Hot and humid, but yesterday was cooler than the last few weeks. I don’t think it got to be over 100F. There was overcast, cloudiness, and a little bit less sun as a result. I spent the day in the office anyway.
But today I’ll be heading up to the BOL to meet with contractors. Hopefully we can find a way to move forward and begin the major changes needed. It’s been difficult enough that I hope that I can actually meet the guys. One already rescheduled for tonight rather than tomorrow. So much to do, and a short time to do it.
Which of course is true all the time, and also not really true all the time too.
So I stack when I can, do what I can, learn what I can, and make some progress occasionally. At the end of the day, when trouble comes I hope to be ready, but I might not be. Certainly I won’t be as ready as I could have been or as ready as I would be if trouble came a year later.
Very difficult to predict the future, it is.
So stack what you can, prepare what you can, and then do the best you can with what you’ve got.
nick
I’d still be really wary about a Windows system I didn’t install from ISO on my home network and confine the machine to a guest SSID for a while.
If you try Linux, most of the major distros now put DVD playback out of reach for the casual user, requiring manual installation of libdvdcss.
Yep.
“The electrification of mobility presents humanity with a rare opportunity to reimagine the way cities might sound….”
Label only lists ingredients as 100% arabica coffee, natural and artificial flavors. I’m sure it’s something bad for you.
KY flooding response, from FEMA
Wow, the comment editor HATES that text and formatting from FEMA.
I’ve tried several times, it locked up the browser a couple of them, and now it’s killing all the formatting even in the blockquote. Didn’t used to…
n
Governors of New York, Illinois, and California declare monkeypox state of emergency, resume their godlike powers.
Seig Heil, Baby
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UHcR648Cg3I&feature=emb_logo
Last attempt to cut and paste more from the newsletter generated some error messages
Error: Please type your comment text.
« Back
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Call stack:
wp_die()wp-comments-post.php:33
Query Monitor
I had to close the tab to get out of that error…
n
Our short respite from the heat ended. 84F and climbing already with the sun coming out.
n
My wife’s mentor at work just found out his wife has early stage breast cancer. Initially they were thinking lumpectomy and radiation but the problem looks bigger than that. She’s a friend of ours outside of work too.
My wife has no idea what to do to support her friend and mentor or his wife, and neither do I. I know some of you have gone thru this. If there is anything you can share, that I can pass along to my wife, I’d appreciate it. You can email me if you’d prefer. flandrey at a o l . co m.
Again, NOT my wife, friend’s wife… but my wife is torn up about it, undoubtedly picturing us in the same situation.
n
– dollar stores aren’t a dollar anymore, and the packages are smaller than the regular stores. In many communities, the dollar store is the ONLY store close enough to walk or bike to. And “FORCED to depend on boxed, canned… or frozen”? Oh FFS, there are going to be some attitude adjustments in the next year. ‘THANKFUL to have boxed, canned, or if they have electricity, frozen’ is more like it.
And there is this, keeping in mind that these types of businesses employ LOTS of people at the low end of the economic spectrum.
–and again, if you can make the case that I’m too gloomy about what’s coming, I’m listening…
n
An ADS-B “Out” transponder is only required to report altitude. Anything else is optional … or at least was.
The system is also hideously vulnerable to the injection of fake signals or even jamming with gear widely available to anyone. That was the whole point of my rejected thesis in WA State.
“The Government must have a solution” was the response of my advisor.
Governors of New York, Illinois, and California re-annoint themselves with godlike powers in the name of the latest scourge: monkeypox!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UHcR648Cg3I&feature=emb_logo
From today’s FEMA update, with a lot of jumping thru hoops and manual insertion of CRs
A lady at church was targeted as being high risk for breast cancer. Her solution was to have her breasts removed. She also opted for no reconstructive surgery and just be herself. If a person does not like it, has an issue, then get lost. Nice person, about 35 years old. I applaud her decision as I am certain it was not an easy decision.
Tough one. I don’t think anyone really does have an idea of what to do as everyone reacts differently. Be there for the friend, offer help if needed, listen to the friend without being critical, don’t offer advice unless asked and then only minimal. It is a tough situation. The good news, if that even applies, is that breast cancer caught early has a remarkably high recovery rate.
There will be some tough times if chemo is involved. If breast removal is recommended and opted for, there will be some tough times in personal image. Reconstruction surgery is quite good although painful and limits use of the arms for several weeks.
My MIL had her breasts removed for cancer and reconstruction. Wife dealt with her, I did not. I do remember some significant trauma and depression from the MIL.
