Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Friday, December 11, 2020
A Re-start for the Coming Times
Weekend Update - 12/11/20
Well here we go. I have not been willing to sit down and write about my current condition ever since I my cancer recurred in February of this year.
I am more aware than ever of just how much of a process dealing with this disease is.
First my PSA jumped up almost 5 points right on my 5 year anniversary of my last fight with prostate cancer which cost me the removal of not only my prostate but my bladder (I now have a urostomy), my testicles and 43 lymph nodes. Add to that list radiation proctitis which makes going to the bathroom an adventure almost every time. Also had depression before but after this …….. well damn.
Then it was the waiting and watching as my PSA continued to jump about 5 points every 3-4 weeks as I waited in the necessary tests and scans to confirm the cancer had metastasized to the bones L-4/L-5 with a tumor also located in my spine.
In the early stages of this latest recurrence I was forced to move too a new abode due to the incompetence of others (that is a story for another time).
I am now in palliative care and am currently on medication which has given me a new appreciation for “hot flashes” and fatigue, etc.. The good news is this has stopped and reversed my PSA level which continues to fall for now. I will be offered radiation only as a pain management treatment. Other medications are also in my future.
I am very afraid of the progression of my disease and how it will affect my ability to walk and get around. Asking for help has never been one of my strong suits and it still grates my nerves that I have to.
I am having to ask for more assistance in doing certain things and am having to adjust my exercise/walking routine to deal with effects of the disease and medications.
So here I am at this most wonderful time of the year watching my country implode as my fellow citizens are dying in mass due to the willful incompetence of those in power. Not to mention the stress of dealing with the damn pandemic which has and does overlay everything.
I also rejoined the prostate cancer support group which has reminded me of the importance of empathy and that people are people. As a friend of mine says……….”People…I just don’t have good things to say about some of them”.
One of my other realities is looking at my possessions and once again downsizing. Letting go of a lot of things that a year ago I would not even consider letting go of or passing on.
Also having to review all of my end of life documents and being reminded that dying is not a cheap affair.
I also know that I am not dead yet and that this too will be a process. There is a part of me that is just so damn tired and am wanting to end this crap. However I do plan on riding this train as far as I can. I do have some time left. The end of my ride is up to powers greater than myself.
On another note…I also wanted to ask folks to not give me anything but cash as I am in the process of letting go of all the stuff I can. {check me in VENMO) And I am asking for any financial assistance available. Life is going on and so are the bills. Being sick is not cheap.
I am trying to do my best to leave with as much grace as possible as I have been granted with more grace than I feel I deserve in my life.
I would ask who ever reads this to remember something my mother said to me….
“Leave people, places and things at least a little better than you find them”. We are all one.
Thursday, November 19, 2020
Monday, November 2, 2020
Monday, October 26, 2020
Monday, October 19, 2020
Saturday, October 10, 2020
Monday, October 5, 2020
Thursday, October 1, 2020
Monday, September 28, 2020
Tuesday, September 8, 2020
Thursday, September 3, 2020
Friday, August 28, 2020
Monday, August 24, 2020
Saturday, August 22, 2020
Thursday, August 20, 2020
Watch Barak Obama's full DNC speech at the 2020 DNC
https://www.nbcnews.com/video/watch-barack-obama-s-full-speech-at-the-2020-dnc-90344517573?cid=sm_fb_maddow&fbclid=IwAR0NbjNEtBRaZByNEhTwsl0vqI-nu-Pshj3hopF4SITW_xg7X4F_4XMR-Kc
Tuesday, August 18, 2020
Michelle Obama's full speech at the 2020 DNC
https://www.nbcnews.com/video/watch-michelle-obama-s-full-speech-at-the-2020-dnc-90227781993?cid=sm_fb_maddow&fbclid=IwAR0evvz5dejSvDg-zpBlE7yiu0QME-n4XVbWuydZIVc2A53MxO5jbMV86oE
Friday, August 7, 2020
Dear Decaturish – A message to our white Decatur neighbors
https://decaturish.com/2020/08/dear-decaturish-a-message-to-our-white-neighbors/
Monday, August 3, 2020
Saturday, August 1, 2020
Weekend Update 08/01/2020
Friday, July 31, 2020
Saturday, July 25, 2020
this should wake people up
Thursday, July 23, 2020
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
Saturday, July 18, 2020
Asking for any and all financial help
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a33347230/portland-oregon-protesters-detained/?fbclid=IwAR33hhSxWeOG15eahd0wx_lICS6BPz_4YyZfN7OtKO6fq5Q923T3t_leSO8
Friday, July 17, 2020
Brian Kemp Is Bungling the Job Into Which He So Vigorously Finagled Himself
Thursday, July 16, 2020
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
A Big C Update
some questions......
