nightdog_barks: (Canadian Mounties)
2019-08-02 10:41 pm

Face-punching has commenced!

So if anyone is interested, abraxane is a powder that has to be mixed fresh every dose (mine was mixed in the pharmacy next door to the infusion room). Once it's mixed, it looks like watered-down milk. It takes about 30 minutes to infuse (through an IV line).

Everything went well! No aches or pains so far, and, as a matter of fact, I haven't felt any side effects at all -- I imagine that will pick up by tomorrow. Next Friday we get to do it all over again. And then the next Friday! And the next! And the --

Still. The thought of all those cancer cells popping like rotten little kernels of corn warms the core of my vengeful, angry heart. Psycho killer, qu'est-ce que c'est? :DDD

nightdog_barks: Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor, wearing lab goggles (Doctor Who 13 Jodie in lab goggles)
2019-08-01 10:56 pm

Hello, August

And I see you're already trying to get on my good side by managing to schedule my first chemo for ... Friday. Wait a minute, that IS a pretty good trick!

One infusion per week for three weeks, then off a week, then rinse and repeat. For at least six months. Oy. // holds head in hands //
nightdog_barks: (PinkDog)
2019-07-31 10:23 pm

GOODBYE, JULY

The less said about YOU, the better. You are forever on my shit list.

No chemo today, because insurance literally only approved the treatment late this afternoon. So that will probably start either Friday or next week.
nightdog_barks: (Gorey's Penguin Book)
2019-07-27 09:07 pm

And on we go

Okay, so. I didn't want to make another post until I actually had some news, and, if we look at the calendar, it's been approximately ... four weeks. For any real news.

So here it is, under the cut ...  )
nightdog_barks: (Anton Chekhov)
2019-07-06 03:08 pm

(no subject)

Who knows? What does it mean -- to be dead? Maybe we have a hundred senses and it's only the five we know that die, and we come to know the other ninety-five.

From Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, Tom Stoppard translation.

Isn't that a great quote? I really like it. It had been MANY years since I'd read The Cherry Orchard, but this edition had worked its way to the top of one of my To Read stacks and so I said oh why not. It's a funny, sad little story, with characters who feel very real. The production was directed by Sam Mendes in 2009, and the cast included Simon Russell Beale, Richard Easton, and Ethan Hawke. The NY Times review is here (they liked it, for the most part).

Weather is heating up here, ugh. So worn out from yesterday's fun times.
nightdog_barks: (Red Horse)
2019-07-05 08:04 pm
nightdog_barks: (Looking West)
2019-07-04 07:26 pm

An observation

While I am obviously still hoping to be a good candidate for immunotherapy, there is a part of me that is at the point where I would happily inject straight Drano into my veins to start killing these little lung motherfuckers bugs. So tired of being tired and out of breath at the slightest exertion all the time.

In other news, I am delighted to see that it rained on President* Goat-boy McBumblefuck's parade. :DDD


*Oh, he deserves an asterisk and everybody knows it.
nightdog_barks: Well-dressed lady holding a pince-nez to her eyes (Enquiring lady)
2019-07-01 05:44 pm

Hello, July!

And okay, already I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt because today I got an appointment with the oncologist I want, this coming Friday. So FINALLY I can start getting some answers.

Otherwise ... I finished reading James Robert Parish's Fiasco: A History of Hollywood's Iconic Flops, which is a pretty interesting examination of how cost overruns, endless script rewrites, and out-of-control egos (mostly the latter) drove big films such as Ishtar, Waterworld, Battlefield: Earth, and (an oldie but a goodie) Cleopatra off a cliff. Lots of behind the scenes details (drunken stars, under-the-table deals, drugs (usually cocaine) being supplied to cast and crew) made this an entertaining read.
nightdog_barks: (Facepalm)
2019-06-30 05:39 pm

Goodbye, June

I can say, without any equivocation whatsoever, that you sucked in every way possible, up to and including ways of suckage that scientists of the first rank have not even theorized yet.

On the other hand ... I read Rebecca Makkai's The Great Believers and really enjoyed it.

Also Layla is lying next to me and has her head in my lap.

And the teeniest tiniest baby spider I have ever seen has been hanging out on my laptop screen. I swear to god, it is like all of a fraction bigger than a ".". Amazing!
nightdog_barks: (Armor Girl)
2019-06-25 05:56 pm

I recognize this circus

OK, so. The pneumonia thing? I kept not getting better and not getting better and not getting better, so I had a CT scan this morning. Guess what?

It wasn't pneumonia.*

So here we go again. I mean, what are you gonna do? You gotta keep putting one foot in front of the other.**


*For those who want it spelled out, it's lung cancer.
**For those who don't know, I had breast cancer eight years ago.
nightdog_barks: (Red Devil)
2019-06-18 02:04 pm

(no subject)

Uncle Jasper and Aunt Dawn went to the United Church now, as most well-to-do people in town did. United Church people were firm in their faith but did not think that you had to turn up every Sunday, and did not believe that God objected to your having a drink now and then. (Bernice, the maid, attended another church, and played the organ there. Its congregation was small and strange -- they left pamphlets on doorsteps around town, with lists of people who were going to Hell. Not local people, but well-known ones, like Pierre Trudeau.)

:DDD
From "Haven," by Alice Munro, in her collection Dear Life: Stories. I laughed out loud for real when I read that last night.
nightdog_barks: (Puppy Toss)
2019-06-09 04:42 pm

(no subject)

So, my advice is, if at all possible, try to avoid catching pneumonia. Holy shit this is such a bitch.

