Cancer Survivor

I’m getting tired of being a cancer survivor.

Oh, not the survivor part; that’s definitely preferable to the alternative. And in many ways I’ve been very lucky. I have excellent health insurance, awesome doctors who have managed to diagnose me early every time (and that’s not easy with ovarian cancer) and surgeons who were deft enough that all three times I’ve had clean margins on the pathology.

But three times?

This is not a matter of recurrence or metastases. I had breast cancer in 2008, spent most of the summer on chemotherapy and the winter on radiation therapy. No recurrence.

Then last summer I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Stage 1c, and I know I was very lucky that my doctor caught it. I had assumed that my difficulty in urination was due to diabetic neuropathy, but my doctor suggested one quick ultrasound test in her office. Two days later I had an appointment at the Women’s Cancer Center in Anchorage. (Keep in mind that problems with urination can be an early symptom of ovarian cancer, which is often symptomless until it is too late.) This tine the chemotherapy (precautionary) was much more severe, and I wound up spending about 18 hours a day sleeping for the third through fifth days after each infusion. Since both cancers were “women’s cancers” I was checked for the BRCA gene, but I have neither of the known dangerous variants.

Except a routine diagnostic mammogram (because of the previous breast cancer) showed up a very small suspicious spot in the other breast, which a biopsy showed was cancerous. I was just getting my hair back from the last time around! Surgery again (partial mastectomy because I wanted minimal impact on my type 1 diabetes) and I just “graduated” from radiation therapy on that one. I’ll be on Herceptin® infusion for most of another year, though my doctor didn’t want to give me any stronger chemotherapy right after the one for the ovarian cancer. I had a port installed (outpatient surgery and they didn’t even knock me out all the way) since I would be getting weekly infusions for a year, and my veins are getting hard to find.

A couple of things I want to say from the viewpoint of someone who’s dealt with cancer:

(1) Keep exercising as much as possible. With my balance so poor, it’s mostly stationary bicycling for me, but I kept up at least an hour or two a day throughout radiation therapy. I really think it helps.

(2) They tell you radiation therapy can produce sunburn-like effects on the skin. Effects, yes, but they’re more like zombie skin. Rotting rather than peeling, and downright painful (and itchy) near the end. So glad that mine’s over and I can put ointment on the skin!

(3) The Herceptin® is a breeze compared with either of the other chemotherapies.

Jarn’s Journal Year 10 Day 40

Year 10 Day 40

Photo Source

I think I’ve made another job for myself.

I honestly thought the snow and ice would be a short-lived novelty for the children. The food storage caught me by surprise. The People do not normally store food, for several reasons. First, they can only carry so much when they travel. Second, on this hot continent food doesn’t keep very well, and they certainly cannot use ice for long-term storage. (Note to myself—do the northern hunters use ice to store food in winter?) Here they use drying, smoking and salt, though all are limited. But they are thinking more about the problem. Then came the slings.

I should note that almost all of the People are very good at throwing stones and hitting stationary targets. A few can throw spears and have them go into what they’re aiming at, though most spear work uses a thrusting technique. A very few have mastered throwing stones from a sling. There is, however, a problem in learning to use a sling, which is why most of the shamans discourage it. In the early stages of learning, a slung stone can go anywhere, even behind the slinger, and fast enough to pose a real danger.

A couple of days ago one of the children “borrowed” his father’s sling to throw snowballs. The father saw what he was doing, started towards his son, and (by accident, I suspect) got hit by a fairly sloppy snowball. He blinked in surprise, marched up to his son, and informed the youngster he was going to learn to use a sling properly.

With rocks, there is some danger in teaching the use of the sling. I would not want to be the teacher! But with rather sloppy, soft, snowballs as ammunition and a stuffed hide as a target, he proceeded to teach not only his son, but several other youngsters, how to use a sling properly. Today his class had expanded to include a number of adults, including Giraffe.

“I think,” Songbird said as she watched, “they’ll be expecting snow every year, now.

Rosemary Varieties

Rosemary is another herb I’m fond of, and I make a point of getting several varieties. I also try to pot one plant up and keep it going over the winter. It actually survives better than mint as a potted plant.

I like it in numerous dishes, but it’s especially good with lamb. I also cook delicata squash by cutting it in half, brushing the cavity and cut surfaces with olive oil, and tucking a sprig of rosemary in the cavity before microwaving.

