Jay Lake: Writer

[cancer] Sliding out of chemo session three of twelve

Yesterday off the pump was actually tougher than Sunday. Which seems odd at one level. On the other hand, I wasn’t napping, I was working. And I am still on the Zyprexa.

Balancing Zyprexa and Lorazepam is interesting. Likewise balancing my lower GI meds. There’s a risk of a rapid swing from severe constipation to violently loose stool. So I work at keeping everything in line. Basically, it’s like balancing on a ball. Too much one way or the other, and wham.

Also, I continue to lose hair. Gave up on the beard last night, and shaved off the ragged remnants. My mustache is holding out for a better severance package, I think, but its time is almost at hand as well. I haven’t been clean shaven since 1990. Ah, milestones.

Further news on the plus side is that my CEA levels are trending down with the chemo. This is suggestive that my tumor is responding in the desired manner to the drugs. Might make surgery a little easier, not to mention validating the current course of treatment.

I went in yesterday for my Neulasta shot to deal with the immune system crashes. This drug lists for $20,000 per dose, though I have no idea what the insurance company’s contracted rate is. I realize that a whole swathe of Americans are hysterically allergic to reforming the healthcare finance system, but I can recommend a trip through the bowels of the insurance payments process, or even better, a severe medical crisis without coverage at all to straighten that right out. I suspect a lot of folks would have a Damascene conversion when smacked with the reality of healthcare in America over their Galtian free market fantasies.

(Of course, a significant number of HCR opponents don’t seem to understand that Medicare is publicly funded healthcare, so it’s not exactly a well-informed opposition. That’s what happens when you get your news from Beck and Limbaugh — like Rick Blaine come to Casablanca to take the waters, you are sadly misinformed.)

On the plus side, I feel pretty good relative to the last two chemos. And I’m finding silver linings in the schedule slip. I was able to attend my parents’ 40th wedding anniversary party in good order, and I will also be making the Locus Awards in Seattle next week. This impinges on my trip to Omaha with the_child. Unlike United Airlines, which was completely inflexible and unsupportive of my medically-induced travel problems, American Airlines really came through on forgiving the ticket change fees and argle-bargling a good fare. So kudos to them.

So I wend my way through this week, recovering slowly. the_child and her Mother are were to Massachusetts for a week last night to visit family, so Nuevo Rancho Lake will be as quiet as I am.

The schedule going forward is the Locus Awards, then one more chemo, then Omaha, then Readercon, then surgery, then Renovation/Worldcon, then a straight shot of eight more chemos. That’s pretty much me sorted through year’s end.

Tags: Cancer, Conventions, family, friends, health, healthcare, Movies, Omaha, Personal, Politics, Travel

Posted: 5:06 am Tue June 21 2011 | Comments(1) |

[photos] Your Tuesday moment of zen

Your Tuesday moment of zen.

More columnar basalt, Moses Coulee, WA. © 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: 4:59 am Tue June 21 2011 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad rings solstice bells

The voting poll for the Endurance caption contest is now open

Best Science Fiction, Fantasy Books? You Tell Us — NPR asks your opinion. Go vote! (Snurched from the mighty Daniel Abraham.)

The Justice League of Bulgarian Socialists — (Thanks, I think, to my brother.)

How Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon Unearthed Lost Photos From American Graffiti — A combination of crowdsourcing and machine intelligence just found a lost treasure in the Magnum Photo archive, a technique that could have wide application.

War Evolves With Drones, Some Tiny as Bugs

Mining Your Smart Phone for Health Data — A new app analyzes mobile-phone activity for warning signs of disease flare-ups.

Radical therapy sees injured US soldier regrow muscle — I love living in the future.

My Ex-Gay Friend — A tough one.

Endowed by their Creator with certain WHAT? — Some fun linguistic neepery regarding the United States’ Declaration of Independence

NBC airs Pledge of Allegiance without “under God” — Creeping Shariah!

Why I’m suing Georgia over immigration law — A principled Republican official speaks out. (Thanks to shsilver.)

McKinsey releases methodology; firm concedes study not predictive — Gosh, conservative lies about healthcare? In writing? What’s amazing isn’t the lies, it’s that McKinsey actually got called to account by the allegedly liberal media.

David Mamet’s Right-Wing Conversion — [Mamet is] Quoting Deepak Chopra, of all people, as saying, “Our thinking and our behavior are always in anticipation of a response. It [sic] is therefore fear-based,: he seizes the chance to ask, “Is it too much to suggest that this quote contains the most basic prescription of liberalism, ‘Stop Thinking’?” Like so many conservative critiques of liberalism, this is pure projection. The Big Lie from another angle. My most basic working definition of contemporary American conservativism is that it is founded on the morbid fear that someone, somewhere might be enjoying an undeserved benefit at one’s own expense. That, in a nutshell is fear.