>> and again, if you can make the case that I’m too gloomy about what’s coming, I’m listening…
I believe this makes the case that you’re spot on: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/store-slocking-up-spam-duane-reade-shoplifting-theft/
Stealing Spam. That is kinda mind boggling.
n
From JimM, yesterday:
WRT to 911 dispatchers mishandling calls by notifying the wrong responding officers, there is also the Minneapolis store clerk calling 911 when George Floyd was trying to pass a counterfit $20 dollar bill amd relaying that to the dispatcher. Then the 911 dispatcher contacted the Minneapolis city police and Derek Chauvin was dispatched, Did the $20 bill say “Minneapolis Reserve Note” across the top instead of “Federal Reserve Note”. If not, should a federal agency such as the FBI, or other, have been called instead of the city police? Is an attempt to pass a counterfit $20 bill a city ordinance violation rather than a federal law violation?
IDK in that case, but most states adopt their own version of the fed statutes. Probably some version of fraud or retail theft…
n
Welcome to Ferenginar.
I had four months of chemo in 2020, a double mastectomy in 2021, followed by 6 weeks of radiation.
Much will depend on where the friends live, and whether treatment is close or out of town. If she is in town and nearby, there will be household things and meals etc that ya’ll can help with. Do tell your wife that just plain love and friendly attention are the best things she can do. It sounds trite, but just “being there” is a big help. And Nick, that goes for you with reassuring your wife as well. My husband told me immediately that he “didn’t marry a pair of boobs” and that he loves me no matter what. He supported each decision I made unreservedly, including my decisions to have a double mastectomy and not to have reconstruction. (FYI, both my oncologist and radiation oncologist were relieved with those decisions as well – apparently radiation is much more effective if there’s less tissue.)
Easy visits, just for a friendly chat or shopping trip, can do a lot for morale. One daughter in love sent me perfume, and pretty pajamas. All the kids and several friends made frequent visits, others sent cards every week, my cousins called me often, all of which kept me feeling loved.
One of my daughters in love put together a bunch of frozen meals for me so that all I had to do was thaw, heat, and serve at will. That was a wonderful help for days I didn’t feel up to cooking.
A friend lent me her wigs. One offered to take me wig shopping. My stepmother and a daughter-in- love crocheted caps for me to wear.
Since your schedule, Nick, is more flexible (heh), you will earn big marriage points by offering transportation for the friend or their children as needed, if they live nearby. Esp during chemo, and for a time after surgery, she may not be up to driving the kids to their activities etc.
The friend may need someone to take her to and from her chemo treatments. Mine lasted about 3 hours each once I got into the chair.
I had my chemo and surgery in Waco at Hillcrest/ Scott & White, and my radiation in Abilene at Hendrick, both at EXCELLENT centers. It meant I had day trips each two weeks for chemo. In Abilene, I was able to stay in the League House during the week for daily radiation and come home on weekends.
Tell me you don’t understand federalism without telling me you don’t understand federalism.
– tell me you don’t understand rhetorical questions or sarcasm without telling me….
n
Several years ago, there was a man locally impersonating law enforcement. He drove a security guard car with a light on top, and kept trying to pull over women drivers. Fortunately, his car did not look official “enough” to fool anyone. I don’t remember how it all ended up, but at the time the sheriff’s office told us all to call 911 from our cell phone if we were pulled over to confirm it was legit before we opened our windows.
Scary situation. I would not hesitate to call 911 if I had any doubts about someone at our door.
I’m trying to remember if I’ve ever let a LEO in the house … I don’t think any have ever asked, there have not been many times anyone ever came to our door. I do remember telling the property tax lady one time that she couldn’t come in! 😀
I totally understand it and have to relearn with every administration change.
Thanks Pecancorner,
She is in The Heights in Houston so not far from the Medical Center area of town. Lotta facilities and Docs there so at least she shouldn’t have to go out of town, or drive far.
Thank you for the suggestions, I have passed them along, and paid attention myself.
n
Yuuup! With regards to (re)learning federalism:
Obama: No more illegal alien restrictions, let ’em all in.
Trump: Build more fences, keep ’em out.
Biden: Open up and tear down fences, let ’em all in.
Yuuup! See how smart I am!
Yep.
“The electrification of mobility presents humanity with a rare opportunity to reimagine the way cities might sound….”
My employee’s new 2023 Nissan Leaf Plus (in black, the only color that he did not want) has a backup chime system that is somewhat annoying. And in forward, it has a strange sound until it hits 25 mph which it then drops.
But the car is not silent. When he turns it on, the heat pump in the engine bay is rather noisy. BTW, the 200+ kw electric motor is rather large and uses a glycol / water radiator system for cooling. In fact, I thought the electric motor was a gasoline motor at first, it is the size of a four cylinder motor. I could not tell if it had active cooling on the 62 kwh battery.
@Lynn
“We are just really trashy people.”
At about 1.2 yd3/month for each of those 40 people, I would agree.
BTW, the dumpsters are not always full. They should be though as we have a lot of trash by the dumpsters that needs to go to the dump.
The landscapers bring back an enormous amount of yard trash. They mow about a dozen apartment complexes every week and bag everything.
