Monthly Archives: August 2014

Whatcha Reading?

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Readers!

Whatcha Reading?

The Cuckoos Calling

The Cuckoos Calling

The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith aka J.K. Rowling

From Booklist

London PI Cormoran Strike’s final feud with his arguably insane fiancée leaves him camping in his office, wondering how his last two clients will keep him afloat and pay for his new secretary, Robin. When a childhood acquaintance asks him to investigate his supermodel sister’s apparent suicide, Strike finds a distraction from his problems that’s happily attached to a check. Lula Landry was surrounded by rabid paparazzi, a drug-addled social circle, a dysfunctional adopted family, and a shifty, newly found birth mother, making suicidal despair hard to dismiss. But with Robin’s surprisingly adept assistance, Strike dismantles witness statements, applying masterful deductive skills to find evidence of murder. This debut is instantly absorbing, featuring a detective facing crumbling circumstances with resolve instead of clichéd self-destruction and a lovable sidekick with contagious enthusiasm for detection. Galbraith nimbly sidesteps celebrity superficiality, instead exploring the ugly truths in Lula’s six degrees of separation. Strike bears little resemblance to Jackson Brodie, but Kate Atkinson’s fans will appreciate his reliance on deduction and observation along with Galbraith’s skilled storytelling. –Christine Tran –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
As with books written by English authors set in England, I have at times no idea what they are saying. I will admit that I am not up on my English slang. Other then the occasional “what? What?”. I really enjoyed the book. The two main characters are both relatable and likable. Cormoran, is, like me, and amputee which I thought was pretty cool. However from the sound of his prostheses and dealing with it, I am much better off! There are no wizards in this book it is a murder mystery. I think J.K. writing as a man works for her.
The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith aka J.K. Rowling
From Amazone

When novelist Owen Quine goes missing, his wife calls in private detective Cormoran Strike. At first, Mrs. Quine just thinks her husband has gone off by himself for a few days-as he has done before-and she wants Strike to find him and bring him home.

But as Strike investigates, it becomes clear that there is more to Quine’s disappearance than his wife realizes. The novelist has just completed a manuscript featuring poisonous pen-portraits of almost everyone he knows. If the novel were to be published, it would ruin lives-meaning that there are a lot of people who might want him silenced. 

When Quine is found brutally murdered under bizarre circumstances, it becomes a race against time to understand the motivation of a ruthless killer, a killer unlike any Strike has encountered before… A compulsively readable crime novel with twists at every turn, THE SILKWORM is the second in the highly acclaimed series featuring Cormoran Strike and his determined young assistant, Robin Ellacott.

This is book two in the London PI Cormoran Strikes series. It takes place about six months after the first one ends and learn early on it is right before William and Kate get in engaged. Nice to but a time with the setting (although to be honest it could have been taking place   day, you can’t tell). I am about one-third through this book so far and am liking it just as much as the first. In the first book we learn a lot about the world of models and in this book we learn about the publishing wold. One I think our author probably knows a bit about. Once again, no wizards or muggles, just a mystery and so far a pretty good one at that.

Big News!

I looks like all four of The Girls laid an egg today! How cool is that Readers?!

 

 

Round 1, Part 1

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I'm ready!

I’m ready!

Round 1 Part 1

Hey Readers! Well, I survived round 1 part 1. Have I told you how on-time the people at the Georgia Cancer Institute are? Even ahead of time? Well, they are. Rebecca and I got there about 20 minutes before my appointment time and by my 9:30am appointment time, I had already had my blood drawn and port accessed. In what world does the happened? I met with a doctor (none was obj vacation) and he reviewed everything I would be going through. Of course Candy, who I think is really in charge of the whole thing, was there too. After my meeting with the doctor I had a quick EKG done. I wasn’t sure why I had this done since I had one done a week before but they are so fast and painless it wasn’t a big deal.

It was then time to go to the infusion center. On things cool about the GCI, is that everything is on one floor right next to each other. At Winship I was going from one floor to another to a different building, up down and all around. Here it is all at one place. The Infusion center was cold and really quite. There weren’t that many people there so we got to pick out where we sat.

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Getting comfy.

Getting comfy.

I was offered a pillow and warm blanket. In all, we were there for an hour. They had to take my vitals every half hour. There are a few things that they have to do that are different since it is a clinical trail. Everything had to be done a certain way according to the sponsor of the trial. There were no individual TV’s just a big one for every few chairs and they were set to close captioning. Law and Order SVU.