Here are the four varieties I found this year.

Huntington Carpet

Barbeque

Salem

Prostrate Rosemary

And just to prove that herbs aren’t all I grow, the first white iris (a white variant of the local wild iris) opened two days ago.

Quotes from Mansfield Park

These are the contexts of the quotes tweeted from @sueannbowling between June 5 and June 11, 2014. All but the last are from Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen. The book is 200 years old this year.

“There are situations in which very high spirits would denote insensibility.” Henry Crawford, talking to Maria while they are stopped at the gate, and responding to her statement that her spirits are naturally as high as Julia’s.

“When people are waiting, they are bad judges of time.” Fanny is trying to excuse the bad behavior of Henry Crawford and Maria to Maria’s fiancé, Mr. Rushworth.

“It is more than I would affirm myself.” Edmund to Fanny, when she tries to insist that the family living did not bias his choosing the clergy for his profession.

“A clergyman has nothing to do but to be slovenly and selfish.” Mary Crawford’s idea of the clergy.

“When an opinion is general it is usually correct.” Mary Crawford, still on the same subject. (In fact, this is very shallow. General opinions can be very incorrect, especially if money/power is on the side of wanting a particular opinion to be general.)

“Miss Price has been more used to deserve praise than to hear it.” Mary Crawford, speaking of Fanny to Edmund.

“Being free wasn’t as—well—free as he had once thought.” Sue Ann Bowling, Homecoming. Roi is beginning to realize that being free carries responsibility.

Mansfield Park (2007 Version) DVD Review

This is the 200^th anniversary of the publication of Mansfield Park, and I’m celebrating it by reading or watching (and reviewing) as many spin-offs, re-tellings, and dramatizations as I can find this year. This DVD, the 2007 Masterpiece Theater version starring Billie Piper and Black Ritson, is the third DVD I’ve watched. I’m afraid I have to say that it comes in third to the other two (reviews here and here.)

I think my major problem with this version of Mansfield Park is that it’s very difficult to follow the plot if you haven’t read the book, and you are constantly confused by the changes they’ve made if you have. Two examples:

In one scene, Fanny is playing some kind of game (hide and seek?) with a much younger girl who never appears anywhere else. Susan? What is she doing at Mansfield Park? But she is left a mystery.

Instead of sending Fanny to her family in Portsmouth, Sir Thomas leaves her at Mansfield Park while he takes Lady Bertram and Aunt Norris to visit their mother. Never mentioned is the fact that this mother must also be Fanny’s grandmother. In fact, all of the scenes are set at Mansfield Park. This may have made filming easier, but it is very unlike the original, where Henry Crawford appears much different against the background of Portsmouth.

While the DVD had its moments, I found it a little disappointing overall. Certainly it does not come up to the older BBC version.

North Pole Weather 6/9/14

Raised beds as of June 7

The sun rose at 3:11 this morning, and will set at 12:31 tomorrow evening. Yes, we have a full 24 hours of daylight and bright twilight combined. Good thing I am not bothered by sleeping in a light room.

The thunderstorm season is here, and I hope we’ll get a little more rain. We’ve had some—about a quarter inch, which is normal for this time of June. But I’m still having to water quite a lot.

Most of the garden is now planted, at least the raised beds: one with zuchinni, one with mints, one with other herbs, and one with strawberries. The wild roses are in full bloom, as are the dwarf columbines and the hardy strawberries. The begonia boxes on the north side have been planted, and I hope to get the hanging geraniums trimmed and up soon. Thank goodness radiation therapy is over and I hope I’ll feel more energetic soon.

Weekend Writing Warriors: Rescue Operation

Sunday is time for Weekend Writing Warriors (click on the logo above for links to other authors) and Sunday Snippets (click on the logo below.) Both offer a wide variety of genres and states of wiring, from rough drafts to published works.

I am starting at the beginning of a work I hope is almost ready for publication, Rescue Operation. We start in the antagonist’s point of view:

Photo Source

Zhaim scowled at his agent’s report. Horizon was preparing to vote itself out of the Confederation? They couldn’t, of course. The fate of Rakal had put an end to that nonsense, and for once his half-brother had done the right thing. But the vote, once its results reached the Inner Council, was bound to bring questions about his competence as planetary Guardian.