I will say that having 6 kids in 10 years, starting right out of high school, will age a woman, and change her body
Birthing people give up a lot for the right to deliver children. I maintain that they are way different than non-birthing people in body and brain. First off, the hips widen during pregnancy and do not return to the exact same place that they were before. After three pregnancies, it is a few inches in my one data point. I know this, after the first one, I would have told the docs to rip all that stuff out of me.
BTW, you would have never got a working hard drive from me. Me and my hammer and my 14 inch screwdriver score the rotating hard drives. For SSDs, just me and my hammer go to town.
>> Again, NOT my wife, friend’s wife… but my wife is torn up about it, undoubtedly picturing us in the same situation.
@nick, take what you can off your wife’s plate so she doesn’t feel conflicted when she wants to do something for the friend’s wife.
@alan, thanks that’s good advice.
n
Now I’m loadin’ up the truck and movin’ to … the country…………..
n
“Duck, and cover. Duck, and cover…”
n
Now the administration’s line is: Well, we paid for the wall so we should finish it for the safety of the migrants.
That trial balloon floated on local Faux News last week. Dunno where it went from there.
Anyone else notice that the real press secretary has been at the podium a lot more lately. White guy, sharp suits, name escapes me, but he always seems to step up when the press is too tough on the Hatian woman.
“It’s 2013, smallpox isn’t a threat anymore, USSR is gone, and no two countries with a McDonalds have ever gone to war… I’m sure we can find a better use for that money….” said someone, somewhere. You can bet on it.
>> My employee’s new 2023 Nissan Leaf Plus (in black, the only color that he did not want) has a backup chime system that is somewhat annoying. And in forward, it has a strange sound until it hits 25 mph which it then drops.
But the car is not silent. When he turns it on, the heat pump in the engine bay is rather noisy. BTW, the 200+ kw electric motor is rather large and uses a glycol / water radiator system for cooling. In fact, I thought the electric motor was a gasoline motor at first, it is the size of a four cylinder motor. I could not tell if it had active cooling on the 62 kwh battery.
Not surprising that a black car was available in your area, with black interior no less. I’d suggest considering getting the windows tinted. We used Xpel PRIME XR Ceramic film. Computer cut to fit so no trimming required.
And still no active cooling on the LEAF, for either size battery pack.
Also, imo the new wheels (supposedly more aerodynamic) are really ugly. Pics here.
Tell your employee to check out the epedal mode (one pedal driving with regenerative braking). I almost never have to step on the brake pedal, keeps brake dust off the wheels and significantly extends brake pad life.
Tell him good luck with the car and let us know of any quirks/issues.
dd on Linux with if=/dev/urandom will do a pretty good job of wiping the disk beyond recovery.
Physical damage to the drive isn’t 100% unless the platters are melted. Thermite would work, but that could be dangerous.
I take wiped drives to the county shred event with a big check for the charity beneficiary, currently the animal shelter.
My wife’s mentor at work just found out his wife has early stage breast cancer. Initially they were thinking lumpectomy and radiation but the problem looks bigger than that. She’s a friend of ours outside of work too.
My wife has no idea what to do to support her friend and mentor or his wife, and neither do I. I know some of you have gone thru this. If there is anything you can share, that I can pass along to my wife, I’d appreciate it. You can email me if you’d prefer. flandrey at a o l . co m.
Again, NOT my wife, friend’s wife… but my wife is torn up about it, undoubtedly picturing us in the same situation.
n
My wife went through this hell in 2005. One of our church friends was on the board at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in the Houston Medical Center and got my wife in two weeks after she scored a five out of five on the mammogram test on Christmas Eve day 2004. The MDACC diagnosis team confirmed the diagnosis and gave her a cancer rating of 2A (out of 4). The tumor was about an inch in diameter and in the back of her breast. In fact, the diagnosis doctor was surprised that my wife was not bleeding from the nipple as the tumor had cut through all of the milk ducts to the nipple. She had not had a mammogram in five years and was 47 years old. She did not know that one of her mother’s sister’s had breast cancer and that both of her father’s sisters had breast cancer, one at 45. She also did not know that her oldest first cousin died of untreated breast cancer at age 49 in 1995.
My wife agonized over the path to take (do nothing, lumpectomy, mastectomy) until the MDACC plastics head surgeon got a hold of her and said that the tumor removal lumpectomy with clean margins would leave a huge hole in her breast that would probably cave in. The lumpectomy surgeon confirmed this and asked her what she wanted to do. My wife went back to the plastics surgeon and asked him about recovering from the mastectomy where she would not have to wear a one sided prosthetic bra. He responded that there was a new procedure called a tram flap where they would do a tummy tuck after the mastectomy, take the skin, belly fat, two arteries, and two veins, and build her a new breast using microsurgery. He neglected to tell her that he had yet to participate in one of these although he had used microsurgery several times to help other patients.
So my wife had the skin saving mastectomy and the tram flap surgery in one day, the mastectomy team required four hours and the tram flap team required eight hours. The surgery started at noon because MDACC had 105 surgeries going that day in 105 operating rooms and my wife’s was surgery number 106, they had to wait for an open O/R. The plastics surgeon and his VA assistant surgeon came out at midnight thirty and told me that the operation was total success.