It go busier the longer we were there. My nurse was super nice, as is everyone there is. They have a section where you can get water, coffee and tea and there was a volunteer on the floor helping people out if they needed it. When I finally get over all this shit, maybe I will sign up to be a volunteer. I think I would like that. A lot of people were all wrapped up tight and sleeping. You could tell that they were going to be there awhile. I was the youngest one in the place. Not to sure how I feel about that.

After I was done and my port was closed up, I went and made my appointments for the next month. I will be going back once a week to have either my blood drawn, get a shot or have treatment for the next month. It is a good thing that GCI is close by (takes about 15 min to get there) and that they seem to be on time. It shouldn’t be too big of a pain in my pasty white buttocks. Now if I could only stay awake….

Clinical Trail

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Simon in motion w/Timber in the back.

Simon in motion w/Timber in the back.

Happy Tuesday Readers!

It is a happy day isn’t. That is what I woke up telling myself at 5:15am today. Not sure why I was up so early today. Could it be nerves? All the rest I have been getting lately? The 16 pound cat laying on my face? Who knows but I was up. I decided instead of just lying there, that I would get up and get moving. Coffee was made, pets were fed and pills were taken.

Clinical Trail

I found out what drugs I would be taking for the clinical trail yesterday. Candy, the head clinical trail nurse called me at 5pm last night and told me that I would be getting the “control” drugs, not the trail drug they are testing. To be honest, I was pretty upset. I had built this drug up in my mind and had decided I had to get it. There were tears. Buy like he usually does, My Man talked me down. This is the control drug. One they know works. On they are testing an unproven drug against to see if it works as well as. Looking at it that way made me feel better. Candy telling me that I would be getting the same level of care helped as did my parents telling me their friend who is a doctor saying it was the best sarcoma drug out there did too. There are a lot of emotions swirling around my head and heart at the moment Readers. I do feel for My Man and The Boy who have to put up with living with me!

On a Lighter note, this is what my hair looks like when I wake up.

On a Lighter note, this is what my hair looks like when I wake up.

So what is the cocktail I will be getting? Yes, I said cocktail. I don’t get just one drug, I get two! Taxotere (Docetaxel) and Gemzar (Gemcitabine). Say that five times fast….say that once, I dare you. Here is how it will play out. Today I will go in, have a EKG, get blood drawn and have one dose of Gemzar given to me. I will then go back next Tuesday and be given Gemzar and Taxotere. Week three I stay home and hopefully don’t puke my guts out. Then we begin again! There will be blood drawn, tests given and appointments in between but that is the gist of the thing. Not so bad right? The side effects are the common ones associated with chemo, flu-like symptoms, fever, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, skin rash poor appetite, low blood counts, mouth sores, hair loss, fluid retention, etc. Sounds fun huh? My partner in chemo crime, Rebecca, will be coming with me today. We are going to compare the Winship Cancer Institute and Georgia Cancer Center and how things are done in their infusion centers. Should be interesting. Next week My Man is going to go with me.

New scarf

New scarf

I ordered three new scarves a few weeks ago and they came in the mail yesterday. Love them! I will post the other two soon but I choose to wear this one today.

Have a great Tuesday Readers. I plan too.

 

First Day of 4th Grade…

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Bus stop crew

Readers! Guess where I am? I am at home. On my Mac. AT HOME! We have internet Readers! Woot! Woot! I am so excited! It is fast too. I can believe how long we lived with crappy internet. The things you will get use to and deal with. Crazy! Today was also the first day of school for The Boy.

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The Boy and My Man

My alarm was set for 5:50am so I could be showered and dressed before I woke The Boy up. He decided that he wanted to take the bus to school this morning so we had to be up and ready earlier then normal. The bus got there on time but this afternoon it was about 10 minutes late dropping him off. I guess that isn’t too bad for the first day.

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My 4th Grader

The said he liked his class and that the teacher was pretty nice. He is just thrilled that the wifi is up and working! Back to watching You Tube videos and face timing with his best buddy. No homework today either. That sounds good to me.

Some Cool Things…

Sparty jello shots

Sparty jello shots

Panny in a bucket

Panny in a bucket

Getting The Majestic fresh

Getting The Majestic fresh

Grandpa visit

Grandpa visit

New "Brush" for Timber

New “Brush” for Timber

Tomorrow is chemo day for me tomorrow. Hope it all goes well. If I am up for it, I will write a short blog to let you all know how it goes! Have a good evening!

