my ( $thing_id, $action );

    my $update_or_insert = $dbh1->prepare( qq/exec stored_procedure /
        . qq/\@p1 = ?, \@p2 = ?, \@p3 = ?, \@p4 = ?, \@p5 = ?, /
        . qq/\@p6 = ?, \@p7 = ?, \@p8 = ?, \@p9 = ?, /
        . qq/\@thing_id = ? output, \@action = ? output/);

    $update_or_insert->bind_param(1, $p1, SQL_INTEGER);
    $update_or_insert->bind_param(2, $p2, SQL_INTEGER);
    $update_or_insert->bind_param(3, $p3, SQL_INTEGER);
    $update_or_insert->bind_param(4, $p4, SQL_VARCHAR);
    $update_or_insert->bind_param(5, $p5, SQL_DATETIME);
    $update_or_insert->bind_param(6, $p6, SQL_VARCHAR);
    $update_or_insert->bind_param(7, $p7, SQL_VARCHAR);
    $update_or_insert->bind_param(8, $p8, SQL_VARCHAR);
    $update_or_insert->bind_param(9, $p9, SQL_VARCHAR);
    $update_or_insert->bind_param(10, $thing_id, SQL_INTEGER);
    $update_or_insert->bind_param(11, $action, SQL_VARCHAR );

    $update_or_insert->execute();

    ( $thing_id, $action ) = $update_or_insert->syb_output_params();
    
    $update_or_insert->finish;