My wife is 5’4″, weighing 130 lbs with small 34C breasts before the mastectomy. She was 34E when she was nursing our kids, one for a year. The plastics surgeon figured that some of the new breast would die off, his previous patients using another technique regularly lost 20% of the rebuilt breasts so he put in extra material due to the stretched skin. That did not happen with the new microsurgery with the two transplanted arteries and veins so the rebuilt breast was 36DD. He was shocked.
In the first surgery, they found a second tumor in her lymph nodes. That changed her cancer status from 2A to 2B. Then we found out she had both of the major broken DNA strands and both of the minor broken DNA strands. So her chemo doctor got her into the Herceptin advanced breast cancer trial when she agreed to have the rest of her lymph nodes removed in a second surgery. She took four chemo drugs for six months, including the red devil. It is hard to watch when a nurse brings in a red two liter bag of stuff marked biohazard and danger danger wearing thick gloves and a chest and face protector and hooks it up to your wife. They preceded that with a half liter bag of Benadryl. The red devil is 2% chromium metal and a few other special items, she took four bags of it over 12 weeks. It took her waist length strawberry blond hair that I loved and killed all the bone marrow in her body so she had to have blood treatments (injections into the hip bones). She took the Herceptin IV treatments weekly for a year.
The nice thing about MDACC is that it is a one stop shop. They have all the equipment needed for just about anything. My wife got a chest chemo port in St. Lukes but they now do that at MDACC. All of the doctors at MDACC are specialists. And once you get treatment at MDACC, they consider that you belong to them. My wife just had a colonoscopy at the MDACC day surgery center in Katy where they removed thirteen polyps.
What did this all cost in 2005 ? $300,000. We paid $15,000 out of pocket, the insurance company paid $175,000, the Herceptin drug company paid $50,000, and MDACC wrote off $60,000. I had a few tense phone calls with our health insurance carrier and the Texas State Board of Insurance when they did not pay the MDACC bills for 8 ? 10 ? months that were showing that we owed almost $200,000 at one point. I was really afraid that MDACC would stop treatment, I did not realize that MDACC does not do that.
So what did they do about the new 36DD breast with the old 34C breast ? After several discussions about breast reduction of the new breast, the plastics surgeon was nervous but willing to do the reduction. My wife opted for a silicone breast implant in the 34C breast since it was a way simpler surgery. And yes, you can get silicone breast implants for breast cancer reconstruction. The surgeon called it a biscuit and it was, I saw it before the implantation. She does not have to wear a prosthetic bra which makes her happy. In fact, she rarely wears a bra since all of the bras cut into the surgical scars that go from her armpit to the bottom of her rib cage.
Yuuuyp! After the US Constitution has been deleted by the congress down to one page and the only remaining amendment is the 2nd.
I’m on the road, feel free to act in my stead if things worsen.
n
I had four months of chemo in 2020, a double mastectomy in 2021, followed by 6 weeks of radiation.
Wow, in Covid times too. First, I am so glad that you got treatment. They told us at MDACC that ¼ of women get diagnosed and walk out the door, never getting treatment.
I am surprised that you had to have radiation after the double mastectomy. One of the reasons my wife was leaning towards the mastectomy was no radiation as was required with the lumpectomy. My wife very fair skinned and gets burned very easily even with the Cherokee / Iroquois heritage.
My wife’s older sister got breast cancer in 2020 also. She had a stage one tumor in the front of each breast, very unusual. She elected to have a double lumpectomy and radiation with no chemo. No reoccurence as of yet but they are watching her every three months. She also had the complication that her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimers at the beginning of her treatment.
I forgot the Herceptin results. After my wife had a mastectomy and six months of chemo, her chances of living five years was 65%. The six months of chemo had raised that five year living from 40% to 65%. The result of the Herceptin trial with 2,500 women was that living five years was raised to 85%, a huge success that required them to end the trial only two months after my wife joined it so that people could start using as the new standard of care. My wife is 17 years living now but they recently told her that the chance of it coming back is rising in the trial, yes they are still monitoring.
Note that living five years and reoccurence of cancer are two different items. The doctors only talk about living five years chances, they will not talk about the chance of reoccurence. One doctor did say that the chance of reoccurence was about double that of the living five years with the lumpectomy.
Also, imo the new wheels (supposedly more aerodynamic) are really ugly. Pics here.
Tell your employee to check out the epedal mode (one pedal driving with regenerative braking). I almost never have to step on the brake pedal, keeps brake dust off the wheels and significantly extends brake pad life.
I ain’t gonna comment on the look but, they are not wrong.
He is PhD Chemical Engineer out of Clemson, a serious hands on techie. He probably has read the user manual front to back already. He rebuilds lawn mowers and weed eaters for fun.
