Well, I’ve broken on through – the first of four chemo sessions (with week three OFF), session one ostensibly the worst!  Or at least the longest…

0730 to 0430 yesterday (Tuesday).

Two different flavors, plus the anti-nausea meds (which had the worst of the side-effects thus far!)

We’ll see what’s in store NEXT Tuesday…

Meanwhile, I’m experiencing light nausea – and my meds are downstairs.  (Be prepare

d!)

Oh well, live and learn…

I sometimes get frustrated with the ‘stuff of life’.  I’m disabled, on a small disability income, my 15-year old Oldsmobile is more or less parked for lack of funds for needed repairs, and with my disabilities regarding walking, standing or even sitting it is sometimes difficult or painful.  And a little less than two years ago I lost my home of 18 years.

Yes, sometimes I whine about other stuff, too.

BUT, I try to keep a stiff upper lip.  And keep chipping away at those things that I can do something about.

My stand-alone desktop computer has been waylayed for a little over a month.  For most folks having their home computer not functioning correctly is an annoyance, but in the grand scheme of things it’s not that big a deal.

BUT, not being very ambulatory, and now even less mobile, it became readily apparent my computer is a window to the outside world.  My email, and 3-year-old blog being it’s primary functions.  I can talk back to the TV, but it rarely responds.

FORTUNATELY, my roommate J loaned me an old laptop she wasn’t using for me to keep up with the day’s events and continue to publish my blog (such as it is) daily, as I’ve done since March 6, 2011.

For this I am forever grateful.

Being less-than-competent with regard to computer/Internet stuff, I’ve not been able to diagnose the problem with my computer, determine if it was even repairable, or what the cost might be.

J left town to visit her daughter and become a tourist for the holiday weekend, and I’m left as the dog wrangler again.  This is okay, because I love the dogs (and the cat – more or less) and it gives me more time to try to move files to the laptop and play at fixing my old computer.

I DID IT!

Somehow, something inadvertently changed a couple of settings (not me!) – I changed them back (with about 100 missteps in the interim) and now the computer connects to the Internet, again!!

HUZZAH!

I’m using my original machine to write this!

This may not be watching a rose bloom, or being in love, or a new car, but DAMN I’m pleased!

AND, I’ve been able to get my meds down, and an anxiously awaiting approval from the Leukemia, Lymphomia Society for Tuesdays go-ahead.

Time will tell. 

No, this is NOT a review of the TV show.

(I am not a regular viewer, nor a fan.)

It’s basically a send-up of the STAR TREK universe, with funny jokes and social commentary.

But the last episode (Majority Rule) was a cutting indictment of social media (Facebook, Democracy, anyone?)

The explorers visit a society wherein everyone at age eighteen they get a mandatory badge, containing a green up arrow and a red down one.

Any passers-by may choose to press one – or not.

Too many RED (usually do to some social faux paux) eventually gets one ‘reprogrammed’ (essentially lobatomized) .  Escapees are killed.

Think Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery .

I unfortunately have friends who think The Electoral College should be eliminated in favor of Majority Vote.  Resulting in a Ca./Ny national policy and leadership, undoubtedly.

Not only so they not understand history or The Constitution.

I would like them to watch this episode.

(Okay, you may now press my button.)

So, I scheduled to begin chemotherapy today.  In a rather convoluted manner.

My oncologist applied for assistance, which meant Day 1, Friday was covered.  I had to pay /day 2 – next Friday.

Week three was a week off!

And there was the Fourth Friday, which was covered again by insurance.

Then I was fully covered though the end of the year!

Obviously, I’m changing insurance next year for a lower catastrophic deductable!

The fly in the ointment?  We’ve nor yet heard back from the assistance!

So were postponed until Tuesday!