The Thirty Years’ War … — Ta-Nehisi Coates comparing the American Civil War with the Thirty Years’ War. Plus a money quote from the Vice-President of the Confederacy which pretty much puts paid to the whole ‘Civil War wasn’t about slavery’ apologia so beloved of modern conservatives.

How Today’s Conservatism Lost Touch with Reality — Some inconvenient truths from the real world.

?otD: Will you praise the not-so-distant sister sun?

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6/21/2011
Writing time yesterday: 0.25 hours (WRPA)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 7.5 hours (solid)
Weight: 228.8
Currently (re)reading: A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin

Tags: Books, Contests, Endurance, Funny, gay, healthcare, Language, Links, Movies, Personal, Photos, Politics, Polls, Religion, Tech

Posted: 4:58 am Tue June 21 2011 | Comments(0) |

[cancer] Chemo Session Three

Well, basically I slept this one away. An alarming amount of sleep. On the plus side, I had no nausea to speak of, and I had more energy (relatively speaking) when I was awake. A fair trade I guess. And a good sign for chemo session four to come.

In that vein, I’ve rescheduled my trip to Omaha with the_child. We’re still going to make it out there, though I’ll doubtless be drag-assing quite a bit.

My thanks to my parents, H—, and the_child for taking care of me.

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Photo © 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: Cancer, family, friends, health, Personal, Photos, Travel

Posted: 5:31 am Mon June 20 2011 | Comments(2) |

[contests] Endurance caption contest voting poll

Art by Dan Dos Santos

Time for another caption contest voting poll, to celebrate the availability of the Endurance ARCs. I declared a caption contest on the following photo:

Very locked door, Bonspur, WA. © 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.

The usual comment madness ensued: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]

I have now embedded the comments into a voting poll. Unfortunately, some of the longer witticisms are truncated by the poll code. Usual rules apply. Prize after the voting poll will be an inscribed copy of the Green trade paperback and the Endurance ARC. Additional prizes may be awarded at the judge’s discretion.

Tags: Art, Books, Contests, Endurance, Green, Polls

Posted: 5:26 am Mon June 20 2011 | Comments(4) |

[photos] Your Monday moment of zen

Your Monday moment of zen.

danjite on the prowl at Moses Coulee, WA. © 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: friends, Photos, zen

Posted: 5:24 am Mon June 20 2011 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad blinks into another week

The voting poll for the Endurance caption contest is now open: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]

Super-Sized Spores Make Fungal Infections More Deadly, Possibly Explaining Victims in Missouri — More on the Missouri post-tornado infection. Weird stuff. (Thanks to David Goldman.)

Mechanical Calculators — Some lovely mechanical photography. (Via threeoutside.)

Fukushima Disaster Failures Kept Behind Closed Doors at UN Atomic Meeting

The difference between US and foreign reporting: [ OPPD Dispels Nuclear Meltdown Rumors In Ft. Calhoun | US orders news blackout over crippled Nebraska Nuclear Plant: report ] — Hmm, Omaha. (Thanks to danjite.)

[Sec. Def. Robert] Gates: Winding down the Wars

Benefactor’s Activities Raise New Ethical Concerns About Justice Thomas — What, an unethical party line Republican? Thelma, bring me my smelling salts.

The Tom and Jerry Problem — This use-hate relationship, in which Palin manipulates us and we torture her, reminds me a little of Princess Diana, whose relationship with the press Tina Brown described as “a cycle of dependency and combat.”

?otD: Is Monday the start of your workweek?

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6/20/2011
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hours (WRPA)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 7.5 hours (solid)
Weight: 229.8
Currently (re)reading: A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin

Tags: Books, Contests, Cool, Endurance, healthcare, Iraq, Japan, Links, media, Omaha, Personal, Photos, Politics, Polls

Posted: 5:23 am Mon June 20 2011 | Comments(1) |

[family] Happy Father’s Day to my Dad

I want to wish a Happy Father’s Day to my dad, and everyone else’s dad, including those of you have a dad, are a dad or will be a dad.

My father is an amazing man who gives me a great deal to live up to, even now after I’ve spent forty-seven years upon this Earth. He is a retired ambassador, one of the most intelligent and perceptive human beings I’ve ever known, very kind, possessed of virtually endless patience, and is an unfailing role model to me.

I can manage to be one tenth the dad to the_child that he has been to me, I will have been successful.

I love you, Dad.

If you feel moved to say something about your Dad, make post, comment here, or even better, call him up.

Tags: Child, family

Posted: 8:07 am Sun June 19 2011 | Comments(1) |

[photos] Coloring my chemo head

Yesterday the Niece and two her mother’s boyfriend’s sons colored my head with magic markers. Because why not? My head is bare and needing of cheer. Photos by many present.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Art, Cancer, family, Funny, health, Photos

Posted: 8:02 am Sun June 19 2011 | Comments(1) |

[photos] Your Sunday moment of zen

Your Sunday moment of zen.

Bud, Moses Coulee, WA. © 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: flowers, Photos, zen

Posted: 7:58 am Sun June 19 2011 | Comments(0) |