I long ago quit bothering trying to directly transfer information from one medium to another; I just copy and paste into Notepad, and copy and paste out of there as plain text – I find it to be less trouble to just reformat if necessary, and it usually isn’t for my purposes. Plain text for emails in both directions too, makes my life easier and reduces vulnerabilities.
Dollar stores in our area have gone up to $1.25 and I’ve always had to be careful with them – some things can be a bargain but others are way overpriced compared to other sources. Plain canned vegetables for instance are almost always $0.58/can at our local Winco, half the Dollar store price.
I’d have to dig into the original source for the copied text, but perhaps it has embedded hard returns, and is wider or narrower than the comment box. That would cause line breaks to appear in strange places.
You could paste the text, then select it again, then use the ‘code’ button (two angle brackets) to turn it into fixed width. Maybe that would look OK.
But, hard to say without seeing the source document/page.
I’ve never had to do any interim pasting/copying when grabbing text from other places. Most content doesn’t have hard line breaks in the middle of paragraphs.
There has not been any changes to the theme or comment box code (which uses the CKEditor5 code to provide the ‘rich text’ editing). There has been some minor changes that have been mostly effective in blocking some ‘trollish’ visitors. Those changes will continue. Should not affect the ‘regular’ visitors. (Insert your own joke here.)
I’ve seen your previous posts about your wife’s experience. She had a terrible time of it, and I’m so glad she is still doing well.
My oncologist told me she is glad to be practicing now and not 20 years ago, as oncology has made great strides in the interim. Your wife’s willingness to accept experiments are part of what has helped those advances to happen, and it benefits all of us who’ve come after.
I went through the Moncrief Cancer Center for my diagnostic mammogram and initial biopsy. They were wonderfully supportive and helpful. They are who referred me to Hillcrest/Baylor Scott and White in Waco.
And Baylor Scott & White never batted an eye over COVID. They just embraced me and all their patients and treat us like we are all that matters. They’ve bent over backwards to make things easy since I travel, and have never once been late for our appointments. They do my blood work the same day as my other appointments and rush it all through the lab in an hour. Can’t praise them enough, God bless them all.
Mine was a kind of cancer that, while very common, a mammogram doesn’t always find, invasive ductal carcinoma. It kind of hides until it is very far along. The tumor was not there one day, and suddenly was there, and very large, the next. As it had also spread to some lymph nodes, they told me it was Stage 4. Because of the size of the tumor, they did chemo first to shrink it before surgery.
My radiation oncologist told me that because I had foregone reconstruction, he did not have to use as high a dose of radiation, as it did not have to penetrate as much tissue. There was still some burning, and there’s still some discoloration which I guess is scaring, from it. It was like a very bad sunburn for the most part, and only a few days were worse than that. I just used my aloe vera and wore very light loose clothing.
Interestingly, my doctor told me not to use any products or lotions other than plain Aloe Vera. For baths, only Ivory soap, and baby shampoo, and no deodorants or perfumes, during the treatment. So Aloe Vera is as healing as the mythology says it is.
Both my oncologist and my radiation oncologist have told me they do not expect me to ever have a recurrance. They are very confident they got it all.
There was at that time no history of breast cancer in any of my family. One grandfather passed of colon cancer, but otherwise there was no cancer at all in the family. AFTER my diagnosis, one cousin was diagnosed with cervical cancer, and one with prostate cancer. Both were successfully treated, as I was.
My cancer treatment, in December 2018, was supposed to start with a “Laparoscopic high anterior resection of the sigmoid colon”. But, of course, Murphy put his oar in. Apparently, this can only be done if the tube of the colon is not stuck to the inside of the stomach wall. Mine was, so they wasted the keyhole incisions, and had to do a full “open the stomach cavity” version.
As a result, I have a scar from navel to pubic bone that is about 6 inches long, although the keyhole incisions have gone away. This led to a couple of months of inconvenience and discomfort, and was followed by a course of (relatively mild) chemotherapy. Even so, the jollop infusions were supplied in red infusion bags, indicating poisonous contents. I got one of those, of 2 litres, every 3 weeks, intravenously, followed by 2 weeks of a different drug, 1.95 grams of it, given as 3no 500mg and 3no 150mg tabs, twice a day for 2 weeks. Then there was a week’s holiday, and repeat.
No radiation.
At least, that was the plan. After 7 cycles (of 8) the oncologists were worried about peripheral neuropathy (read: numbness) in my fingers, so they cancelled the 8th cycle, and discharged me. I get a (telephonic, because CoViD) follow-up consultation every 6 months, with a CT scan, and, it is rumoured, a colonoscopy every 3 years, i.e. next time, at the end of September.
At the start of the chemo, the oncologist gave me a 95% chance of surviving for at least 5 years. There’s no evidence of relapse, so far (knock on wood). I still have the numb fingertips.
G.
And yes, compared to @pecancorner’s treatment, this was relatively minor. I only lost about 6 inches of my colon, to an “early Stage 3” cancer.
