to try to attempt to do that while the infection was raging. 00:10:01.890 --> 00:10:05.570 So I'm basically, you know, not. 00:10:06.780 --> 00:10:12.680 Full speed for at least a couple more weeks, but yeah, that, 00:10:12.680 --> 00:10:15.560 that's where I am now. I'm home, I'm recuperating. 00:10:15.740 --> 00:10:19.920 My stamina is very low, certainly for physical things, 00:10:19.960 --> 00:10:26.860 but even for mental things, I'm finding like the amount of time I can like maintain 00:10:26.860 --> 00:10:30.940 sort of concentration on anything is relatively small. 00:10:31.940 --> 00:10:36.880 I'm sure that will inch its way up over the next couple of But at the moment, 00:10:37.040 --> 00:10:42.360 I'm still sort of like, yeah, I want to be lying down doing nothing, 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:48.140 watching TV with Alex or whatever, or sleeping. 00:10:48.680 --> 00:10:54.780 I mean, some of the time in the hospital, I literally slept like 90% of the time. 00:10:54.920 --> 00:10:58.780 I woke up when the nurses were needed to poke and prod me for one thing or another, 00:10:58.880 --> 00:11:00.420 and then it was right back out of sleep. 00:11:01.700 --> 00:11:08.120 Anyway, that's been my week. And meanwhile, Yvonne's son breaks an arm. 00:11:09.340 --> 00:11:15.720 Brandy got excused out of the legislature for a few days so she could come home 00:11:15.720 --> 00:11:20.660 and take care of Alex and a few things at home and actually be there when my 00:11:20.660 --> 00:11:21.800 first procedure happened. 00:11:22.380 --> 00:11:27.820 And she's going back tomorrow. And so I have to figure out how to, 00:11:27.820 --> 00:11:29.640 you know, basically take care 00:11:29.640 --> 00:11:33.920 of myself and get Alex to school next week and all that kind of stuff. 00:11:35.260 --> 00:11:39.180 But, yeah, I've been distracted. 00:11:40.060 --> 00:11:43.160 So, like, I know all this stuff has been happening in the news, 00:11:43.200 --> 00:11:49.740 and I have been paying some level of attention to it, but I'm not really prepared to, like... 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:55.100 If Yvonne was here, I would have the two-way conversation with him. 00:11:55.840 --> 00:12:03.780 I don't think I'm ready to have like a one-hour-plus monologue on all this kind of stuff by myself. 00:12:03.960 --> 00:12:08.580 But I just wanted to give you an update on how I'm doing. 00:12:10.220 --> 00:12:15.220 Yeah, it's been a fun and exciting time. 00:12:16.060 --> 00:12:21.000 But they were able to knock the infection out of me fairly quickly. 00:12:21.580 --> 00:12:27.740 They were happy to see me recover as quickly as I did. 00:12:28.140 --> 00:12:32.580 At least one of the doctors seemed to be a little surprised and thought it would take longer. 00:12:33.580 --> 00:12:37.180 But, you know, I'm not done yet. 00:12:37.620 --> 00:12:41.520 But I think I am over the hump and home, 00:12:41.720 --> 00:12:47.380 and now I just have to maintain this stupid drain sticking out of my side and 00:12:47.380 --> 00:12:51.880 manage to do the things I need to do, but I'm probably going to, 00:12:52.040 --> 00:12:54.640 at least for the next few days, 00:12:54.860 --> 00:13:01.720 stick to the bare minimum and try to slowly ramp up, but try not to rush myself either. 00:13:03.350 --> 00:13:09.290 And, yeah, that's it. So, sorry, this is not, like, the most exciting, 00:13:09.450 --> 00:13:11.850 entertaining episode of Curmudgeon's Corner. 00:13:12.530 --> 00:13:14.830 But it's about what I have in me today. 00:13:15.790 --> 00:13:19.190 So, you know, like, sometimes when I do these solo shows every weekend, 00:13:19.270 --> 00:13:22.930 I'll do one segment, wait a while, record another segment, wait a while, 00:13:23.250 --> 00:13:25.510 do another segment, wait a while, put them all together at the end. 00:13:27.370 --> 00:13:31.510 No, I'm not going to bother doing that. I've done what I'm going to do, 00:13:31.550 --> 00:13:37.850 and hopefully Yvonne and I will be able to do a more normal show next week. 00:13:38.170 --> 00:13:43.770 But in the meantime, I'm going to wrap this up, and I'll get this out sometime 00:13:43.770 --> 00:13:49.310 in the next 24 hours, and maybe, maybe 48. I don't know. 00:13:49.830 --> 00:13:52.890 I don't want to make promises when I'm in my current state. 00:13:53.330 --> 00:13:57.650 Anyway, I'll get it out, and hopefully next week we'll do a normal show. 00:13:57.650 --> 00:14:02.570 And apologies for the short show, but, you know, at least you got a show. 00:14:02.810 --> 00:14:06.570 I'm maintaining the we have never missed a week thing. 00:14:07.010 --> 00:14:14.990 Damn it. I was prepared to record a short thing on my phone from the hospital 00:14:14.990 --> 00:14:18.650 if I needed to, just to maintain that streak. 00:14:18.670 --> 00:14:21.950 But I didn't need to. I'm at home. I'm doing my normal setup. 00:14:22.750 --> 00:14:28.750 You know, whatever. Anyway, for those of you who were on the Curmudgeon's Corner 00:14:28.750 --> 00:14:34.530 Slack or my various family chats or whatever and have already expressed your good wishes, thank you. 00:14:34.730 --> 00:14:41.150 I appreciate your support and I am feeling a lot better and sort of working 00:14:41.150 --> 00:14:46.950 my way up. For those of you who this is brand new news, the worst is over. I'm feeling better. 00:14:49.450 --> 00:14:53.830 But it's time to go back to the living room, sit in a comfy chair, 00:14:54.070 --> 00:14:58.750 have some cold water, and watch more TV. 00:15:00.090 --> 00:15:06.410 Okay, that's it. Thank you, guys. Here comes the goodbye outro thing. Here you go.