Sul sito del Edge Boston è stata pubblicata una lunghissima e straordinaria intervista di Tony Phillips al pianista Fred Hersch, che consiglierei di non perdere:
So Fred, catch me up. The last time we talked was five years ago.
Well, in the fall of 2007, I was extremely busy with touring and traveling, just probably doing too much. I came back from a very tough European tour and in early December, around the 10th, my doctor suggested that I take a little break from my meds to see if I could get some appetite and weight back.
Oh my God, you could have had mine. But this really progressed, no?
Basically, the virus had attacked my brain, so by New Year’s Eve day (2008) I had full-blown AIDS dementia that lasted for a couple months, maybe a little longer. I was definitely nuts. Then I had this period -- like March, April, May -- where I was feeling great. My appetite was back, I was writing music and everything was hunky dory. Then in June I contracted a pneumonia, just regular old pneumonia. It was just bad luck. On June 11th, I went into a coma and septic shock and for the first few days it was kind of a 50/50 thing. I stayed in a coma until August 5th and I was on dialysis. Then I went to what they call a step-down unit for a week and then I went to an in-patient rehab because I couldn’t walk. And my right vocal cord was paralyzed because they put a tube in there to save my life so I couldn’t talk. All this air was escaping and I couldn’t eat because they were worried about me aspirating because it wasn’t making a seal. So basically I was on a feeding tube from June (2008) until February (2009) and I couldn’t eat or drink.
When did you come home?
When I left rehab, it was around the 5th of September. By that point I could walk, with a cane, but I could walk. I came home and started intense physical therapy, swallow therapy, you know, and gradually got my strength back. I started playing some gigs in October, November and December. I was still on a liquid diet, so traveling was a real pain because everything went into my stomach. Then gradually I passed the swallow tests and started being able to eat. Ironically, my viral load was undetectable and my t-cells were not so bad, but it was basically a year and a half of hell until March of last year.
Now I’m back to full schedule. I’ve been to Europe on tour, I’ve been to Vancouver, Halifax, I played a week at the Village Vanguard last week so I’m sort of back at full strength, but yeah, it was rough. I still only have the one vocal cord, but I have a voice and I can sing. Basically, it’s pretty miraculous that I recovered this quickly and this well.
Potete leggere questa imperdibile intervista a questo link
So Fred, catch me up. The last time we talked was five years ago.
Well, in the fall of 2007, I was extremely busy with touring and traveling, just probably doing too much. I came back from a very tough European tour and in early December, around the 10th, my doctor suggested that I take a little break from my meds to see if I could get some appetite and weight back.
Oh my God, you could have had mine. But this really progressed, no?
Basically, the virus had attacked my brain, so by New Year’s Eve day (2008) I had full-blown AIDS dementia that lasted for a couple months, maybe a little longer. I was definitely nuts. Then I had this period -- like March, April, May -- where I was feeling great. My appetite was back, I was writing music and everything was hunky dory. Then in June I contracted a pneumonia, just regular old pneumonia. It was just bad luck. On June 11th, I went into a coma and septic shock and for the first few days it was kind of a 50/50 thing. I stayed in a coma until August 5th and I was on dialysis. Then I went to what they call a step-down unit for a week and then I went to an in-patient rehab because I couldn’t walk. And my right vocal cord was paralyzed because they put a tube in there to save my life so I couldn’t talk. All this air was escaping and I couldn’t eat because they were worried about me aspirating because it wasn’t making a seal. So basically I was on a feeding tube from June (2008) until February (2009) and I couldn’t eat or drink.
When did you come home?
When I left rehab, it was around the 5th of September. By that point I could walk, with a cane, but I could walk. I came home and started intense physical therapy, swallow therapy, you know, and gradually got my strength back. I started playing some gigs in October, November and December. I was still on a liquid diet, so traveling was a real pain because everything went into my stomach. Then gradually I passed the swallow tests and started being able to eat. Ironically, my viral load was undetectable and my t-cells were not so bad, but it was basically a year and a half of hell until March of last year.
Now I’m back to full schedule. I’ve been to Europe on tour, I’ve been to Vancouver, Halifax, I played a week at the Village Vanguard last week so I’m sort of back at full strength, but yeah, it was rough. I still only have the one vocal cord, but I have a voice and I can sing. Basically, it’s pretty miraculous that I recovered this quickly and this well.
Potete leggere questa imperdibile intervista a questo link
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