Although the CoViDpocalypse, and the associated lockdowns and “shielding” have left me severely unfit.
G.
The surgery was at St. Mary’s, Paddington, and the chemo and follow-ups at Charing Cross Hospital, both cancer specialist sites, and both part of the same NHS Trust.
And, despite the name, Charing Cross Hospital is in Hammersmith, West London, rather than near Trafalgar Square, in the centre.
G.
I canceled Prime. Easy peasy, maybe four clicks.
It’s up to $139. They charged $147 with tax on June 20. Pretty much at the beginning of the CC billing cycle. The CC bill shows up about the 25th, due on the 6th. Not quite two weeks advance of due date. Generally.
The refund is $122, $124. I didn’t take notes on screen shots. Ok, they pro-rate. That’s cool.
I can’t make the math work. It looks to me that they pro-rate on the $139 a year. The sales tax? It looks like they just keep it.
If I take the $147 and divide by 365, it’s 40¢ a day. 40¢ times 43 days is $17.20 gets almost the same number as the refund. Not quite.
At $139, it’s 38¢ a day. 43 days equals $16.34. Take that off of $139 and that’s almost to the penny my refund.
Swine.
And THEN they offered a half price deal for Prime if I have a food stamp card.
I’m glad to hear a colon cancer survival story, since my grandfather passed from it. He might have survived if treated. But he refused any treatment, as he was grieving his wife’s passing and I guess he was glad to go on with her. So your happy ending makes me happy. Keep up those good check ups!
I’m so sorry that you still have that numbness. I started having some of that numbness in the fingers, and so for the next treatments they brought tubs full of ice and stuck my feet and hands into the ice during the chemo. Three hours in ice! It worked! The numbness stopped, and never got worse.
Some people wear frozen hats during chemo to try to preserve their hair, but so far I have not known anyone who found it to work. Best just let it go and let it start growing back!
I still have to see my oncologist every 3 months, and am taking two anti-cancer pills. And an infusion every 6 months to strengthen my bones.
@pecancorner:
Sorry to hear about your grandfather. A lot of survival issues with illnesses like this have a mental basis. In my case, I still have things I want to do, difficult though they may have become. Add in a degree of sheer bloody-mindedness (I will be d*mned if I let this stop me) and I’m staying on this earth until PTerry’s DEATH cannot be denied. (Yes, that is the character from the DiscWorld novels).
Nobody suggested icepacks for my numb fingers, but I did see one lady who was wearing a chill-cap while she got her chemo. I didn’t know why, I assumed some special requirement of her treatment regime, but an attempt to prevent hair loss from the chemo is certainly possible.
My treatment regime was not associated with loss of hair – that’s why I called it “relatively mild”.
There was a recent “Horizon” documentary on the BBC about this, made by TV scientist Doctor Hannah Fry, who also had colon cancer – Stage 4. Her surgery was much more radical than mine, but she seems to be doing well, after about a year.
Added: As You were, she had cervical cancer in early 2021.
G.
There’s no evidence of relapse, so far (knock on wood). I still have the numb fingertips.
My wife is having trouble with shooting pains in her feet. But her toes are numb. She was falling there for a while but is taking more care when she is walking now.
I have been urging her to get MDACC’s opinion but she says that the cure is worse than the problem. The same with the mild lymphedema that she is experiencing in her right arm. They took all the lymph nodes in right side of her chest and her right arm so her lymph system is compromised.
Mine was a kind of cancer that, while very common, a mammogram doesn’t always find, invasive ductal carcinoma. It kind of hides until it is very far along. The tumor was not there one day, and suddenly was there, and very large, the next. As it had also spread to some lymph nodes, they told me it was Stage 4. Because of the size of the tumor, they did chemo first to shrink it before surgery.
That is what the wife had if I remember correctly. The large tumor grew from 2 cm to 3 cm in diameter in one month, they were shocked at the final size. It was 2 cm deep.
Yeah, the doctors were arguing among themselves on whether or not to do chemo first to shrink the tumor. The wife won the argument on that, she wanted it out of there.
Again, I am glad that you are doing well. Sounds like you have some good doctors too.
I see reference to DiscWorld here, and only just realized that I never read those – it was Ringworld that I read. Obviously too long ago. LOL
There’s a hamburger chain in Austin TX named P.Terry’s. The local byline is “Are you a Pterry-dactictyl?
Oh yeah, I forgot. The chemo killed the wife’s thyroid so she has been taking thyroid medicine for 15+ years now.
And, I was banned from the wife’s MDACC six month checkups after three years by the wife. I asked too many questions according to her.
ITGut98
“…artificial flavors. I’m sure it’s something bad for you. ”
Naw. Harmless petroleum derivatives.
Cuts down on the formaldehyde they need for the final processing.