Monday, Monday!!

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Readers! How are you doing? I am at home right now writing this post on Word again. I will be going into the office on Monday and will upload it to the blog from there. The last few days have been busy ones. My parents have been in town and were able to meet and discuss the clinical trail with Dr. D. My dad had a lot of questions and I think both he and my mom left the office feeling much better. I had blood drawn, gave a urine sample and had an EKG done before my mom and I left.

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I did find out that I am the first patient of Dr. D’s that was found for the trail. The trail is world-wide but very small due to the difficulty of find people like me. You know, one who kicks ass! Ha, just kidding. There are a lot of certain criteria that one has to fit and I guess I am the best one they have found so far. On Thursday, I went back for an Echo Gram to check out my how my heart is doing. I had this done about 2 months ago before I started the last chemo I was on. It is very normal for the to be done before each round of chemo. I will also have another CT scan performed. The one last week was only for the chest and for the trail they need to one of the chest, pelvic and abdominal areas. I had to drink contrast (which was mocha flavored and disgusting in the morning) and have been fasting since midnight last night. I am allowed to have little sips of water but no coffee. That is what is hurting the most. I am sure around 10:30 I will hit and invisible wall and want to pass out!

At my appointment on Tuesday we discussed my pain levels. I am feeling much better then I have been for the past few weeks. Right now I am taking 3 10mg of Oxycotin in the morning and evening and 1 5mg of Oxycodone about 2 to 4 times a day depending on my pain. I had been around an 8 throughout the day and now I have dropped to as low as a 3 sometimes! It is like a different world! Gold star for Dr. D!

The Boy, Best Friend and The Mom

The Boy, Best Friend and The Mom

The Boy has been having and exciting week thanks to my friend Jennifer (mom of best friend of The Boy) and my dad. On Tuesday night they went down to Centennial park and rode the huge Ferris Wheel they have there. They also played in the Olympic Water Rings.

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The Boy spent the night and then on Wednesday Jennifer, my Dad, The Boy, The Friend and The Sister all went canoeing on the Chattahoochee River. There were stops to islands, mud fights, water fights and ice cream involved. Good Times! Apparently The Boy packed for two nights so he spent the nights so he spent the night again. Trying to have as much fun as possible before school starts of Monday!

Another Proud Chicken Mama Moment

Zazzles & Terry Pete roosting!

Zazzles & Terry Pete roosting!

Poppey & Turbo not roosting.

Poppy & Turbo not roosting.

Not only are Zazzles and Terrance Peterson roosting, we have a new member of the family! My FIL, Bob, came down to visit us since it has been awhile since we have all seen each other. He had yet to meet The Girls, Timber or Panny. He is a reader of the blog and thought The Majestic need a rooster to watch out for the girls. Introducing Felix!

Keeping watch

Keeping watch

New home

New home

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Felix

Felix

I am at work getting ready to post this. I have a lot more to write but it did not save on my zip drive. Hopefully by the time I get home today the internet will be working and I can start posting regularly from home. Keep your fingers crossed!!

Updates! Updates! Updates!

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Panny hiding from the vet in her carrier.

 

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Nail trim

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Patchwork Panny!

Patchwork Panny!

 

August 3, 2014

Readers, I writing this post (at home on Word) in hopes I can post it while at work tomorrow since our internet at Hotel Yorba is still not working (using a flash drive). I wont get all into all the details but hopefully by the 11th of August our internet will be up and running again. There are a lot of things going on here and I feel lost not being able to blog about them and share it all with you. There are also picture I want to post, so those will be randomly posted too! I have decided to write a brief explanation and hopefully I will be able to share it with you all soon.

Zazzles and Terrance Peterson

I am proud to announce that Zazzles and Terry Pete have laid their fist eggs! Woot Woot! How awesome is that? The eggs are small and light brown. I am guessing has they grow their eggs will grow along with them. I am so proud of my girls. It was The Boy who went up to the Majestic for a visit while I was out doing errands today. He didn’t see Zazzles in the run so he opened the door to the nesting boxes and there she was! Just chilling out doing her thing. Once I got home he told me about what he saw and then ran back up to the coop and came down with three eggs. One was Turbo’s and then there were two tiny ones. Very excited for my young hens. Proud Chicken Mama!

The Elephant in the Room

Had to move to the special toothbrush and toothpaste.

