morrowlife

Here’s Mark with a Zoltar machine. That’s Mark there on the right, with Zoltar on the left. Of course, having his name printed directly over his head is something of a giveaway. Maybe Mark should consider getting a sign like that one. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken in Boulder city mere moments before the Atomic Missile photo featured on Tuesday, and part of my famous Electronics, Machinery, and Statue series.

I nearly called Mark LRN2 in that first paragraph there. That’s a difficult habit to get out of. Once you get a shtick going, it’s hard to change direction.

By the way, you can have a Zoltar machine too! Or maybe go [amazon text=a bit cheaper&asin=B000NOOZ1S].

Lots of news around here. Yesterday afternoon, I got thoroughly disgusted when our lung doctor refused to perform a test that our oncologist told us Shannon needed. It’s the bronchoscopy they’ve schedule two times before and called off both times at the last moment. The guy said he won’t do it because her platelets are too low. Which is ludicrous because her body is incapable of creating platelets, as I mentioned. She needs that test because, while she’s doing much better than before, she’s no longer really improving and she can’t get free of the oxygen. She also can’t get free of the hospital.

So I got unhappy and decided it was time to go to the City of Hope. Shannon agreed and I started making the arrangements. Our Nevada oncologist agrees that it’s a good time to transfer her. Our California oncologist agrees and has been wanting us to transfer her since he found out. And our internal disease specialist’s partner visited us this afternoon and told us he absolutely agrees that we need to go. Without wanting to say anything negative about the wonderful people at the hospital here, they just don’t have enough experience with stem cell transplant patients and their special needs. At this point, we need to get with the experts. So we’re going.

Shannon called me early this morning and let me know they told her she was being transferred today. She I scrambled around and drained the jacuzzi, changed the sheets on our bed, finished folding Shannon’s laundry and got some extra clothes out for her, got gas in the Taurus, and packed a suitcase for myself to last for anywhere from three days to five months. I loaded it all in the car, along with Shannon’s pills and a dirty clothes basket, and headed to the hospital to await Shannon’s air ambulance departure. And . . . she didn’t go. There’s not a bed available at the City of Hope yet. It’ll happen within a few days, of course. But why did I believe them when they told me we were leaving? Sorry.

I should have done what we did last time this happened. That time, I kept living a normal life until they told her it was time to go. Then I went home, got ready as described above, and drove to Los Angeles. In my defense, I thought they had told her it was time to go.

Anyway, we’re going soon.

No work was accomplished today in all the confusion. Spoke with my mother and both of my brothers today. Everybody seems to be doing fine and they’re all excited for us to keep moving forward. Chris was going to come visit us for the weekend, so that’s canceled, unfortunately. Maybe another time soon.

And there’s not much else on my mind right now, so I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: rental chicken!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s an atomic missile. I want one. Although I have no idea what I’d do with it. Or even where I would keep it. All I know is I want it. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken in downtown Boulder City this past weekend, and part of my famous Machinery series.

That thing is awesome.

Check out the list of Loyal Readers over there on the right. I have four new Loyal Readers! They haven’t technically applied for Loyal Reader status, but they’ve all admitted to reading the blog. And that makes them Loyal Readers. Welcome aboard, Bob, Don, Nan, and Melanie. Thanks for reading. Loyally.

Of course, I know they’re all just reading to find out how Shannon is doing. So let’s bow to the pressure and examine the record. She’s doing pretty well. Quite well, in fact. She’s feeling well for the most part. She’s able to shower now and … duh-duh-duh-duh! … she’s able to go for a walk! They brought us a portable oxygen tank and turned us loose in the hallways of the hospital. It was the first time she had been outside of a hospital room in nineteen days (other than when being transferred somewhere by hospital personnel, of course). It was a huge deal, if you ask me, even though it was only a brief walk. Congratulations, Shannon! That’s one small step for a woman, one giant leap for Shannon.

Not much work got done today. I spent a lot of the time on emails, reviewing trouble tickets, and other odds and ends. Just a little bit of documentation. That manual is so overwhelming to me that I’m really struggling with it. There is a ton more work to do. Better get down to it.

Shannon found us a potentially good place to buy the golf shirts John and I plan to wear at the conference in February. Thanks, Shannon! She mentioned that her boss at the interior design studio said she was a great sourcer. And she was right! Now we have to decide whether to have the PhotoDoc or the Business Casual logo put on there. There are good reasons for both. Or maybe we should put both on.

The cleaning ladies come early tomorrow morning, so I’d better end. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: gangster pig!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s a bit of Great Art from Shannon and Mia. Originally, it had a beard made out of paper loops – 24 of them, to be exact. It was a really cute little advent calendar. Now, it’s garbage. Great Art courtesy of Shannon, Mia, and the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken on our kitchen countertop, and part of my famous Event and Vacation series.

The event was Christmas, of course.

Notice anything different, Loyal Readers? That’s right, I’m no longer calling Loyal Readers by their Loyal Reader number. I’m tired of it, so it’s time for a change. It was fun while it lasted, wasn’t it? Wasn’t it? Hello? Anybody?