It’s always something…

(Operation Pastorius – Wikipedia)

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, followed by Nazi Germany’s declaration of war on the United States four days later^[1] (and the United States’ declaration of war on Germany in response), Hitler authorized a mission to sabotage the American war effort and to make terrorist attacks on civilian targets to demoralize the American civilian population inside the United States.^[2] The mission was headed by Admiral Canaris, chief of the German Abwehr. Canaris recalled that during World War I, he organized the sabotage of French installations in Morocco, and entered the United States with other German agents to plant bombs in New York arms factories, including the destruction of munitions supplies at Black Tom Island, in 1916. He hoped that Operation Pastorius would have the same kind of success they had in 1916.^[3]

 

I remember my Father telling me what little he knew, in guarded terms of the events.  He had been deferred to to asthma and flat feet, but was anxious to somehow to serve.  Little did he know what was to befall him.

Meanwhile, one of the potential saboteurs betrayed the others, and they all were arrested , tried and convicted.   My father (and his father) were then civilian police for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, and were commandeered as private ‘volunteered’ to transport prisoners through the Easter United States.  This was all Top Secret, was all kept secret until the 60’s.  Much of what my Father shared with me he thought remained with so, as he was unaware of the earlier declassification!

He was given no official title or rank, and was not paid – the RR paid him.

I will not hon0r these men by linking their names with their photos.

The trial for the eight defendants ended on 1 August 1942. Two days later, all were found guilty and sentenced to death. Roosevelt commuted Burger’s sentence to life in prison and Dasch’s to 30 years because they had turned themselves in and provided information about the others. The others were executed on 8 August 1942 in the electric chair on the third floor of the District of Columbia jail and buried in a potter’s field in the Blue Plains neighborhood in the Anacostia area of Washington.

And was told never to speak of this…

This irked me my entire childhood – friends whose fathers who served in the Pacific Theater, the Atlantic, and my Dad had flat feet!

What did you do in the War Daddy?

What little did I know…

I was always proud of my father – more proud today.

(In no way do so I resemble Ms. Kahn or Lilly Von Stupp!)

But onging medications. weight loss, muscle mass and poor eating (cancer stops the taste buds from working correctly.

And this is only the beginning!

Please keep a good thought.

And think of the late Ms. Kahn, not I.

I returned from the oncologist yesterday with more specificity.

I have been diagnosed with Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma, double hit phenotype which is considered a more aggressive type.

This differs from the Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma which I contracted in 2010.

And the the treatment, while still outpatient, will be more rigorous.

Chemotherapy Treatment may begin as soon as next week, which means which means I may miss a few more keyboard days.

Sorry.

Please keep me in your thoughts, if that’s what you do.

Thank you.

I return to the oncolologoist this after 1500, to see the result of the blood and bone scan.  This may determine the poisons they inject me with.

Hmmmm….

Going in 0730 to ostensibly have a electrocardiogram,  and another lymph node biopsy, and perhaps a port installed (pre-chemotherapy.)

Maybe see ya Tuesday…

Sigh.

(2ndAmendmendinsider.com)

California Gov. Brown signs 3 gun control bills

California Gov. Jerry Brown signed measures to end the last narrow allowances in the state for campus carry and open carry but rejected one to mandate increased security at gun stores.

Brown, a Democrat, signed AB 7, AB 424 and AB 1525 over the weekend while returning SB 464 to lawmakers, describing the last measure, aimed at ramping up security measures at gun shops across the state, as an overreach.

“State law already requires that firearms dealers enact security measures to avoid theft,” said Brown in his veto message. “Local jurisdictions can — and have — gone further by adding specific requirements. I believe local authorities are in the best situation to determine if any additional measures are needed in their jurisdictions.”

The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, argued the increase in security was needed following incidents where burglars used cars to smash into gun stores across the state. The measure would have required gun stores to keep their firearms in a secure facility with steel bars on windows, deadbolted doors or metal grates over entrances, and an alarm system protecting ventilation in addition to installing exterior features such as concrete bollards.

Read More

I’m so glad I live in the Free State of Arizona!

