[cancer] Chemo, almost a week later, Shedding Day
For those with memories of my last go-round, yesterday was pretty much Shedding Day. Not nearly as nasty as the same event in the prior chemo sequence, but then early on I hadn’t been smart enough to be careful about milk products.
On the whole, I felt pretty good. Managed strong productivity at the Day Jobbe, lunch with my parents, some (unusual) overtime at the Day Jobbe, a helpful visit from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=1)
joycemocha, wrangled various data backups and whatnot, got a certain amount of writing done, had a delightful dinner with amberite and a fairly productive series of dad-daughter conversations with the_child to cap off the evening.
The discerning reader will observe that I actually consumed two meals yesterday. This in addition to my hourly consumption of small amounts of food, which much as last time is the most effective nausea control. Once I can choke it down in the first place. I did nearly backslide yesterday morning by eating a bit of hummus. Apparently last weekend’s reverse peristalsis swung a quick bit of operant conditioning on me with respect to a novel food aversion.
Sigh.
But most importantly, I have felt myself as of yesterday. Basically, that’s a week to really get over chemo number one. Insofar as I am over it. I’m hoping like heck that the lack of Vicodin in next week’s festivities will help curb the bicameral digestive complications.
In other news, overnight I dreamt about the (so far as I know wholly imaginary) Japanese practice of eggshell farming or nacre farming. When one wishes to grow moss or lichen or tiny, Arctic flowers, one uses eggshell or nacre fragments as trainers or climbing frames, as well as borders, pavers, etc. Think of it as a bonsai garden, entire little Heligans in a space the size of the palm of your hand. It was very strange.
Meanwhile, a bit more about Shedding Day and how chemo works, for them what wants to know. Medical and digestive TMI warning. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Cancer, Child, dreams, family, Food, health, Personal, work, Writing
Posted: 5:45 am Fri May 20 2011 | Comments(0) |
[photos|travel] The steampunk dream house
Passing through the town of Hanapepe on Kauai, an odd building that looked a bit like a treehouse caught our eye. We turned off onto Puolo Road and had a look… Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Art, Child, Kauai, nature, Photos, steampunk, Travel, weird
Posted: 5:38 am Fri May 20 2011 | Comments(4) |
[photos] Your Friday moment of zen
Your Friday moment of zen.
Atlantic Hotel sign in alley, Missoula, MT. © 2007, 2011, 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.
Tags: Photos, zen
Posted: 5:36 am Fri May 20 2011 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad greets the morning without queasiness
The Periodic Table of Storytelling — (Via SF.)
Characteristic Ages of Genres — Andrew Wheeler is amusing while making an interesting point.
Call Michael Brotherton the Roger Ebert of science fiction movies — I remember him when he was was just a punk kid grad student.
Social Media: Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse — (Thanks to lillypond, a/k/a my sister.)
New Findings on Rogue Planets
Scientific Process Rage — Snerk.
“Women making barrage balloons in a German factory, circa 1943” — A curious photo.
Disappointment, despair and Harold Camping — I stopped thinking of his “Bible prophecy” obsession as a kooky, but mostly harmless set of beliefs. I began to realize that it was a framework that burdened its followers with the inevitability of disappointment, false hope, denial and an inconsolable fear. Its adherents were its victims. There were other victims, too, but its main damage was wrought in the lives of those who most believed it. I am not so evolved as Slacktivist Fred Clark, and have more difficulty summoning his genuine sympathy for the self-inflicted victims of willful idiocy.
Newt: I’ll Make America Just Like Texas — Texas is dead last in the percentage of residents without health insurance, dead last in the number of children insured, and dead last in the number of women receiving early prenatal care. Texas is 44th in the number of children living in poverty, 45th in having the highest percentage of infectious diseases and 36th in high school graduation rate. Reminds me of my Texas Republican friend years ago who really wanted the US to go back to the way it was in the 1950s, when the country was free, safe, and prosperous. Except for the part where her divorced self wouldn’t have had her job because a man needed to feed his family and wouldn’t have been allowed in the door of her Bible-believing Church because she lived in sin with her boyfriend. (Not that she appreciated me pointing any of that out. I ruined a perfectly good rant against the evils of the same liberalism that made her divorce and her lifestyle socially possible and acceptable in the first place.) The bad stuff doesn’t count in conservative mythmaking.
You’re So Brave To Expose All Those Popsicle Woes — Islamic terrorism and urine-soaked popsicles. More intellectual leadership from the American Right. Christ, you guys would be hilarious if you weren’t so disastrously destructive.
The Year of Living Adulterously — What is it with Republicans lately? What does she mean, lately? The family values crowd never has been either.
?otD: Satay or sautee?
