February Week 4, 2006

Monday  February 20 , 2006

We were 45 minutes early for the MRI but they took us in about 30 minutes early... good thing too because we got out of thee with only 20 minutes to get to Holy Cross Hospital for the MUGA Scan (MUltiple Gated Acquisition scan) interesting procedure... we got home about 1830... full day. I gave Autumn her medicine and I'm going to bed early.

I am gaining weight again... no exercise of any value and eating like a teenager again... tomorrow I get sane... maybe.

Tuesday  February 21 , 2006

Jacques Barzun, professor and writer (1907- )

It's been pretty darn chilly for the past week or so... the warm weather we were having two weeks ago has gone for a while, it should be warming up a little on Wednesday. Cindy's visit to the Dr went OK and she is fine.

Wednesday  February 22 , 2006

I thought that over the years keeping this journal would improve my ability to communicate.. it hasn't. I am still struggling to find the words to accurately convey my thoughts and struggling to describe the things going on around me.

We are going in to see the Oncologist today, a very mixed bag of emotions going on for Christy and I. Some contradictory and some harmonic. I have to get the kids up in a few moments and it is a shame I will have to stop before I am done composing this because I have a clarity to my thoughts at the moment that I can not be sure will still be accessible when I get back. The days seem to clutter my mind so that at night I can barely remember what I did during the day...

We are back from Spokane... the Oncologist got caught up at the hospital and was about 45 minutes late and the consultation lasted quite a while.   We are finished with all the tests, the MRI on her spine and pelvis came back negative for cancer but you can really see the damage being done by Arthritis. We are definitely dealing with Inflammatory Breast Cancer and it is localized on her dominant (Left) side.. The Doctor laid out his recommendation for treatment  and we will be starting Chemo soon, 18 weeks worth, then surgery, then Radiation, then more Chemo, the treatment should last about a year... A very aggressive series of procedures. The Oncologist is encouraged that we are on time with the treatment and says she has a good chance of survival, the treatment however is going to be very stressful physically and mentally...

FYI

Strange things doctors have told IBC patients about their symptoms prior to their diagnosis with IBC

1. The doctor said that if it was breast cancer he would be able to find a lump and not just  inflammation and swollen nodes, with a discharge and calcifications in the breast tissue due to caffeine (which she doesn't drink)

2. The doctor said she had spider bites when she developed skin metastasis following treatment for regular breast cancer.

3. After her mammogram the radiologist told her to stop wearing under wire bras.

4. She was told to change bras and detergent to get rid of the rash.

5. My sister was told that her blue colored bruise was a fatty necrosis and no way was it cancer.

6. At age 20 she was told the lump she felt was "rib cartilage" and not to worry as she was too young to have breast cancer. She wasn't properly diagnosed until 2 years and 3 exams later. She died of IBC at age 25.

7. She was told she had regular breast cancer instead of IBC.  The doctor said he had seen plenty of IBC cases and she didn't have it.  (She did.  The clinical presentation of inflammatory breast cancer may vary from patient to patient.)

8. She had inflammation with intense itching on one breast which appeared and disappeared 4 times. The first time it was diagnosed as spider bites., the second time as an allergic reaction to food or detergent, and irritation from cyst fluid from fibrocystic breast the 3rd time.  The 4th time, she was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer.

9. Her IBC was first diagnosed as shingles.

10. Finally, although this woman had not been diagnosed with IBC when she wrote this, it doesn't change the fact that her doctor's explanation of how IBC starts is erroneous.  She was told she didn't need a biopsy because IBC "starts with a lump which then disperses and she couldn't have IBC because the lump would have shown up on one of her previous mammograms."

Thursday  February 23 , 2006

Boy, do I wish I knew as much as you think you know.

(My dad, speaking to me when I was a teenager.)

After asking the kids to support us and help lower the stress level in this house two days ago, the very next day Mike got himself suspended for five days. Christian ditched the first two classes and then today he got into a fight at school and is accused of threatening another kid...

Monica and Calie can't seem to back off from one another... I spent the afternoon with them at the dentist in Colville and shopping at Wal-Mart... they weren't bad but they weren't wonderful either. Monica just can' focus at all. she is up and down jabbering and smart-mouthing everyone and everything.

Christy gets so upset about their behavior and disrespect. She questions her parenting abilities, second guesses her decisions and assumes responsibility for all their crap... it's exasperating to me because I believe that they are old enough to know right from wrong and should be able to do the time if they do the crime. They have to own up to the reality that the world is not conspiring to make their lives miserable and that occasionally they actually contribute to their own misery. The school and everyone in it is bending over to get them through school and the boys are acting like there is some huge conspiracy to make them fail.

Mike says he wants to sue the school because they are racist, he thinks they are picking on him because he's BLACK... that is totally bullshit. Mike has a kid in his weight class that thinks he has the authority to tell everyone what to do. Nobody likes it but they all cope and shine the dude on but Mikie has to get in the kids face and make threats... what a bad decision. Now when they kick him out it becomes someone else's fault. Mike has his righteous indignation on his side and his righteous indignation isn't worth a damn thing in any commodity that matters anywhere on this planet except the Ghetto where disrespect is punishable by death and ignorance, arrogance and pride is valued over all else.