Rush to Open Schools in 3 weeks! This can never work.
Betsy DeVos, we have a few questions for you:
• If a teacher tests positive for COVID-19 are they required to quarantine for 2-3 weeks? Is their sick leave covered, paid?
• If that teacher has 5 classes a day with 30 students each, do all 150 of those students need to then stay home and quarantine for 14 days?
• Do all 150 of those students now have to get tested? Who pays for those tests? Are they happening at school? How are the parents being notified? Does everyone in each of those kids' families need to get tested? Who pays for that?
• What if someone who lives in the same house as a teacher tests positive? Does that teacher now need to take 14 days off of work to quarantine? Is that time off covered? Paid?
• Where is the district going to find a substitute teacher who will work in a classroom full of exposed, possibly infected students for substitute pay?
• Substitutes teach in multiple schools. What if they are diagnosed with COVID-19? Do all the kids in each school now have to quarantine and get tested? Who is going to pay for that?
• What if a student in your kid's class tests positive? What if your kid tests positive? Does every other student and teacher they have been around quarantine? Do we all get notified who is infected and when? Or because of HIPAA regulations are parents and teachers just going to get mysterious “may have been in contact” emails all year long?
• What is this stress going to do to our teachers? How does it affect their health and well-being? How does it affect their ability to teach? How does it affect the quality of education they are able to provide? What is it going to do to our kids? What are the long-term effects of consistently being stressed out?
• How will it affect students and faculty when the first teacher in their school dies from this? The first parent of a student who brought it home? The first kid?
• How many more people are going to die, that otherwise would not have if we had stayed home longer?
30% of the teachers in the US are over 50. About 16% of the total deaths in the US are people between the ages of 45-65.
We are choosing to put our teachers in danger.
We're not paying them more.
We aren't spending anywhere near the right amount to protect them. And in turn, we are putting ourselves and our kids in danger.
Please copy, paste and share.
Monday, July 13, 2020
Meet the gay man who won America her independence
Sunday, July 12, 2020
good stickers
www.danielcurranart.com
Saturday, July 11, 2020
How Freedom Turned Sociopathic in America
Friday, July 10, 2020
Thursday, July 9, 2020
No, You’re Not Tired of Being “Politically Correct”
'Me And White Supremacy' Helps You Do The Work Of Dismantling Racism
'I Didn't Want To Be A Hashtag,' Says Black Man Who Feared Being Lynched In Indiana
Wednesday, July 8, 2020
The Only Way to Reform the Electoral College Is to Abolish It
Tuesday, July 7, 2020
Loeffler opposes WNBA's plan to spread 'Black Lives Matter' message
The White Privilege of Ignoring the News
Opting out of the lives of millions of Americans because those lives interrupt our day with unwelcome news, is to declare our patriotism incredibly selective and our love of country largely self-centered.
https://johnpavlovitz.com/…/the-white-privilege-of-ignori…/…
Sanders Calls on 'Do-Nothing' Senate to Approve $2,000 Monthly Checks, Cancel Rent, and Expand Medicare
White Supremacist Ideas Have Historical Roots In U.S. Christianity
Monday, July 6, 2020
It seems black lives don't matter quite so much, now that we've got to the hard bit
Angela Davis on Abolition, Calls to Defund Police, Toppled Racist Statues & Voting in 2020 Election
WATCH: Huge group of armed Black protesters march on Confederate monument in Georgia
