Thanks to Henry and Trouty and the Man de Mer for your kind thoughts.

I visited friend Jerry in the hospital this afternoon and came away greatly relieved. While the cause of his problem is still a mystery, he was in good spirits and was quite himself. He’s up walking the halls and seems completely unaffected. He’s been amusing the hospital staff, keeping them on their toes.

It occurs to me that under no circumstances should anyone ever consider making a television program on the subject of intestinal parasites.

While browsing the TV channels a few moments ago, I came upon a show called ‘Eaten Alive’. I thought the title looked interesting, so I selected it. The first image I saw was of a glob of roundworms, mugging for what I must assume (for the patient’s sake) was a very tiny intestinal minicam. Having just eaten a rather large dinner, the effect on my stomach was pronounced.

I think it’s all very well that the young woman featured in the story made a miraculous recovery from her roundworm infestation. I think it’s wonderful that she’s so desensitized to the grotesque nature of the beasts that she can show off a specimen she’s saved for posterity. I do not need to see it. The woman herself was quite attractive if it weren’t for the large roundworm she was holding in her dainty fingers.

I’ve watched “Fear Factor” and “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” dozens of times, and surely I’ve seen more disgusting things done for the sake of entertainment, but somehow, presented as a documentary, I found it unpalatable. I guess it was the unexpectedness of it.

Just as I was changing the channel again, the documentary apparently was about to focus on yet another parasite infestation, because the lead-in was, “Sushi lovers — watch this!” I love sushi, and I didn’t watch that. Leave me something to enjoy. Please.