Friday  February 24 , 2006

Saturday  February 25 , 2006

I want to be sure that he is a ruthless son of a bitch, that he will do what he's told, that every income-tax return I want to see I see, that he will go after our enemies and not our friends. Now it's as simple as that. If he isn't. he doesn't get the job.

President Richard Nixon, in May 1971 tapes, describing his criteria for a new IRS commissioner, as quoted in Newsweek

I got the taxes done this morning... it is good to have 6 kids... I only needed $1,600.00 in deductions to get everything I paid in back from the IRS and that was covered by the Standard deductions with 8 k to spare... cool. You can't get more back than you put in.

Talked to Rob and he is going to bring over the bike I bought from him 4 months ago and the truck and a trailer too... I will give him another 5k for the truck and trailer

Sunday  February 26 , 2006

Last Thursday I set up a 750 piece puzzle to work on, I thought it would be something we could do for a few minutes in the evening when Christy wasn't feeling good. The first night we got the pieces all face up and separated out the edge pieces. Then Calie decided she wanted to help and separated out the light colored pieces and put the rest back in the box. I tried to understand why she did that but she put them all out face up again and went to bed. In the middle of the night the cats knocked some of the puzzle on the floor. The next morning after picking up the pieces off the floor for me Cindy separated out all the pieces with red dots on them and swept the other pieces into a pile... grrrr.The next night we got most of the pieces we had connected back together from the night before and a little bit more. The next morning it was all back on the floor and I got a little irritated but I put it back together. Last night after putting it all back together I covered the puzzle with a sheet and went to bed. This morning it was back on the floor again and I told Cindy to put it back in the box... puzzles are supposed to be soothing to do nor infuriating. 

WASHINGTON, DC — The White House today unveiled a new plan designed to cut rising Medicare and Social Security costs by shooting the elderly dead in their tracks.

“We’re very enthusiastic about this one,” said spokesman Scott McClellan. “Obviously, it’s modeled somewhat on recent events. Our plan does differ from Dick Cheney’s accidental shooting of his hunting buddy, Harry Whittington, though. Mr. Whittington is a rich Republican attorney. We’ll be targeting old, poor, and infirm Democrats.”

Senate Democrats expressed concern about the plan. “It does seem a bit extreme,” said Senate Minority Leader, Harry Reid, “particularly to a man my age. But we will certainly avoid any direct confrontation with our friends from across the aisle. Rather, we plan to cave in after putting on a brief, disorganized show of opposition. We’ve found that works best for us.” The plan, which would involve distribution of free ammunition and beer to hunters throughout the nation, could be up and running within a year.

Vice President Cheney praised the new approach during a speech to the American Enterprise Institute. “I think it’s a good solution all the way around. Medicare and Social Security expenses are rising through the roof. At the same time, many hunters are running out of game because of rampant logging and over-development. I know, because I was behind opening public lands to such development. The truth is that many folks lack the opportunity that I did to bravely hunt down dangerous quail from a car. This plan will support their patriotic urge to kill while also helping the nation save money.”

The American Medical Association expressed reservations about the plan. “We admit that treating senior citizens can be complex,” said an AMA spokesman. “The real challenge lies in diagnosing, curing, and getting them out the office door in the ten minutes allowed by HMOs. Have you ever seen how slowly some of these people move? But we do find the Medicare plan somewhat disturbing. Why, it’s almost as if this administration places no value on human life.”

Countered RNC Chairman, Ken Mehlman, “We have a culture of life, especially wealthy life. Is there any other kind worth living? These elderly folks squeaking by on Social Security and Medicare are suffering because they lack that wealth. What we’re talking about here is the quality of life. Certainly we care about the elderly. That’s why our compassionate conservative goal is to put them out of their lingering misery. Plus, they’ll be contributing to the health of our economy, which is a noble goal at any age.”

AARP President, Marie Smith, was disturbed by the plan. “After all, we’re an association of retired people. Our mandate is to make a fortune supposedly representing older folks. Opening fire on those very same folks could significantly cut down on our membership dues. We believe that it’s better to kill seniors slowly by making sure their prescription drugs are too expensive to buy. We worked closely together with both the administration and pharmaceutical companies on this approach. It’s just a shame to see all that self-serving effort go to waste.”

Dan Pearson of the Weekend Warriors, a Virginia-based hunting association, was upbeat. “Many of us are quite pleased with this new approach. It’s certainly a lot more fun and challenging to hunt old folks than quail, with all due respect to the Vice President. I mean, realistically, some of these old dudes are pretty spry. Plus, the alert ones can be pretty sharp about evasive action and hiding. We expect some challenging hunts. It’ll have all the excitement of a tour in Iraq -- a war that I strongly support, by the way, though I have no intentions of ever enlisting -- without any of the danger. What could be bad?”

Robert Friedman