life in the old lane

Back into the healthcare vortex again today.

First, we stop of to visit the lymphedema specialist. She very nicely very seriously scolded Mr C for not following orders about what to do and not do with his “bad” arm. The arm that is missing 15 lymph nodes. She scared him. Too bad he didn’t see her earlier.

Next, we went to see the radiation oncologist. First, we waited around. And, waited around. And, waited some more. Doc Nuke’em recommended a 6 week course of radiation. He said that the first 2 weeks will be “no biggie” the next 2 weeks Carlton will be feeling fairly crappy and he said that the last two weeks will be “worse”. Just how worse he wouldn’t say. And, that it would take another 6 weeks to recover. Carlton is sort of with the program. He has an appointment for a pre-Nuke’em CAT scan next Friday with treatment starting as soon as his surgery is completely healed.

Hawai’i isn’t happening. Maybe in January. I keep thinking that the goddess is PUNISHING me for buying those 1st class tickets! (1st class non-refundable tickets I might add).

I am a little concerned about our sanity. Maybe just MY sanity. When he was really sick with the infection back in April and I was worried that he would die – well, I could deal with that. But a 6 week run of radiation – knowing that he will be getting sicker every day for 6 weeks… And, Carlton being a really bad patient. I am just plain worried. How will I manage? And, it will be winter. I hate winter. I’d say, screw it – I’ll just spend Xmas week in Paris – but that is when he’ll be the sickest.

I’ll just lay in a big stash of beer.

I think I’ll keep this theme for another day – might as well finish off the Day of the Dead.

 

We are having a much needed break from all things Carlton today. Happy Halloween, boys and girls!

 

Well, well, well … an update to the Word Press update has everything working again.

One thing is for sure – Howard U always has darn good looking parade marshals.

Carlton gots no sense. Today, he decided that he needed a new battery. Car battery that is. So, the silly man decided to install the new battery himself. He did. And now, his hands are all cut and bruised. But, would he PAY to have the battery installed – NOOOOOOoooooo. Guess he is still saving his money for a “rainy day”. Well, from where I am sitting  – it is a F-ing monsoon.

A nice warm fall day. I spent several hours on my terrace. Reading trashy novel.

Mr C went to his volunteer job – where he did not push wheel chairs. He answered the phone. He started having a lot of pain around his surgical site – so he went to see his doctor. Doc said it was just a part of the “normal” healing process. Doc also admitted that he hadn’t a clue about Mr C’s future treatment. There is very little data on metastatic squamous cell carcinoma. In the absence of data, I guess the Carlton will just have to decide on radiation or not radiation. Maybe Doctor Nuke’em will have some insight. Or maybe, he’ll just see Carlton as a revenue source. Cynical, yes…

One of my co-workers brought me some of her extra clothes. And, I got a pair of leggings and a pair of tights at Macy’s today. SO – I am good to go for winter clothes. If it gets really cold, I’ll just stay inside.

I am still assuming that Mr C will agree to go through with radiation and we’ll be here until late December. Today, he is starting to make F-it noises. If he doesn’t get the radiation, and we go to Hawai’i as planned – I fear I might have to bring him back to Arlington before our 4 months in Hawai’i is up. So, one way or the other, I’ll be seeing more winter than I want to see.

But, I don’t want winter clothes. Well, maybe some killer boots.

(Happy Halloween – this theme is problematic too.)

Today’s Carlton Quote is from his all time hero – Theodore Roosevelt:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

I like the short ones better. Just decided to see if the new WordPress works better with Safari – it doesn’t. Gotta believe it is my theme – but I am not changing it. Except maybe for Halloween.

Random observation: If you don’t have a car, going for groceries can be a darn good workout. At least if you are an old woman.

Misc. Gmail hint: Gmail doesn’t exactly admit that this is a “shortcut”. But, if you have keyboard shortcuts enabled Shift 3 (AKA #) moves the current message to trash.

Random observation: When some folk find out you have cancer – they immediately start telling you about all manner of alternative treatments. That didn’t work out so very good for Steve Jobs. Don’t suppose it would for Mr C either. Besides, it is a little late in the game for him to start living the pure organic vegan hear-see-do no evil life!

Great Idea: Hey, Dan Synder – change the name of the football team to the Panda’s. The Washington Pandas. Think about all the wonderful merchandise, Mr Synder. And, everyone LOVES pandas.

