Friday, April 14, 2017

Another Twofer Day in the Midwest

The day started with Yevette's joy joy time at The Center and she got through that surprisingly quickly.  They blast her with radiation and then ship her out.  Often there are related appointments to follow but not this time so we were back in the wind within about half an hour.

Note:  some say America has the best medical care in the world but tell me again when an insurance company refuses to pay for the medicine prescribed during her chemo / radiation treatment.  This is not VA or MEDICARE but rather standard insurance with Blue Cross / Blue Shield and it's happened more than once already.

Best in the world?  My dyin' ass, it is.


My excursion to see the cancerologists was in the afternoon in Dallas and driving solo is a tiny problem when I haven't had a legal drivers license in over a year and a half.  The reason for that is simple because getting a drivers license will automatically sign me up for jury duty in Texas and I won't consort with people who are willing to send others to death, no matter the reason.  They know it's not cheaper to execute them; they just enjoy executions more.

The solo act worked fine and here's a confirmation to Yevette.  Sighting on I-35 is important since the exit for Lancaster is only about a mile up from there.  If you're not already in one of the right lanes, you already missed it.  I'm sure that's what happened when we ended up in Arkansas or Bumfuck, Idaho, or wherever.


Today was the first time in a year when the dermo docs checked me over and didn't see anything they wanted to biopsy.  She froze a few places and that stings but no follow-up from that is necessary.

I don't have to go back for another six months and this is a huge win since I've been facing surgery most of the time during the last year.  Skin cancer doesn't require deeply-invasive surgery but it isn't what you saw with Hugh Jackman.  It's a drag that he got it at all but a little bump on his nose is just a sign of what comes.

Sorry but these Hollywood types have been kind of lackadaisical about skin cancer since Bob Barker from "The Price is Right" was saying for years that he has some skin cancer once in a while but the docs just nick it off.

That's true.  At first they do.


The win for Yevette is getting to the finish line but it wasn't the worst today and that's close enough to a win for now.  There isn't a win with skin cancer since it keeps coming back but holding it to a point at which it's less likely to develop melanoma is a win since, for the next six months, that's handled.

There's a boost to the thinking of the survivability of things from this.  At some point in your life that won't work but every other time it will so, what the fuck, believe it will happen.

Maybe you get hooted for going on about thinking positively about surviving things but it is a fact there's only one time in your life that won't work.  The Rockhouse strongly believes holding belief it will work is part of the reason it will since you can easily screw your health yourself when you don't.

Believe, Tinkerbell; believe.

Ed:  in what?

Whatever you like.  Sometimes I like radioactive ground squirrels.


Ed:  you call that a deity?

Are you willing to look into those blazing red eyes and tell him he's not?  This isn't just an albino, not with hell-fired eyes like that.

Note:  I did not alter the color of the squirrel's fur.  This one represents an untold number of sports which arose due to the lack of proper controls on nuclear material in England and these sports were the mutations which resulted.  They're aggressive, violent, and can inject poisonous venom.  Authorities have no idea how far they have spread.

Ed:  I don't believe you

Believe, Tinkerbell; believe.

Watson:  I believe Silas was making the point regarding belief in seemingly impossible ...

Ed:  shut up, Watson

Watson:  by the way, close your windows at night in England.  These squirrels are nocturnal and they're predatory.  There may be millions of them by now.

Frenchman: can they swim?

Watson:  like Olympic gold, mon ami.  Keep the lights on.


There's a fire sale on unusual lately but today it got warm, both of us got passes from the really nasty stuff from the docs, and I didn't even get busted.   Plus Wudgie Fudge was still there so I could get the last of the fudge with mint for Yevette.  I figured I'll sure fetch it if you're willing to eat it but first was to catch them before they closed.


After driving all that way back to Fort Worth, I was getting fed-up with slackers who can't drive particularly in those big, nondescript, shit box SUVs and there's some road construction in Fort Worth near here which has resulted in some relatively tight corners.  I knew the SUV ahead of me would slow to a crawl because they want to drive ... but they fuckin' can't.  I gave it some lead time to make some distance and then didn't slow down in the corner since there's no need for it.  That made me come up on the back of the SUV like Parnelli Jones and that SUV took off like I lit a firecracker under its ass.

Ed:  you're a malicious prick!

Well, yeah, but I didn't chase the fool.  I was only politely suggesting he pick up the pace and actually drive like he's done it before.  He did.

Ed:  you were laughing?

Yep.  I remember track time enough that street racing means nothing to me or even rat racing.  I can handle a corner just fine and that's the most interesting part anyway for me.  I like to hear the tyres work a little sometimes.


This day hasn't been so bad and it followed a night for Yevette which surpassed awful so there's some weird kozmik balance which tries to make things even or some such.

I'm sorry if you are in a cancer situation and do not have support like Yevette.  In that circumstance, my recommendation is for a support group since every cancer center worth a damn has one and they're not open to sightseers so your privacy is assured.  A support group can almost certainly give advice on finding transportation if you need it.  I've been stunned and enriched by seeing the willingness people show for giving of themselves in this situation.


This rambles but it's a measure of the surrealism and it's all the more dissonant with any kind of logic when some parts of this are actually enjoyable.  For example, in your life you mostly don't know who will stand up when you're really screwed since really you know many of the people you call friends are just acquaintances; it's nice that you smile back and forth but it doesn't mean anything.  During this time, however, there's no question anymore.

There was a bit of light comedy to close and I was walking out of The Center a bit ahead of Yevette.  Then I said hello with a smile to a woman on oxygen headed the other way and Yevette was practically laughing when she caught up with me, "She was looking at you!"

I'm cheerful when I meet people anyway because why not and I didn't think I had done anything but Yevette was cracking up, "She was scoping your bones, man."

She didn't say that exactly but close enough and don't read a hint of mockery into any of this.  Of course we Old Fuckers get sweet on each other and it may be the deepest relationship you ever find in life.  No-one talks of buying houses together, making babies together, or any of the secondary aspects of a primary relationship.  There's a purity in that which may be impossible at any other time in life.

No comments: