jordanlund

Some of you know I was offline for a bit this week for surgery. What you didn't know (and what I didn't know until about 2 hours ago) is that the surgery has uncovered cancer.

I'm intentionally using "c" cancer and not "C" Cancer because 6 months ago the biopsies I had done were pre-cancerous with no sign of cancer proper.

So, whatever it is, it developed in the last 6 months and I take that as a good sign.

From here I need to focus on doing what the docs tell me to do starting with blood tests tomorrow, then we're doing genetic stuff and a CT scan, that will tell us the official "stage" of the cancer.

My plan is to come back, but it won't be immediate and I don't (yet) have any sort of timeline. My ideas are probably more aggressive than the doctors and insurance will allow. 😉

So I'm planning on the worst, doing paperwork, advanced directives, all the stuff you don't usually have to think about. Then we'll see where it goes.

I wish Lemmy all the luck in the world!

Edit

OK - met with the surgeon. At a minimum it's stage 2 (invasive) with the potential for stage 3 (in the lymph nodes).

We won't know until they remove the sigmoid colon (all of it) and the related lymph nodes and have it all checked.

Scheduler is going to call me, right now it's looking like 3 to 5 weeks out, so late Feb. or early March.

Potential to move me up because cancer patients have priority.

If it's stage 2, no further action needed, surgery fixes it.

If it's stage 3, that requires chemotherapy, but we won't know that until after the surgery.

Edit 2

Surgery is scheduled for 2/19. It was going to be 2/11, but they decided they need more time to review the drugs I'm on and figure out which ones to stop and when.

Edit 3

Doing the last bits of surgery prep tonight, reporting to the hospital tomorrow. Estimate is 3 days in then back home.

Edit 4

Edit 5

Surgery on the 19th went well, I have 4 laparoscopic scars on my belly and it seems well contained. But if I cough, it's like I want to die.

Day 1 - 3 were kind of tough with all the tubes running in and out of me, it all dramatically improved on day 4 with removing the catheter.

Apparently they were confused why someone with a heparin blood thinner drip would be bleeding internally in their urethra. I'm like "Hey, I'm no doctor, but maybe the catheter has something to do with that?" 🤔

They were worried about blood clots blocking urine flow and didn't want to remove the catheter only to have to put it back in.

Saner heads prevailed, the catheter was removed, and the bleeding stopped immediately. No worries on the bathroom front, all clear and blood free!

Plan is to cut me loose in the morning! Just in time to visit my wife on her rehab ward for a 5 hour caregiver training.

Training I won't immediately be able to do because, surgery, but good to have it for when I am able!

Now, we wait for lab results for the cancer stage. Minimum stage 2, which is why we did the surgical intervention.

If it somehow got into the lymph system, that's stage 3 and I'll be back in for chemo.

Results take 5-7 days from the 19th soooo ... 2/24 to 2/26 we'll get the word on that!

This is Portland Police saying this, so a slightly smaller grain of salt than the Rock of Gibraltar sized one for the DHS tweet.

Male shot in the arm released to FBI custody, female shot in the chest still hospitalized and stable.

~~"Killings" is inaccurate, but it's their headline.~~ Hey! They fixed the headline! Man was shot in the arm (or maybe the leg? Reports vary.) Woman shot in the chest. Both survived and were hospitalized but their conditions have not been reported.

Mayor Wilson nails it:

Portland’s mayor, Keith Wilson, said at a news conference: “We know what the federal government says happened here. There was a time when we could take them at their word. That time is long past.”

“We cannot sit by while constitutional protections erode and bloodshed mounts. Portland is not a ‘training ground’ for militarized agents, and the ‘full force’ threatened by the administration has deadly consequences. As mayor, I call on ICE to end all operations in Portland until a full investigation can be completed.”

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/45158324

That explains all the sirens I heard coming back from lunch...

In relation to this, thinking about a new community for Political Activism. Calls to action, that kind of thing.

The rules would be super simple:

1. Purpose is for protest organizing. [Country, City, State]

2. Absolutely no calls for violent action.

3. No links to fundraisers. Too rife for fraud and abuse. Stories about fundraisers would be fine, but no GoFundMes, etc.

Think there's room for PolticalActivism?

When we bought this lovely mid-century modern house a few years ago, my only real complaint was "I hate that fucking wall!"

Short term solution was to bury it behind bookshelves, but it's still there... LURKING. It irks me just knowing it's still there, that half-assed wainscoting made of plywood strips and blue paint.

At a minimum, my plan is to pull the plywood off and re-paint before putting the bookracks back, but there has to be something nicer.

Maybe something like this above the bookracks where the wall is exposed? I dunno. I'm open to ideas.

I had been talking with my wife about long term organizational plans... The bookshelves in the library are 30 year old, bending, crappy plywood that need to be replaced, and my plan was:

1. Clean out the back bedroom.

2. Get new bookshelves for the library that are taller, wider, and will add over 200 linear inches of shelf space.

Current library:

3. Figure out how many of the old bookshelves can be moved into the back bedroom (four! four bookshelves! Ah ha ha! Maybe 5 if I get super lucky.)

4. Put the empties in the back bedroom for more DVD storage, then fix the wall they sit in front of because I hate that wall treatment (long story).

Ugly ass-wall:

(It was like that when we bought the house, loved the house, HATED that wall. I need to pull down the plywood slats and re-paint to get rid their janky ass-wainscoting.)

https://xkcd.com/37/

5. Put together the new racks and re-assemble the library.

All told, a lot of work. My plan was to do all this a little at a time over a period of months.

WELL... Our kid asked my wife what he should get for Christmas.

Turns out... 5 new bookshelves show up TOMORROW.

I can't be mad... it's a gift. But holy hell... I wasn't ready to start the project TOMORROW.

2 PM showing, 15 minute intermission, back to the car just before 7 PM... that was an experience!

The changes are actually pretty minor:

1. The anime sequence that provides O-Ren's backstory is extended, showing how she got her revenge on the assassin who killed her parents, not just the boss who ordered it.

2. In the original fight with the Crazy 88, she does an eye pluck and the rest of the fight is in black and white, this cut remains in color for the full run of part 1.

3. Part One ends right after The Bride's speech to Sophie, "And I want them all to know they'll soon be as dead as O-Ren." Break for intermission. No cliffhanger.

4. Part 2 opens with the Church scene, a recap of part 1 not being necessary.

5. Added material after the end credits including a new scene set after the killing of Vernita Greene showing the end of the Pussy Wagon. Gogo's sister flies to L.A. for revenge.

That whole sequence is weird as it's, not kidding, animated in Fortnite and seems to follow Fortnite violence rules. Uma Thurman does return to do the voice of the Bride though.

Overall, it's a good flick, but I think I like the original versions better.

First, the second movie also has sequences in black and white, and because the big fight scene is now in full color, there's no precedent for the B&W footage, it just kinda comes out of nowhere.

Second, the cliffhanger at the end of part 1 is epic, it seems criminal to cut it.

Third, Fortnite? Seriously? They couldn't even be bothered to call the Pussy Wagon "Pussy Wagon", it's "😸 Wagon".

Edit The Fortnite clip is on the Fortnite YouTube channel:

https://youtu.be/PrUI5Ys3OwE

Looks less and less like "worst of the worst" and has always been "brownest of the brown".