“India’s GAIL rationing gas as former Gazprom unit cuts supplies”
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/indias-gail-rationing-gas-former-112322649.html
“NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s largest gas distributor GAIL (India) Ltd has started gas rationing, cutting supplies to fertiliser and industrial clients after imports were hit under its deal with a former unit of Russian energy giant Gazprom, two sources familiar with the matter said.”
“Lower gas supplies will affect impact India’s urea production, and a sustained cut would lift imports of the soil nutrient, a fertiliser industry source aware of the cuts said.”
“Neither GAIL nor India’s fertiliser ministry responded to Reuters’ requests for comments.”
“Gazprom Marketing and Trading Singapore (GMTS), now a subsidiary of Gazprom Germania, has failed to deliver some liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes to GAIL and has said it may not be able to meet supplies under their long-term deal.”
This is about natural gas. We grow enough food for ten billion people on planet Earth. That means that we have some storage. Because that ten billion number is rapidly plummeting. When it goes below eight billion, the gloves will come off and the bare knuckle fights will start.
“Einhorn Bets That Musk Will Be Forced to Buy Twitter”
https://finance.yahoo.com/m/54d2a4b7-caee-3186-93d4-c873c1d71104/einhorn-bets-that-musk-will.html
Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets ! Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets ! The show will start soon.
I bet that if Musk loses in the Delaware Chancellery court, that he will fight this all the way to SCOTUS.
Twitter doesn’t want the truth about the bots to come out.
Musk doesn’t want the truth about the Cybertruck to come out, which is what the PR circus about buying TWTR protects.
My bet is that there will be a deal before the trial begins.
@Pecancorner
Discworld:
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/p/terry-pratchett/
But within the forty or so novels are story threads that follow individuals and groups:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Discworld_Reading_Order_Guide_3.0_(cropped).jpg
I highly recommend the audiobooks and the Sky Movie Trilogy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discworld#Sky_TV_movie_trilogy_(2006-2010)
“My bet is that there will be a deal before the trial begins.”
My bet is that the Twitter board is scared witless that enough will leak out about the bots and other details that other shareholder suits will allege criminal activities including conspiracy to defraud shareholders by inflating the share price.
Hard to see any outcome that doesn’t ruin most of them.
Does this mean we will all be exhorted to save our urine for “recycling” like people did for most of history before plumbing and petro fertilizers? The elites really do want to take us backward, don’t they?
@drwilliams – thanks! I’ll check them out.
I second the discworld books. you might start with the witches/Tiffany Aching books. You don’t need a lot of backstory to love those.
The death series is good, and the bbc adaptations are well done. The “city” stories are interwoven and sprawling.
There are only one or two that I didn’t love.
N
Sparky will get back to me Thurs with a scope of work and estimate. 3-4 weeks until starting though.
At least he didn’t run away.
N
Find “Going Postal” on Netflix, possibly the best of the adaptations done by The Mob for Sky. Sir Terry himself has the last line of the two part series.
Their “Hogfather” is very faithful, possibly too much so. My kids were bored.
“The Colour of Magic” is somewhere in between.
I think the initial shock and uncertainty is hard for everyone. Once a treatment plan is decided on, and is underway, it gets easier – because then there are short-, medium-, and long-term goals to focus on. Help them do that.
Don’t ask a cancer patient “How are you?” or “How are you feeling?” unless you really want to hear the excruciating details. Once I get started, it is hard to stop.
A better question is often, “What’s happening next?” Help them keep looking forward.
Instead of “How are you?” I prefer being asked “What news?” I find I can give better answers to that prompt.
Waiting during procedures can be hard on the partner. Sometimes just having company helps. Sometimes having someone else available to take over the waiting duties while the partner runs errands is helpful. Sometimes having someone to run the errands for them instead helps.
Sometimes the patient just wants to be left alone for a while. Respect that.
Sometimes the partner needs some time to themselves for a while as well. Help them do that.
Thank you Dcp,
n
“My offer was based on Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate.”
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1526465624326782976
Whoops.
“My offer was based on Twitter’s SEC filings being accurate.”
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1526465624326782976
Whoops.
Them are fighting words. In fact, them are go to jail words for the Twitter CEO. I wonder how the Chancellery court will treat them ?
Sparky will get back to me Thurs with a scope of work and estimate. 3-4 weeks until starting though.
At least he didn’t run away.
N
Is Sparky the foundation dude or the septic dude or the electrician ?
If the foundation dude, does he have a lifetime warranty ?
Bring your BIG checkbook. I feel a house lifting coming on.
They have been lifting and raising houses in my brother’s neighborhood inside 610, three blocks away from Brays Bayou where Harvey put three feet of water on his street. There is a 1940 ? 1950 ? house over there that they raised at least six feet. Me, I would have knocked it down and started over. It is a fascinating project to see all those jacks underneath though. I was also wondering who crawled under there and did the jacking.
Oh yeah, does Sparky have insurance ? A couple of million might be nice.
I am trying to install Windows 10 Pro x64 on a new pc for the sales dude tonight. I started without the ethernet plugged in. May have been a mistake.