(Firearm Daily)

A recent court case in California could have long reaching implications for Second Amendment rights and the way firearms can be sold to the public.
The case, Teixeira v. County of Alameda, has not gotten a lot of attention, but could drastically impact the ability of individuals to sell firearms in private party sales. As it stands, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision is a victory for those who wish to limit gun and firearm sales.
In the case, an individual wanted to open a full-service firearms shop; the intended location fell into a zone that required a conditional permit. In this location, a conditional permit is needed to open a gun shop near a school, daycare, residential area, liquor store or other firearms location. In short, the current law makes it very difficult to open a facility at all, since pretty much every location in the county is near one of the outlawed facilities or near a residential neighborhood.
The business owner challenged the ordinance, but was struck down by the court. Both the original decision and the appeal ruled in favor of the county, restricting the shop owners second amendment rights. As the plaintiff and business owner pointed out, restricting their ability to open a shop at all also prevented local citizens from purchasing firearms, potentially impacting their Second Amendment rights as well.
Should the plaintiff wish to appeal, the case could be heading to the U.S. Supreme Court, where justices would address whether the county’s ordinance and the court ruling were truly constitutional. The argument that prospective customers might not be able to buy firearms is not at the heart of the case; there are other gun shops nearby — the county could be infringing upon the owner’s Constitutional rights.
California’s 9th Circuit is already well-known for supporting laws and rulings that limit the rights of gun owners. In recent years, the court has upheld restrictive concealed carry laws and with this recent case, restricted the rights of business owners as well. Will this be the case that requires the Supreme Court to weigh in and clarify what rights individuals have to sell firearms and establish businesses under the Second Amendment?
As more and more locales seek to restrict rights, particularly in Democrat led areas, it may be time for the highest court in the nation to make rulings that clarify the protections the Constitution holds for law abiding citizens.

They’ll just keep battering away at common-sense language until nothing means what it says.  Much as the Communists do with rights.

Gee, I wonder if there’s a connection somewhere?

(If it is, I will remove it!)

Over the past few weeks, I have become weaker.  Lymphoma can do that.  I’ve loss muscle-mass, making getting out of my orthopedic lift chair difficult, sometimes even impossible.

The chair herself is now broken and irreparable.  Chair experts advise I am in need of a new one.  This is not like buying an ordinary chair.  They are build for patient height and weight, and many stores simply want to move them off the floor, patient need come-what-may.

And, of course, I’ve few funds.

My friend (an ex-gf) said she will set up a donation page toward this end.  And my ex-wife (a different person!) told me she to help!

A quality chair can cost well over $1200, funds I do not have.  And, given my circumstances I NEED a chair with a warranty.

And in the past month I have had to call the fire department FOUR TIMES to help me get out of my broken chair!

(How pathetic is that!)

Below is Judy’s Fundly Account she set up on my behalf.  Of course, there is also the PayPal account on this blog.

If you can take action, terrific, GREAT! (and THANK YOU)  If you are unable, please keep a good thought…

So, I received two voice mails Wednesday, regarding scheduling the scheduling my next CT/lymph node biopsy.  (apparently they didn’t get enough diversity last time.)

Unfortunately my cellular phone took a dump, and I didn’t receive them until Wednesday night!

So I called Thursday morning, early.  At length, I was placed in a que, and told they would call me before 1300.  If I didn’t hear from them, I was to call them.  Subsequently, I wad placed in another que, and the would call me letting me know when they would call back.  I was told 45 minutes.  The said they would call after 9 minutes.  They did eventually call, to advise me they were unable to take my insurance.

I spent most of my chair waiting for a phone to ring, only to be told they were unable to assist me.

Customer service, anyone?

My oncologist won’t return until Tuesday.  His assistant was supposed to call me yesterday afternoon.

Guess what happened?

It’s no big deal, just being used to develop the correct chemotherapy medicine for me.