In 2005, as almost always in my life, I was going out dancing. At this time, I was going to The White Horse in Berkeley pretty regularly. They had a pretty good dj at the time and decent dance floor. I went about once a week or so and danced by myself as I usually like to do. For me, it is the best way to burn calories. Eventually, I quit going to the White Horse because it seemed to be drawing more of a straight crowd. This is very typical of gay bars. Gay men bring their straight girlfriends. Straight women love to dance in gay bars if they are not looking to get hit on. Then they have such a good time, these straight women decide that they must bring their straight boyfriend to the gay bar so he can see how much fun it is. They think their straight boyfriend is so progressive that he will just fit right in. Maybe they bring a few of their straight girlfriends, too. They they end up behaving as if they are in a straight bar. They are rowdier than the gay people. They giggle about men in the women’s bathroom. They pile their purses and coats in the center of the dance floor and then dance around the pile in a group. The straight girl has to prove her boyfriend is straight by making out with him on the dance floor. The straight people always want to take their drinks onto the dance floor to spill them all over the floor. Nobody that is actually into dancing brings their drink onto the dance floor!! Nobody that is actually into dancing, brings a purse to a gay dance club!! Anyone into dancing checks their coats with the coat check or leaves their coat in the car!!! Regardless, when you get too many straight people in a gay bar, the bar loses most of it’s charm and becomes like every other straight bar.

Okay. That’s my tirade. Anyone that knows me, has probably heard all this before! It is just the truth.

Regardless, I had been dancing at the White Horse on a regular basis. Back then, I was buying cheaper tennis shoes which didn’t have much arch support in them.

 Because of the lack of arch support, I bought some of those inserts you put into the shoe. While dancing, I came down on my left leg and could feel my foot slip with the insert inside the shoe and my knee tweaked. I continued to dance.

After this night, I started having knee problems in that knee. I got a knee brace and used ice and ibuprofen but the pain persisted. I kept putting off going to the doctor because I just assumed I had done something that would resolve on it’s own. Milton and I had plans to visit Europe for three weeks that year. Finally, before the trip, I went to see a doctor and got an MRI and it turned out that I had a torn meniscus. I wouldn’t be able to get the surgery until after our trip to Europe!!

I brought a knee brace with my on our trip and hobbled around Europe the best I could. Milton was very understanding of my need to go back to the room when my knee pain got to bad.

It must have been October 12th or maybe November 12th when I had my knee surgery at Kaiser in San Francisco.

Meanwhile, after returning from Europe, I had gone in to have my teeth cleaned and every time I get my teeth cleaned, my dentist comes in and checks my lymph nodes in my neck, my mandibular joint and the tissue inside my mouth. I was shocked and terrified when he pointed out a growth on my tongue!!!

Two days after my knee surgery, Milton drove me to a Sacramento Kaiser to be seen by an oral surgeon. I am not sure why we had to drive all the way to Sacramento except that Kaiser is all about managing health care resources and saving money for Kaiser so this must have been the cheapest option for them.

When i went in to see the oral surgeon, I overheard him talking to someone in the office about getting out of the office early. Apparently, I was going to be his last patient of the day before he headed out for vacation or something. He was obviously in a hurry.

He came in and swabbed my tongue with something that didn’t affect sensation at all. If it was supposed to numb my tongue, he didn’t give it enough time to do so. He got a pair of scissors from his assistant and started cutting on my tongue!! This was one of the most horrific experiences of my life!

Thankfully, it did turn out that the growth was benign. My knee recovered, too.