/* looks up the status structure for a parity stripe.
* if the create_flag is on, uses (and returns) newpssPtr if
* a parity status structure doesn't exist
* otherwise returns NULL if the status structure does not exist
*
* ASSUMES THE PSS DESCRIPTOR IS LOCKED UPON ENTRY
*
* flags - whether or not to use newpssPtr if the needed PSS
* doesn't exist and what flags to set it to initially
*/