morrowlife

Here’s George Washington’s headquarters at Valley Forge. That may be the very table where George himself worked.  Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken last winter at Valley Forge, and part of my famous Architecture and Workbench series.

Busy couple of days. LRN4 has been doing very well these last few days. We’re ready for the next round of chemo to start on Monday and to continue in this status for the next few months. We’re anxious to get back on track towards a cure, of course, but we’re assiduously pressing on with what we’ve got.

Got a text from LRN23 a couple days ago, wondering if I would make him a quick app. Worked on it yesterday and today and have it essentially done.  I need probably a few more hours tomorrow and should be ready to submit it to the App Store by the end of the day. It doesn’t do a whole lot, but I think it looks nice and it will be a nice thing for LRN23 to give to customers and colleagues. I’m pretty pleased with it.

Nothing else going on. LRN5 and her family get here tomorrow. Then LRN1 gets here on Sunday and LRN3 arrives on Monday. The Thanksgiving week is on us!  Can’t wait for everyone’s arrival.

And I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this rare toilet news: insulting toilet freshener!

See you on Monday.

Here’s an old-school personal computer. And there’s an early model of a text-messaging device right next to it. Pretty impressive technology, if you ask me. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken in an old train station in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and part of my famous Machinery and Workbench series.

Missed a day or two there. We’re in Los Angeles yesterday and today. LRN4 had her regularly-scheduled doctor appointment here on Monday. The doc decided she needed a bone marrow biopsy, but her platelets were way down to 3.0 (the bare minimum he wants to see is 10 and he prefers at least 30), so she needed a transfusion before he could do the biopsy. By the time the transfusion could be done, it would be too late last night to do the biopsy, so we spent the night and my cousin Betsy’s house and came back to the hospital today. I’m feeling a bit bad because we decided not to pack an emergency bag this time (also last time, but that time it worked out), so we had no clean clothes, no supplies, no pills, no nothing. Fortunately Betsy gave us a couple of toothbrushes and the doctor gave (sold) us the pills LRN4 really needed to get by for a day.

New decision: I’m going to pack a backpack with a change of clothes, toothbrush and razor, and sample sizes of deodorant, toothpaste, and shaving cream. Will get the equivalent supplies for LRN4. Then we can throw it in the trunk when we come here and just put it back away when we get home if we don’t use it. All we’ll need to do to get ready is grab a day’s worth of pills and go.

Anyway. I can’t believe how close we’re coming to Thanksgiving. It’s next week! The kids start coming on Saturday and LRN23 just confirmed he’s coming either on Thanksgiving itself or the day before. I’m really looking forward to having everybody here.

Not too great of a visit with the doctor yesterday. There really isn’t a good treatment for LRN4 right now. He’s ruled out the previously-planned DLI transplant basically because there are so few remaining cells from Melanie running around in LRN4’s body. It’s not likely to work within a reasonable timeframe. So now he’s looking at another stem cell transplant (previously ruled out because of the low likelihood of success) or an upcoming new clinical trial, of which there are a couple of likely candidates that should be available between now and next February. In the meantime, LRN4 will just keep doing rounds of chemo for two weeks out of four.

The good news here is that they can keep the leukemia at bay with chemo for a very long time, and that LRN4 tolerates it extremely well and feels pretty good most of the time. She really only feels bad when she has no chemo for long enough that the leukemia starts taking over again. The bad news, of course, is that they don’t really have a reasonable path to a cure right now. Hard times.

The doctor prescribed Lyrica for LRN4’s chronic foot pain yesterday. It’s pretty expensive and new enough that there’s no generic alternative, but we went and got the prescription filled last night. She took her first pill yesterday evening and reported today that she had her first pain-free night in a long time. It still hurts some when she walks and it may be making her a bit drowsy, but she reports the difference is huge. Good times!

No work yesterday. Probably no work today. Too busy with higher  health-related priorities. Well, that’s not entirely true. I did spend some time thinking and talking about marketing my two products yesterday. So that counts as work, right?

And that’s about it for today. LRN4’s waiting for more platelets right now. That transfusion completes pretty quickly and then we’ll be back on the road for home. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: tree-sitting dog!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s a plant in our backyard, full of tiny purple flowers. Beautiful. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken five days ago, and part of my famous Garden, Las Vegas, and Statue series.

Note the extremely attractive turtle statue there in the background, given to us by LRN5 for our garden in Lardville. We think it looks even better here in the desert. Thanks, LRN5! When we see our turtle, we think of you.

LRN4’s health is pretty much the same as it was two days ago. That’s a good thing. We visited her doctor today. He reported that her white cell count is back up to 0.7. That’s okay, though. She got a bunch of transfusions yesterday, which might have had an effect, and cell counting is apparently an inexact science anyway. So we’re not worrying about small stuff like that anymore. We have enough big things to worry about.

Got a tiny bit of work done today. Didn’t work on my user’s manual, as I did the last couple of days. Instead, I got two of my websites set up to automatically publish their blog posts on Facebook. Took a little bit of figuring out, but now I know how to do it. It works great! I’m waiting for LRN4 to decide whether she wants her blog set up to do the same thing.