Unless he could get them to adopt his own plan first. Did he control enough votes to do that? Wif, who could be counted on to vote with Roi, was away on a medical emergency.

I should say that some of my characters (the R’il’noids) do not age and are carried forward from Homecoming and Tourist Trap, which are set roughly 250 years earlier. Others will be remote descendants of the characters in the earlier books, and some will be entirely new. Rescue Operation is projected to be the first volume of a trilogy.

Science Fiction Romance Brigade: Both Sides Now

After I had this scheduled. I learned that the SFR Brigade Presents is taking a vacation during the month of June.  I’ll leave this one up, but Saturdays for the rest of June will be something else. Maybe more garden photos, if I get more good ones.  I’m posting from Both Sides Now, a work in progress. Doc Alsyn has been setting a little girl’s arm after Roi has hypnotized her. This is from Roi’s POV.

When [Doc] was done he looked at Roi, who by then was wondering how much longer he could stay upright.

Roi was staggering when Doc led him away. Could he make it back to the place where he had awakened? But Doc took him only a turn or two before pushing him down on a hay bale. “Stay there until I get back,” he ordered, and Roi was too tired to argue. He leaned back against the stacked bales of the wall, and tried to examine his own weakness. Mostly hunger, he decided. SleepSinging didn’t produce the energy drain of true Healing, but it took a tremendous amount of concentration. And he’d last eaten—when? The last food he could remember was the rabbit stew Terry had fed him.

Doctor Alsyn must have come to the same conclusion, because he was carrying a steaming mug as well as a rag-wrapped parcel when he returned. “Get this inside you,” he ordered as he sat on the floor and began examining Roi’s feet. After a moment he grunted, nodded in apparent satisfaction and unwrapped the rags, removing a capped bottle. “Hold still; this’ll sting a little,” he said as he swabbed Roi’s feet.

Jarn’s Journal Year 10 Day 34

Photo Source

I think I may have underestimated Torch Flower.

When she approached me, I really thought she was trying again to seduce me, but her first question was, “Don’t you keep things cold to preserve them?”

“Yes,” I agreed. “Meat especially, but even plant foods keep better if they’re cold.”

“Couldn’t part of the ice and snow you brought us be used to keep things fresh for the feast?

I blinked in surprise. “I think it would come better from the shamans. They’re meeting already, aren’t they?”

Rain Cloud, Lion, Crane, and several other shamans were talking together when Torch Flower and I arrived. “Torch Flower has an idea,” I said, “and I think it’s a good one.” I looked at her.

She gulped and stammered, “Couldn’t part of the ice be reserved for keeping food cold? Especially the food for the feast? Jarn says it’ll keep longer that way.”

Rain Cloud looked thoughtful. “We could dig a pit for food,” he said doubtfully, “but how would we keep wild animals out?”

“Dig the pit in the harder ice under the snow,” one of the younger shamans suggested. “Pile snow and rocks over the foodstuffs,” said another. I could almost see them considering this new idea of storing food, even for a short period.

Crane got to her feet. “Let’s go and find where the children aren’t.”

Mints, Part 2

The mints I showed before, in Part 1, aren’t the only ones in the raised bed. I didn’t buy a couple that didn’t really appeal to me last year (Banana Mint and Grapefruit Mint) but here are the others I did get. I just like having them around to smell. In addition, I planted  in a perennial bed one plant of a hardy mint which I am calling Alaska Mint. (It is probably Mentha avensis or Mentha canadensis.) It is trying to crowd out the perennials, though right now of course it is not as large as the transplants.

One of my favorite uses for mint is to chop the leaves fine and add them to unflavored Greek yogurt along with honey, walnuts and a bit of lemon juice.

This time I’m using a slide show; click on any small image to get to the show.

Peppermint (Mentha piperata)

Ginger Mint (Mentha x gracilis)

Spearmint (Mentha spicata)

Mojito Mint (Mentha x villosa)

Apple Mint (Mentha rotundifolia)

Lime Mint

Kentucky Colonel (Mentha spicata)

Chocolate Mint (Mentha piperata)

Alaska Hardy Mint

And the first rose of summer, photographed June 3. This is a wild rose, of the kind that makes up the undergrowth of our birch-aspen forests. I’ve never succeeded in transplanting one, but they sucker like mad and do their best to spread from the birch forest to the lawn.

Alaska Wild Rose