Surgically Repaired

The surgeon fixed Kenton's busted rotator cuff Thursday morning. I don't know how long he'll be unable to drum. At least two weeks.
I took him a get well present Thursday night: a DVD history of Stax-Volt records. I found Kenton snoring in bed with an ice pack on his neck and his shoulder supported by a stuffed rabbit. For once, he looked every bit of his age. I associate Kenton with vitality and non-stop activity. It was odd to see him flat on his back. Melissa told me to wake him up for dinner. He couldn't read the DVD box without his glasses, so I had to tell him what it was.
Kenton wiggled his fingers for me. He said his neck and shoulder already felt better. Whatever was torn in his rotator cuff created shooting electrical pains and numbness up his neck and down his arm. I guess it was pressing on a main nerve.
"That's why I've been dropping my drumsticks so much," he told me.
Monday night, I noticed that Kenton had dropped drumsticks in the middle of songs several times.
Teddy Roosevelt once gave a long speech while oozing blood from a gunshot wound in his chest after an assasination attempt. Kenton displays a similar indifference to physical pain. He once did an entire show at the Stoney End with a migraine. His eyeballs were popping out of his head, he was covered with sweat and his playing was incredibly sloppy. But he refused to cut a single song from the show and even did his noisy 10 minute drum solo during "Crossroads." I didn't know what was wrong until we were breaking down the gear after the show. Kenton never complained. I've never had a migraine. But I understand that if you are so afflicted, the last thing you might want to do is play drums in a three hour rock and roll show during a heat wave.
The doctors were also supposed to repair Kenton's bad knee on Thursday. They postoned this surgery. Kenton has too much business travel coming up. His knee can't take it. So we can look forward to Kenton being out of action for another two a three weeks in 2008.
The rest of the band will continue to rehearse this month with my 16-year-old son, Brett, on the drums. The main thing is to keep going, somehow.