Just finished reading [amazon text=Johnny Carson&asin=0544217624], by Henry Bushkin. Bushkin was Carson’s attorney for several years. Carson was a great talent but kind of a lousy person, if Bushkin is to be believed. It was kind of depressing – I loved Johnny Carson and I was so sad to find out what a troubled person he was. The saddest part was the end – Johnny Carson died alone. After alienating everyone who ever meant anything to him and who ever cared about him, he had nobody left.

Next book up: [amazon text=Snow Crash&asin=0553380958], by Neal Stephenson. LRN2 recommended it as an interesting example of the bleak cyberpunk genre. So far, he’s right. I’m only a couple chapters into it, I’m usually not much of a fiction lover, and I’m definitely not a science fiction lover (cyberpunk appears to be fairly close to science fiction, if you ask me), but I’m enjoying it.

Next one after that: [amazon text=The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy&asin=0345453743], by Douglas Adams. Yes, it’s old, but I’ve never read it.  I did enjoy [amazon text=the movie&asin=B000A283AW], though.

Next one after that: [amazon text=The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1&asin=0520267192], by … umm … Mark Twain. Volume 2 will come after that.

Got all those books as ebooks from the library. I’m also working on a few marketing books right now, but I’ll describe them in detail at a later date. At least I have a plan.

Anyway. Nothing much else new today, so I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news: quiche standoff!

See you tomorrow.

Here are LRN4 and LRN17 admiring LRN17’s handiwork. LRN17 is a well-known cabinet organizer we brought in from California to take care of a few things for us. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken in our kitchen a few weeks ago, and part of my famous Food and Las Vegas series.

Had a pretty good day. LRN4 is still feeling well, so I’m still feeling well. No health news today. That’s a really good thing.

I pretty much got done what I set out to do today, work-wise. I guess you could say I’m back in my comfort zone. I’m writing technical documentation. After 27.5 years of writing technical documentation at Lockheed, I think we can all agree I know how to do this.

Anyway. I set up a bit of a document format and started adding content. I have about eleven pages so far. I suspect it will end up at 200-300 pages, so there’s still a long way to go. But I’m making progress! And I’m in my comfort zone. So it was a good day.

LRN4 and I have started watching a show called [amazon text=Longmire&asin=B00BFAIH68]. Our brother-in-law Ken suggested it to us. It’s about a sheriff in Wyoming who solves a murder or two a week. I hadn’t really been excited about watching it – it sounded a bit too much like an updated version of [amazon text=McCloud&asin=B00005JNHU]. But I was definitely wrong. It’s a good show. There’s suspense, intrigue, and mystery. Also wide-open spaces and beautiful, bleak landscapes. Also an old Ford Bronco. Highly recommended.

And that’s about it for today. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: urban cattle!
See you tomorrow.

Here’s one of the organs in the conservatory at Longwood Gardens. That’s a really big console. I would love to have heard that organ being played. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken last year at Longwood Gardens, and part of my famous Garden and Machinery series.

Yeah, I know you can’t see the garden in this picture, but it was there. Trust me.

Pretty good weekend. LRN4’s feeling pretty well and her white cell count is back down to 0.5. The doc says there are just variations. If it had gone up again today, he might have been worried, but the chemo seems to have been working fine. We go back to Los Angeles a week from today to see where we stand. Until then, we relax and enjoy life.

LRN4 has had to cut back down to a single Nexavar pill a day. She had tried to up it to two (our doctor in LA wants her to be taking four a day!), but she had such pain in her feet that she just can’t do it. We’ll have to hope that a single daily pill does the trick. Quality of life issues took precedence this time. She cut down a few days ago and reports that her feet are feeling a lot better by this evening.

Happy Veteran’s Day, by the way. Especially to my numerous Loyal Readers who are also veterans.  Loyal Reader veterans I know of are: LRN20 and . . . umm . . . that’s about it. Sorry if I missed anybody, but many thanks to LRN20, who is actively serving even as we speak.

Does the Coast Guard Auxiliary count? If so, also many thanks to LRN3, who volunteers with those good folks.

Didn’t get much work done today. I love being retired. Wait! No! I’m not retired. I’m self-employed. Guess I was a lousy employee today. Tomorrow’s task – getting at least a few draft chapters done on the user’s manual for the medical app.

Had an interesting discussion last night at the in-laws’ house. Our non-loyal-reader friend Grace asked me if I am in business writing iOS apps. I responded in the affirmative. She said she was approached by a friend to find out whether she knew any developers and wondered if she could give them my name. I asked if they have any money. She responded in the affirmative. I gave her one of my business cards and invited her to invited the friend to contact me. We’ll see if it happens. It would be great to get a paying gig, wouldn’t it? I’m ready for that now. Although I might actually have to work hard. Shiver me timbers.

Not a lot else going on today, so I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this combination shocking food violence news and exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: breaking-and-entering, Chinese-food-eating bear!

See you tomorrow.