I went into the city today to check out the Howard University Home Coming Parade. It was either that or the “anti NSA” protest. Goodness knows that I love a protest almost as much as I love a parade. The Parade won. I am too old to do both in one day.

As for pictures… Well, I took the camera that costs as much as a car – but, I failed to notice that it was set for manual focus – but I thought that it was on auto focus. Fortunately, it was set on the hyperfocal length and I was shooting in “F8 and don’t be late” mode. So, the images are not as tack sharp as I would like, but they are in no way a total loss.

Mr C seems to be having more pain in the armpit area. Guess the nerve cells finally realized what happened and they are yelling WTF????

The newest version wordpress seems to have a few issues. Fortunately I can sort of deal with it.

We went to see the Big Cancer Doc this morning. As expected, he wants Mr C to go see the Radiation Doc. He also allowed as how there is no real evidence that radiation actually works against metastatic squamous cell cancer. Scheduled to see the Radiation Doc NEXT Friday.

I am not as optimistic as I was earlier this week. I think the protective cloak of denial is slipping. Life is uncertain. We play the hand we are dealt. But, hey, I am counting on a few more good days, weeks, months, maybe even years.

I am sure glad that this is “our house”. Because, it is very nice to not have to worry about raking all these very very very fine leaves.

Carlton went to see his “oral surgeon” today. I view this as a good sign vis-a-vis his mental state. One doesn’t go see an oral surgeon if one is planning on dying any time soon. Tomorrow we go off to see the “big cancer doc”. We should have a better handle on options after that visit.

BTW: We were invited to a memorial service for a cat this evening. Cat – felis domesticus – house cat. Here kitty kitty.

Free is good. I didn’t find any serious negative reports about Mavericks. (They will come out tomorrow!). So, backed up the Airness, downloaded Mavericks, installed Mavericks, backed up the Airness. No clean install – just put it right over Mountain Lion. The only problem was finding a place to download it. My snail internet said it would take 1 day and 21 hours. Pretty much a non-starter. I dug up a LAN cable and usb adapter and went in search of bandwidth. Found some in the management office. Hello, can I borrow 6 gig of internet? Anyhow, it took 30 minutes to download and another 30 to install. Mavericks is supposed to increase battery life – but it seems to me that it does that by dimming the display and “key lights”. I have 5 or 6 more gig of free space after installation. This is good. And, Finder is vastly improved by Tabs. Also, the calendar looks more stylish. Notes are cleaner – but I sort of miss the yellow note pad effect. There might be changes to safari or mail – but I don’t use either of these. I am a Google/Gmail woman. I don’t usually do system updates – but this one doesn’t seem to have adversely impacted the old hardware. And free is good.

Carlton had stitches out from his “little cancer surgery” of two weeks ago today. I week for a stroll around the neighborhood checking out all things autumn. Life is good – for today.

Still just doing it one day of denial at a time. I have convinced myself that we are going to get out of this alive.

I was reminded that I really don’t need an iPad. Having a perfectly fine iPod Touch. And a much loved Kindle. (Not the Fire – an book reader only).

Will let a little time go by – and I’ll check on printer drivers – then I’ll install Mavericks on the Airness. Free is good. As a stock holder – I have to wonder why is it free. Free is not always good!

I am in full denial mode. Mr C is going to be fine – for the next couple of years – IF – BIG IF – he does the radiation thing.  Denial is good.

One of Carlton’s friends dropped off 3 baked sweet potatoes this morning. A very unusual – but tasty – get well remembrance. The sweet potato is a folk remedy for asthma, bug bites, burns, catarrh, ciguatera, convalescence, diarrhea, dyslactea, fever, nausea, renosis, splenosis, stomach distress, tumors, and whitlows (Duke, J.A. and Wain, K.K. 1981. Medicinal plants of the world).

Think I need some major retail therapy. Possibilities:

Smartphone.
iPad Mini.
Used Fujifilm X100.

I could have a Nexus smartphone and an iPad mini for the cost of a used X100. But, I sort of like all of the lovely Apple-ish togetherness business.  OTOH – I like my gmail. New iPads tomorrow. New Nexus phones soon. And, I don’t exactly need another camera – especially a quirky fixed length one.