nightdog_barks: (Canadian Mounties)
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)
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)
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)
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: (Red Horse)
OKAY SO.

Cut for the medical story so far ...  )

So that was my Friday. :-)
nightdog_barks: (Looking West)
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)
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)
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)
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: (Puppy Toss)
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)
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: (Looking West)
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)
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: (Fish)
So. Last night I watched The Shape of Water, the Guillermo del Toro movie with the mute woman and a Fish Guy. And ... I liked it. I liked it a lot. I thought del Toro did an amazing job of bringing time and place to life and got terrific performances out of his cast, especially Richard Jenkins, Octavia Spencer, and Michael Shannon. I did think it was a tiny bit too long (even at 123 minutes) and even though, as I said, I thought Richard Jenkins was excellent I would've cut one of his scenes. And another small problem was that (to me) Michael Stuhlbarg and David Hewlett looked too much alike, and especially when del Toro was setting up the side plots I was confused as to who was involved with what. BUT ANYWAY. I would recommend. Two thumbs up.

Tired and cranky today because apparently my back did not appreciate twisting and turning in order to reach something in the pantry yesterday, and in return graced me with muscle spasms and aches the entire night. Still very achey. Getting old is not for amateurs, chiclets. Good news, though -- had my six-month checkup on Thursday and my A1C was 5.6. Doc said I could probably stop taking metformin and just stay with the Trulicity (once a week) if I wanted. IDK; it's something to consider, but I'm also wary of upsetting the "balance." We'll see.
nightdog_barks: Illustration of a white rabbit dressed in a formal red coat (Redcoat Rabbit)
1) I made our fresh granola a couple of days ago (we use pecan pieces instead of pistachios), using honey instead of maple syrup, and omg it was STICKY. I had no idea honey would make such a difference. It's good, but I think I still prefer maple syrup.

2) I have been wearing a heart monitor for almost a week now. It consists of three electrodes that you attach to yourself -- they lead to a monitor about the size of a cigarette pack that clips onto the waistband of whatever one is wearing, and the cigarette pack talks to what looks for all the world like a repurposed smart phone. It's all actually not as annoying as I'd feared it would be -- I can sleep with it, and I usually don't feel the electrodes at all. It's very awkward taking off and putting on shorts/pants/etc., though. Last day for monitoring is next Saturday. Ready now. :-P

3) Starting to hear thunder from the line of storms rolling our way. Yee haw.
nightdog_barks: (Tumbling Dice)
Very cool (almost chilly) and very damp today after some morning rain. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain more. That rhyme about April showers is a lie.

Heart is still doing the flippy-flop thing, so more tests are in order. Yay me. :-P

I have been watching David Shore's new show, Houdini & Doyle, and I'm liking it. I am not a fan of Michael Weston, but he is surprisingly tolerable in this as Harry Houdini, and I really like Stephen Mangan as Conan Doyle. Rebecca Liddiard is also good as a female police constable, and between the three of them, they make this (admittedly silly) show a decent hour of entertainment. YMMV.

Reading John Harwood's The Ghost Writer and it is okay. Just got Louise Erdrich's and Joe Hill's new novels, LaRose and The Fireman, respectively, and am really looking forward to reading them.

Layla has an odd (?) new habit of coming to me, sitting down, and giving me a paw to hold. Then she'll give me her other paw, so that she's ... sitting up. With me holding her front paws. She seems to like this. :D
nightdog_barks: (The Girl)
The writer Jim Harrison passed away yesterday, at the age of 78. This has always been one of my favorite poems.

Barking


The moon comes up.
The moon goes down.
This is to inform you
that I didn’t die young.
Age swept past me
but I caught up.
Spring has begun here and each day
brings new birds up from Mexico.
Yesterday I got a call from the outside
world but I said no in thunder.
I was a dog on a short chain
and now there’s no chain.


~ Jim Harrison, 1937 - 2016
From Poetry, September 2008

Wednesday

Feb. 4th, 2015 02:14 pm
nightdog_barks: (Witty Repartee)
So life continues apace, with the world turned upside down because of a small black puppy (although she is growing by leaps and bounds, and has discovered her Barking Voice). I am behind on everything. The only thing I can call my own right now is this wonderful cold Mister Nightdog has given me. :-P
nightdog_barks: Illustration close-up of an owl's face (Owl Face)
Things what we have learned. (This is mainly about the Newest Member of the Nightdog Family, so feel free to skip. Although it does include her new name.)

Read more... )

What else? I have nothing else. Five makes a post. I am working on answering comments. You guys are awesome. :D
nightdog_barks: (Ka-blam Calvin)
And nope, she still doesn't have a name. Probably by this weekend, though.

Read more... )

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August 2019

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The Blinds, by Adam Sternbergh

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Fiasco: A History of Hollywood's Iconic Flops, by James Robert Parish

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