[Gpdd] HEALTH, K. C. update

[Michael Tanaka]

Hello everyone and everypig!  There have been several people questioning
why we do what we do, so we thought we'd take the time to explain.

Over the past couple of years, K. C. has had some health problems.
Currently, he suffers from impaction, bladder sludge, gas, broken tooth.
Over
a year ago, he didn't pee for seventeen hours.  Michael and I worked on
him throughout the night--syringing water, massaging him to encourage him
to pee--nothing.  At this point, K. C. was fading fast.  It came to the
point where he wouldn't eat, he wouldn't even lift his head.  Michael went
to use the restroom and I just gritted my teeth and said, I'll try again!
I massaged his penis and this time, at the base, felt a lump!  I gently
massaged it and it moved up!  When it came near the tip, I tried to get it
out.  It looked like wet tissue.  We later learned that it was probably
some male sort of thing(Urethra plug?).  K. C. took several days to
recuperate from that episode.  Because he suffers from bladder sludge,
every so often, despite our best efforts of syringing him water four to
five times a day, and trying to control his diet, the sludge will build up
and maybe it'll get thick or sticky, which means, that it will plug him.
He'll get bloated, he'll get diarrhea, and he can't pee.

Within the past couple of months, we don't know how, but hairs get tightly
wrapped around his penis.  Michael tried for an hour to gently remove a
hair but couldn't.  Since I couldn't see (we were in our car parked at the
mall at night), rather than look, I felt.  K.C. wheeked and Michael asked
what was I doing!  I said, I can't see so I'm feeling and then Michael
said that it looks like I took off the hair!  K. C. seemed relieved at
being able to pee again.  He's had several episodes of this so of course,
I've gotten paranoid that he'll suffer because it'll happen between
'checks'.

So, we check it a couple of times a day and oil it a couple of times a day
to make it more 'slippery' for hairs, sludge, whatever.  It seems to have
worked so far.  Except, of course, I hate to think that my well-meaning
gestures caused his current woes.  I hope not!  I always gently massage
from the bottom up, trying to feel for anything 'stuck'.

So, that's why his penis gets a bit more handling than usual.  I haven't
touched it since this episode has happened.  Michael checks it every
night.  A couple of days ago, his penis was purplish.  But Michael gently
massaged it and it was pinkish later in the day.  The next day, it was
also pinkish.

As for K. C., he wasn't doing too well this morning (Tuesday).  But he
seems better later in the day.  Of course, we'll continue to monitor him.


Corrine, Michael & K. C.