Pretty good weekend. Shannon’s doing quite well pneumonia-wise. She’s feeling good, although they’ve had to pump up her oxygen just a little bit. She’ll get off of it sooner or later. She was able to take a shower today for the first time since she went into the hospital, which made her feel great. She’s breathing better, looking better, eating better, and in every way greatly improved.

Now for the less-good news. Even though today was day four of chemo, her white count continues to go up and the percentage of blasts in the white cells is also increasing. It’ll get into the danger zone pretty soon. Fortunately, we’ve been in this situation before – last August to be exact. The chemo she’s getting is pretty slow to act, so it’s not unexpected. But her numbers need to start lowering pretty soon. Keeping fingers crossed for that to happen right away.

Made a little progress on the work front. I’ve been working on the documentation for PhotoDoc. There is a TON more work to do, but it’s moving forward again. I’ve also been working on PhotoDoc’s logo. I’ll show it to you as soon as it’s finalized. Many thanks to non-Loyal-Reader Matt for working on it for me. Also many thanks to non-Loyal-Reader Clifford for working on the videos my non-Loyal-Reader partner John has made. All that delegation is starting to pay off.

Got my new business cards in the mail today. They look very professional, as far as I’m concerned. Behold:

The phone number and email address have been obscured to keep the spammers at bay. If any of my Loyal Readers want to get in touch with me, you already know where I am.

Although that information was also in the post from a few days ago. But nobody will notice that one, will they? This one looks just like the artist’s conception, doesn’t it?

And that’s about it for today. I’m trying to get to bed earlier and now’s the time. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: Cookie Monster of the sea!

See you tomorrow.

Behold the Staplex. The biggest, toughest, meanest stapler out there. Wouldn’t want to get my finger caught in that thing. Great Art courtesy of LRN1, taken in May 2012 at LRN1’s former office in Utah, and part of my famous Machinery series. Or was that LRN2’s desk? Apparently, he inherited it from LRN1 when LRN1 moved on to a new job.

Biggest, toughest, and meanest? Well, there’s this. But you won’t find that thing on somebody’s desk.

Very good day for LRN4. She’s feeling very well, her fever has gone away again, her lungs are sounding very good to the stethoscope-wielding medical practitioners, she’s able to stand up and walk around her room, and everything is pretty good. Her internal disease guy says if things continue to go so well, she may be able to go home early next week, which would be great. But we’re not counting on it. If there’s one thing we’ve learned this past year, it’s not to count on things.

On the downside, her white count has doubled yet again, and the cancerous cells are up from 3% to 8% of the total. They started her next round of chemo this evening, right after they finished giving her two units of red cells and two units of platelets. I’m hoping the chemo starts doing its job quickly before her numbers go too high for comfort.

Did no work today, although I should have. Instead, LRN2 and I went to the DMV and got his car titled and registered in Nevada. It took three hours, but it all worked out. LRN2 still needs to get his driver’s license updated. Maybe next week.

The [amazon text=new monitors&asin=B008A3KFB8] I ordered yesterday are scheduled to get here tomorrow. I can’t wait! I’ll of course need to do some extensive testing before the conference. So I expect they’ll be unpacked and in use by tomorrow afternoon.

And it’s late already, so I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: roof-dwelling horse!

See you on Monday

Here’s a picture of a much younger me in Kazakhstan, standing in front of two of our team’s Ford Transit vans. They were our sole transportation there, other than the golf cart our spacecraft team typically brought with them. Those other two guys were our Loyal Drivers. Great Art courtesy of … umm … somebody’s camera, taken in June 2001 during the Astra 2C launch campaign, and part of my famous Machinery series.

Pretty good days yesterday and today. LRN4 is doing much better, thank you very much. She’s breathing well, she’s getting a full 99% blood oxygen, her lungs sound nearly clear via a stethoscope, she’s able to stand up and do a little walking in place, and she’s generally feeling much better.

On the negative side, she’s running a very slight fever this evening: 99-point-something. Let’s hope we’re not looking at another setback. Please.

We moved from the heart (second) floor up to the cancer (third) floor late tonight. I think that’s a good sign.  We’re now in room 0x177. Drop by, Loyal Readers!

Quite a bit of progress on the work front. I’ve done a tiny bit more work on the PhotoDoc manual. But today I got a bunch of work done on the February conference. I selected and paid for the furnishings for the booth (table, chairs, carpet), bought a couple of monitors to show off our stuff, and made flight, motel, and rental car reservations. I’m starting to get excited! Also nervous. There’s so much more to get done and so little time remaining.

Fortunately, I’m delegating. The Loyal Son-in-law has started editing videos and a Loyal Nephew-in-law is working on the new logo, LRN4 having been taken out of the logo sweepstakes due to unforeseen hospitalization. I got a first cut at the logo tonight and love it. It’s just what I had hoped for. It’s basically a simplified, flattened, cleaned up version of the original logo. Very nice.

Progress!

And I’ll let that be it for tonight. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news: cole slaw disaster!

See you tomorrow.