In other news ... big thundershowers rolled through at about 1 this afternoon, bringing good rain and some high winds. Apparently a lot of folks around us and in the DFW area lost power, and a crane in downtown Dallas came loose and fell onto the roof of an adjacent building.

Currently reading Alice Munro's Runaway: Stories. It's been a long time since I've read any Munro, and these stories are just wonderful. I also bought the new nonfiction book Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee, by Casey Cep. There was a very good review of it in the NY Times, and it sounds really interesting.
nightdog_barks: Boris holding a red telephone receiver to his ear (Boris makes a call)
2019-06-04 10:11 pm

A different direction

SO. After a truly awful weekend, I called my doctor yesterday morning and begged asked for another antibiotic -- something, anything. So now I'm taking doxycycline, and NOT feeling like my meds are actively trying to kill me. Win/win!

Anyway, I'm now reading Mary Robinette Kowal's The Calculating Stars, which is an entertaining romp through an alternate history of space exploration and colonization, with crewed flight beginning in the 1950s.
nightdog_barks: (Dorothy)
2019-06-01 02:09 pm
Entry tags:

Hello, June!

A month in which Nightdog remembers exactly how much she hates taking jamboree-size antibiotics. Sweet jumping Jesus.

On the other hand, I did have a nice moment of cognitive dissonance last night, when I had the most recent Mamma Mia! movie on in the background. I'd forgotten that Stellan Skarsgård was in it, and I was briefly puzzled to see an uncharacteristically relaxed Boris Shcherbina smiling and dancing. Heh.
nightdog_barks: (Looking West)
2019-05-31 02:25 pm

Goodbye, May

You're not forgiven for that massive health scare you gave me, no, not yet. Took my first industrial-sized antibiotic pill this morning; nine more to go.

Started reading Ben Aaronovitch's Lies Sleeping last night, and before I knew it, I had fallen 100 pages in. :D
nightdog_barks: (Armor Girl)
2019-05-30 03:22 pm

Long story short

I have pneumonia.

The treatment is levofloxacin; I've taken it at least once before (maybe twice). I remember it gave me weird dreams, so ... at least I've got that going for me?
nightdog_barks: The actress Anouk Aimée in black-rimmed glasses, from the Federico Fellini movie 8 1/2 (Anouk Aimée in glasses)
2019-05-17 06:13 pm
Entry tags:

Pointy McPoints

1) Between my Chronic Kidney Disease acting up and what seems to be bronchitis (or maybe walking pneumonia), my health is kicking my ass these days. The symptoms of both include deep fatigue and loss of appetite, so I've been eating like a bird. (Yes, I am seeing my doctors.)

2) Chernobyl, on HBO, is one of the best mini-series I've seen in a long time, and holy shit, Stellan Skarsgård deserves all the awards.

3) Watching the Stanley Cup playoffs and cheering for the Boston Bruins. Apparently I like teams with giant assholes on them? Looking at you, Brad Marchand! :D

4) Currently reading Esi Edugyan's Washington Black, which is pretty good.

5) Got a haircut this week, which I really needed. The kid who cut my hair was named Kevin, and I was legit old enough to be his grandmother. We talked about how much we both like the John Wick movies. LOL
nightdog_barks: Illustration of a young girl wearing a cat mask bandit-style (Mask Girl)
2019-05-09 03:54 pm

Wondering where spring went

I mean, seriously. It is 64 degrees right now (17.8 degrees Celsius) with a brisk north wind, and tonight it is supposed to drop to 49 (9.4 C).

Finished reading Lindy West's Shrill the other night. I liked it a lot, even though I did agree with one of the Goodreads reviewers that there were (a few) parts of the book that were sort of self-congratulatory (and very name-drop-y). I thought her stories were great, and I identified very strongly with some of her memories. Small child in elementary school, so painfully shy? I see you. Oh yes, I do see you. Two thumbs up, would very much recommend.

Currently reading Nathan Ballingrud's new collection of short stories, Wounds: Six Stories from the Border of Hell, and it's good. I will ALWAYS rec his first book, North American Lake Monsters: Stories, because by god it is brilliant.

What else? Still watching What We Do In the Shadows on FX. Also the Fosse/Verdon miniseries on FX, and I watched the first episode of the Chernobyl miniseries on HBO. Plus the Stanley Cup playoffs.
nightdog_barks: (Looking West)
2019-05-01 03:39 pm

Hello, May!

You certainly look a lot like ... yesterday, in that we're waiting for more Big Rain.

Puttering around the house, doing lots of little things. Am now reading Margaret Verble's Cherokee America, which so far is pretty good although ye gods the author introduces a whole lot of characters really fast.
nightdog_barks: (Horse Weathervane)
2019-04-30 06:03 pm

Goodbye, April

Waiting for the weather. Right now we're having light rain and thunder, but apparently there is Bad Stuff passing right to the west of us (and by Bad Stuff, I mean stuff like rotating wall clouds and rain-wrapped tornadoes). In other words, Texas in spring.

Also, today is my birthday (I am 61, kids). My sister sent me one of these, which is just as goofy as it looks (ours is a blue mosaic, not red). Mister Nightdog_barks and I immediately christened it the Disco Ball Feeder -- I took it outside, hung it from a tree branch, and put some corn and sunflower seed inside. About 20 minutes later, I glanced out the back door. A squirrel had found it. He was INSIDE THE FEEDER, happily munching away. LOLOLOL