Frenzal Rhomb’s Jason Whalley has revealed that a tapeworm he may have picked up in Central America years ago grew to give me an infection that caused two seizures that took the band off the road in January.
Jason Whalley minus tapeworm (photo Facebook)
Whalley collapsed in January 25 and was taken to hospital for tests were a small tumour was discovered on his brain. An operation was set for February 14.
Frenzal Rhomb were meant to be special guests on the recent Descendents tour but had to pull out because of the impending surgery.
“Valentines Day Brain Surgery. Sounds like a Ramones song,” Jay said in a Facebook post. “They gave me general anesthetic and cut a 10cm rectangle at the back left of my skull, took out the offending alien and put the skull piece back. It was over in about three hours”.
“Two hours later I was in intensive care when the head of the neuro team came in and said, “Good news, looks like it was some kind of infection.”
“Holy shit, the relief I felt was overwhelming, not just for me but for my family as well. I felt like I could breathe for the first time in three weeks.
“No cancer! Or as Gordy put it “Happy Valentines Day you tumourless fuck.”
“So what the hell was it? How did I get an infection in my brain?
I was tested for all sorts of things over a couple of days until finally they got some results back from the lab”.
Doctors discovered that the infection the egg from a pig tapeworm.
“A pig?!? I’m fucking vegetarian! How did I get the egg from a fucking pig worm in my brain?,” he wrote.
“So the tapeworm eggs live in pig flesh (most common in C America but found in loads of other countries too), the pig is killed and the meat undercooked and eaten by old mate.
Old mate grows a tapeworm in his intestine which eventually produces eggs”.
“Old mate goes to el baño, doesn’t wash his hands properly then busies himself cooking my vegetarian burrito. Gross.
Once in my stomach they never become tapeworms but they migrate into the muscle, most of the time causing no problem and you’ll never know it’s there, the only place you’ll have problems is if they make it to your brain or eyes”.
“Once in the brain the body reacts by sealing it in a kind of cocoon or cyst where it quite happily lived for 4 fucking years!
It’s only when it dies that the body has some kind of inflammatory response resulting in swelling which in turn lead to the seizures”.
“I’m out of hospital now finally after an extended stay due to picking up two separate infections post operation, headaches, fevers and the like.
As for having to cancel the Descendents tour he adds, “Sorry about the Descendents shows, I’m sure I was more bummed than anyone that was silly enough to buy tix because we were on the bill. I heard it was great.
Jay is also starting off the jokes to name the next Frenzal Rhomb album.
“Now, let the jokes begin, if I may start with a couple of ideas thrown around between myself and Gordy about what my name should be on the next record:
Ham Solo.
Notorious P.I.G.
Jabe.
Jay Edgar Hoove-er
Porkwind
Oink182
You get the idea…
“So back to ‘work’ on album no. 9 and see you at a show soon enough”.
Love,
Shit For Brains.
