I am clean for now. Some followup bloodwork in January, and another set of scans in April. Except for a minor procedure to remove my chest port, which will take place in mid-November, I can live like a normal person for the next six months.
We are immensely relieved.
Posted: 3:07 pm Mon October 25 2010 | Comments(15) |
Even though I went to bed at a decent hour, it was a miserable night. Unexpectedly startled awake around 11:30 (not my usual behavior), did not get back to sleep until after 2:30. My oncology appointments start at 10:00 this morning, and stretch over about five hours, so I have picked a doozy of a day to be drastically underslept. It’s not like I can just skip them, or roll over and sleep a few more hours. To add to my joy, I am terrified of what they might find. And once that’s all concluded, I am off to the hospital again to see my mom. (A different hospital than mine, most of the way across town.)
In other news, we have made the decision that my mother will come to my house on discharge from the hospital. The physical layout and logistics here are much friendlier to her post-operative mobility impairment and other needs than her own place. Once she’s a little firmer on her feet, she’ll go back home. She should be here either tomorrow or Wednesday. This means blogging may be highly irregular this week, as I will be primary caregiver through at least Friday.
In other other news, I managed to write a first draft of a short story yesterday, which has received good preliminary response from the editor.
Posted: 5:50 am Mon October 25 2010 | Comments(2) |
This last set of the Melbourne series features a few interesting food photos. The world is filled with interesting food, I suppose, but this is what we saw.
Nothing says yum like a white tomato.
Mmm. Funky curry.
Burger trademark fault.
Pork floss buns, because nothing else speaks so well to dental hygiene.
More pork floss buns!
Inexplicable buns are inexplicable.
Puppy cake! Now made from real, erm… Never mind.
Duck!
As usual, more at the Flickr set.
© 2010, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Posted: 5:42 am Mon October 25 2010 | Comments(3) |
Your Monday moment of zen.
This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Posted: 5:41 am Mon October 25 2010 | Comments(0) |
Amazon to Allow Kindle Book Lending — Inteesting. Not that I’ll ever buy a Kindle or support Amazon in any other way.
Geomagnetic Record To Reveal Sun’s Route Through Galaxy — The Sun’s passage through interstellar clouds can explain a number of anomalies in the geomagnetic record, say astrophysicists. From the department of weird science.
Some ‘Sesame Street’ viewers sense a gay-friendly vibe — Um, ok.
Smart-Blind — An interesting and clever analysis of the Dunning-Kruger effect in everyday life. And may I add from the political sector: Palin-O’Donnell, your Dunning-Kruger ticket for 2012. (Via lt260.)
?otD: Fred or Ginger?
10/25/2010
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hours (to my own amazement)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 4.5 hours (badly interrupted)
This morning’s weigh-in: 243.2
Yesterday’s chemo/post-op stress index: 4/10 (fatigue, peripheral neuropathy, emotional distress)
Currently reading: I Wonder by Marian Bantjes
Posted: 5:37 am Mon October 25 2010 | Comments(1) |
Over at the hospital at 5 am this morning to sit with tillyjane for a while. She is barely mobile and in a lot of discomfort, but recovering nicely. They may discharge her as early as Tuesday. We’re still getting a handle on how to manage her care at home.
Yesterday I was thinking about what to tell my therapist when I see him this coming week. Over the past two weeks, exactly so counting back from today, I and the people I love have experienced:
Why has my head not yet exploded like a pumpkin filled with acetylene?
Posted: 7:51 am Sun October 24 2010 | Comments(6) |
Your Sunday moment of zen.
Breakfast, 2006. Photographed by Jay Lake. © 2006, 2010, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Posted: 7:40 am Sun October 24 2010 | Comments(1) |
Austen’s alleged failings in style and grammar: we need examples — Language Log with a painful story about academic analysis of literature. Or not.
Cthulhu Mythos, As Imagined By Kids — (Via a mailing list I am on.)
Moon Crater Contains Usable Water, NASA Says — …wetter than the Sahara (Thanks to Dad.)
Bucket wheel excavator — Not sure why APOD is running this photo, but it’s pretty cool. Reminds me of the big drag-line excavators they used in Nigeria when I was a kid.
The Shield from Reality — Anthroslug pins down the conservative mindset in a nutshell. (Via lt260.)
What If “The Biggest Tent” Falls Short? Worse For Republicans, What If It Succeeds? — Conservative commentator Daniel Larison on GOP fortunes in the upcoming elections. I was particularly struck by this line in his closing paragraph: If Republicans do manage to eke out a House majority, the electorate won’t have provided them with even the illusion of a mandate So what? Republicans always govern as if they have a mandate, regardless of the electoral reality. Viz Bush after the 2000 election. That, in a sense, is what the unnamed senior Bush aide meant by the “we create our own reality” comment. Projecting the appearance of strength is often convincing, a lesson the Democrats have either never learned or forget repeatedly. In politics, perception is everything.
George W. Bush Says His “Biggest Accomplishment” Was Keeping Us “Safe” — Uh. Yeah. Coz 9-11 and Katrina happened on Clinton’s watch. Or maybe Obama’s. Yeah.
Eight False Things The Public “Knows” Prior To Election Day — This, in a nutshell, is why I think the Tea Party is so patently either a gang of wilful idiots or conservative racists. Almost everything they’re so angry at the black Democratic president about is a result of Bush’s policies — the trillion dollar deficit, the bank bailouts, the wars overseas. Yet not a peep out of those guys back when these now thoroghly despised decisions were being made and implemented by a white Republican. The things on their shit list that Obama has done — HCR, changes in the tax code, the economic stimulus — the Tea Party is simply wrong about on the face of the plain facts. Today’s Doonesbury on the closely related issue of alleged Republican spending cuts.
?otD: Joan or Vernor?
10/24/2010
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (medical distraction)
Body movement: suburban walking to come
Hours slept: 7.5 hours (solid)
This morning’s weigh-in: 243.8
Yesterday’s chemo/post-op stress index: 4/10 (fatigue, peripheral neuropathy, emotional distress)
Currently reading: I Wonder by Marian Bantjes
Posted: 7:37 am Sun October 24 2010 | Comments(3) |
Went out Very Early to visit my mom in the ICU before the morning rounds and shift change. Held her hand for about 40 minutes, talked to her and the nurse. She was awake and reasonably alert for a while, then some meds kicked in and not so much. I will be back over there sometime this afternoon. They are supposed to transfer her out of ICU today.
Came back to Witchnest Manor to (eventually) find calendula_witch feeling rather a bit ill. Thankfully, she is experiencing the stay-in-bed-and-sleep-uneasily kind of ill, not the go-to-the-ER kind of ill. Still, ’tis a wet and gloomy day here in Greater Portlandia, the real advent of our autumnal weather, and my poor sweetie seems to be matching the aspect of the season.
Posted: 8:44 am Sat October 23 2010 | Comments(1) |
Your Saturday moment of zen.
Beaded creature by the Moon and the Sun. (That’s what my notes say…) Photographed by
This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Posted: 7:40 am Sat October 23 2010 | Comments(1) |