5/20/2011
Writing time yesterday: 0.5 hours (revised and submitted a short story)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 6.5 hours (fitful)
Weight: 232.2
Currently (re)reading:
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
Tags: Culture, friends, Funny, Links, Movies, Personal, Photos, Politics, Process, Publishing, Religion, Science, Texas
Posted: 5:35 am Fri May 20 2011 | Comments(2) |
[cancer] Doing the chemo bounceback fandango
Yesterday brought the first nosebleed of the chemo season. They’re in early this year, ahead of schedule, but it’s always nice to see my body getting a head start on the side effects. I also dealt with continuing low-grade nausea, though by the late afternoon I was feeling pretty much like myself mentally and emotionally for the first time since hitting the needle last week.
Bleah.
Various kind people came by the house and did various kind things for me. Managed some socializing at lunch, and to hit the_child‘s lacrosse game in the late afternoon.
Also, tillyjane a/k/a my Mom, had dyed her hair blue in sympathy to mine.
Unfortunately, in order to conserve spoons for the game, I had to blow off any pretense of writing or WRPA and lay low a while. Pacing, pacing, pacing.
It’s like being hit by a truck. Every day. Oh, and I have to remember to eat, pretty much all the time. Sigh.
Photo © 2011, D. Otteman.
This work by D. Otteman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Tags: Cancer, Child, family, health, Personal, Photos, Writing
Posted: 5:52 am Thu May 19 2011 | Comments(1) |
[photos|travel] Kauai Day Three: Spouting Horn
Our Saturday in Kauai was long and complex, so I’m going to break down the photo blog posts into sections.
The day started out with a trip to the Spouting Horn. A pleasant little park around a protected bit of coastline, it featured some fairly typical Kauai sights.
Such as palm trees. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Child, Kauai, nature, Photos, Travel
Posted: 5:47 am Thu May 19 2011 | Comments(0) |
[photos] Your Thursday moment of zen
Your Thursday moment of zen.
Classic steam tractor, Missoula, MT. © 2007, 2011, 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.
Tags: Photos, zen
Posted: 5:46 am Thu May 19 2011 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad feels even a bit more like its old self
A reader really likes Pinion
A reader really dislikes Madness of Flowers
mlerules on her experience of my recent chemotherapy weekend
Is a bad writing system a Good Thing?
‘Go the F— to Sleep’ proves a popular lullaby with bleary-eyed adults — (Originally via KOF.)
The Hidden Message in Pixar’s Films — Hmmm.
Parrots choose to work together — Soon they will form political parties and it will all fall apart.
Camel Thorn Trees, Namibia — Wow. As Pharyngula says, “That’s a photo?”
What Makes a Body Obscene? — Of chests and breasts.
Stephen Hawking: ‘There is no heaven; it’s a fairy story’ — In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, the cosmologist shares his thoughts on death, M-theory, human purpose and our chance existence. Just because you believe it, doesn’t mean it’s true. See also vaccine denial, evolution denial, Moon landing denial and supply side economics.
Rigid Litmus Tests — The idiocy of political correctness on the Right. And may I say it couldn’t happen to a nice bunch of venal pinheads?
Newt Spokesman Pens Epic Poem In Tribute To Gingrich’s Heroic Crusade Against The Media — You know, when your campaigning starts making Sarah Palin look like a model of statesmanlike restraint…
Jane Mayer on the Obama war on whistle-blowers — Honest to God, Barack, we elected you to be better than the other guys. That’s not even a remotely difficult standard to meet.
?otD: Musical thrones, anyone?
5/19/2011
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (rested)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 7.5 hours (fitful, plus napping)
Weight: 232.0
Currently (re)reading:
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
Tags: Books, Cancer, Cool, Culture, Funny, health, Language, Links, Madness, Movies, nature, Personal, Photos, Pinion, Politics, Religion, reviews, sex
Posted: 5:45 am Thu May 19 2011 | Comments(0) |
[cancer] Day three, post-chemo session one
Slept okay. Weird dreams of being locked in a resort in Buenos Aires with my father, as part of a parapsychology experiment. Woke up feeling mentally and physically more-or-less normal, but the nausea started again about 35-40 minutes later, so I’ve taken a compazine. My head remains clear.
I’m not sure about this recurrent nausea. That’s not even supposed to be on the list of major side effects for FOLFIRI, as I understand it. On the other hand, I know I’m in a vicious circle of nausea->loss of appetite->undereating->nausea. Look at my weight over the past five days.
So where possible I’ve allowed myself off my prescribed diet in favor of foods that attract me, but I think I’m still getting less than a 1,000 calories a day right now. I really need to get back on to something more like a normal eating habit.
It’s just so hard to make myself want to eat.
Tags: Cancer, chemo, family, Food, health
Posted: 5:50 am Wed May 18 2011 | Comments(1) |
[photos] Cruising Kauai’s Napa Li Coast
Various photos of our Napa Li Coast cruise on Kauai. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Child, Kauai, Personal, Photos, Travel
Posted: 5:43 am Wed May 18 2011 | Comments(1) |
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