Couldn’t help but call my friends names could you?
Couldn’t contribute.
Can’t sit at the grown up’s table.
n
“Eye on the Tropics: August begins on a calm note”
https://spacecityweather.com/eye-on-the-tropics-august-begins-on-a-calm-note/
First it starts with the sweating. Then the screaming starts.
It was bloody hot, 92 F, on our walk at 8 pm tonight.
I still get the feeling that we are headed to a hurricane in the Gulf around Labor Day.
I am having to break out the USB DVD rom drive. Winders 10 ain’t got an ethernet driver for this MSI motherboard. And the MSI drivers are on a CD rom. I don’t put CD rom drives in my new machines, only used when initializing.
“Manchin’s secret climate “side deal” revealed: “It’s not a climate solution, it’s a climate bomb””
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/manchin-s-secret-climate-side-deal-revealed-it-s-not-a-climate-solution-it-s-a-climate-bomb/ar-AA10ew1J?cvid=8411a6faab9748ff9c91a842d461f281
“Environmentalists raised grave concerns Monday over newly reported details of a side deal between the Democratic leadership and Sen. Joe Manchin that would reform the permitting process for energy projects and clear the way for final approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which would carry fracked gas through West Virginia.”
“The agreement was reached as part of an effort to secure Manchin’s support for the Inflation Reduction Act, a proposed budget reconciliation bill that includes renewable energy investments, drug price reforms, and a number of giveaways to the fossil fuel industry. Because its provisions fall outside the bounds of reconciliation, the side deal must be passed as separate legislation.”
“According to a one-page summary obtained by the Washington Post, the agreement in its current form “would set new two-year limits, or maximum timelines, for environmental reviews for ‘major’ projects,” a potentially massive victory for the fossil fuel industry that could also entail benefits for renewable energy production.”
I now understand what Manchin is doing and applaud him. We desperately need new pipelines (infrastructure), especially on the east coast. Those idiots want to freeze in the dark when their so-called renewables do not work.
>> Is Sparky the foundation dude or the septic dude or the electrician ?
If Sparky is anybody other than the electrician I think there may be trouble ahead.
Tell your employee to check out the epedal mode (one pedal driving with regenerative braking). I almost never have to step on the brake pedal, keeps brake dust off the wheels and significantly extends brake pad life.
Tell him good luck with the car and let us know of any quirks/issues.
He turned on the epedal mode when he got home from the dealership last Friday. He likes it.
He plans to do the first charge this weekend. His commute is only 7.5 miles each way so he has not used much battery so far.
I sat in it a little while ago. I really like the 360 degree camera view on the center screen, that is fairly cool. The heat pump does a good job of pump cold air in our 100 F heat this afternoon.
Sparks is electrical… new underground service, new service entrance, new 200A panel and breakers, new 30A circuit and outlet for septic, land all existing circuits to new panel.
Additional work to be done at a later time, mainly outbuildings and dock, and kitchen when remodeled.
And some safety upgrades and removals…
n
My mom’s little car (Juke?) has the 360 cam view. It is cool.
n
@Lynn
Natural gas production underpins everything. Hope for a cold winter, on the principle that if it gets bad fast enough so that people are cold and don’t have enough food, there is still time to put the fools to the sword and make the corrections, before we have people starving and freezing to death.
Peter at BayouRenaissanceMan has a post up about natgas and fertilizer, in Germany. It quotes Michael Yon on the subject.
We need fertilizer to grow the food to feed the people. Or <insert Jar Jar Binks quote >
n
Data point, Kraft mac and cheese in boxes, in my hot and less than ideal storage, becomes “old” tasting and unpleasant to eat at best by plus 1 year. It’s the sauce powder more than the pasta.
You can eat it, and you won’t choke on the flavor, but it’s not tasty.
n
Crap, I got an 500 Internal Service Error for the first time in a long time. Lost my posting.
I had one earlier, but it was when I had trouble with the pasted FEMA newsletter text so I didn’t count it.
n
“Is Taiwan’s Independence Worth War?” by Patrick J. Buchanan
https://buchanan.org/blog/is-taiwans-independence-worth-war-159549
“Why would we risk our own peace and security for Taiwan’s freedom and independence, when we would not risk our own peace and security for the freedom or independence of Hong Kong?”
Are we willing to kiss off three carrier groups ?
No.
I believe the Taiwanese have at least one nuke. Certainly, they can muster up as much resistance as the Ukrainians. Put up or shut up. Don’t be the frigging elite Venezuelansm cooling their heels on Collins Avenue for over 20 years waiting for the US Marines to put them back in power. The Taiwanese have even *more* money.
And blow the fabs if it comes to that.
Windows 10 pitches a fit if it doesn’t have Internet access during install, but I just reinstalled my daughter’s machine clean from ISO. Her WiFi card doesn’t have drivers available in WHQL so I have to install without network access.
Windows 11 is more difficult if not impossible.