Had to move to the special toothbrush and toothpaste.

For those of you who follow me on Facebook, you know that my doctor’s appointment on the 31st did not go as we hoped it would. Long story short, the chemo I was on wasn’t working. My pain in/on my ribs was getting worse and I had been in a pretty shitty mood for the last two weeks. When we left that hospital I was scheduled to check into the hospital on the 4th of August to start the chemo I did last summer. You remember, I was in the hospital for 5 days, lost my hair and was a mess. Dr. Read did suggest I try to get a second opinion but in the meantime try the big guns chemo but even though it had worked in the past, there was no guarantee it would work again. My Man and I were very bummed out. I went home and went to bed depressed.

My sarcoma girls reached out to me and all suggested I meet with a Doctor who use to be at Emory Winship center but who moved to Duke Hospital (to do sarcoma research) and then moved to Northside’s Cancer Hospital here in the ATL. She is very well-known in the Sarcoma world (around the world) and basically saved one of the sarcoma woman’s life after all the other doctors gave up on her. The ladies really wanted me to meet with her. Since she was in the ATL, I figured I would try to meet with her before I try to go to NYC.

Fast forward to Friday around 11am. I wrote Dr. Read that I would like to meet with this new doctor, we will call her Dr. D., for a seconded opinion. Within 30 minutes I talked to Dr. Read on the phone and he told me Dr. D wanted to meet with me that day. She is working on phase 3 of a clinical chemo drug for sarcomas and thought I would be perfect for the trial. The Boy and me met with her (had to cancel my nail appointment :)) and I really liked her and what she had to say about the trail and Phase 1 and 2.

So this is how things stand now. On Tuesday I will go in and give my written consent to participate in the trail. I will have a few tests done and then will be put in the system to see if I am randomly picked for the trail drug. If I am (she will be told) I will go the infusion center (sometime after the 11th of August) and have it given to me. It is out-patient deal. I will go in after a week or so to have blood work done and then after three weeks go back in for another infusion.  Phase 3 of a drug trail means they have had success with Phase 1 and 2 and are ready to bring it up in front of the FDA to get it on the market. They have been working on this drug for like 10 years.

If I do not get picked for the trail drug I will get a cocktail of chemo drugs that Dr. D. has already picked out for me. I will go in one day the first week and get one of the drugs. Then the second week I will get a mix of two drugs and the third week I will get off to either sleep, puke or work! Like with the trail drug I will be monitored. So either way, I will be getting chemo, a chemo the doctor thinks will work. She also mentioned getting me into a trail for a pill that they are working on to fight the growth of sarcoma cells in the first place. That would be great. Because we know that some chemo works for me, however new tumors keep coming back. That is what we need to fix.

She also discussed my pain issues with me. She wrote me a new prescription for a drug to take. She asked me to keep a pain diary and monitor my pain level and how much of the drug I am taking. I got the new pills on (Sunday) and am feeling better.  Of course I also went to Target to get a nice journal and new writing pens! Love an excuse to go to Target. (The Boy also needed new underwear!) I am still juicing and have stopped eating read meat, pork and chicken. I spent 30 minutes chopping up all my veggies and fruit for this coming week.  I feel I need to do my part in this fight of mine and I honestly believe it helps. I felt so good on Saturday after My Man and I made the decision to work with Dr. D. I woke up in less pain. Like the tumors know I am pissed and are going to fight! Little T wants to get better and is ready to work with me!

My parents were a little scared at the change of doctors but when they looked her up and read all about her they called and was like “She is famous for her work in the sarcoma world!” She is a sarcoma rock star. They are feeling much better about the new plan.

I feel good about this decision. The way that it all panned out, the speed that I was able to get in and meet with her; I feel it is meant to be. That this is a door God has put out in front of me and has given me a choice to open it. And I think opening the door was the right choice.

Shout Outs!

Everyone has been so supportive and caring on FB, via text, comments and email. I am not a telephone person, so I apologies for those of you who try to call but I was not in the mind-set to talk to anyone about anything and most of the time I was in bed sleeping!

There are a hand full of you out there that have helped me so much. I hope you know who you are and how much you mean to me. You are my rocks, you make me laugh, smile and give me strength. Thank you soooo much!!! And Karen, thank you for that e-mail and phone number. I owe you on….big time.

Readers! Not sure when I will be able to post again but the flash drive thing seems to be working. I hope you all have a great Monday morning!