At the beginning of last week, my wife had THE Surgery. The cancer was located about an inch above her stomach. Due to the chemo and radiation, the tumor shrank from 6 cm to 3 cm in height. The surgeon went 8 cm above this point to cut the esophagus. The bottom cut removed the top part of her stomach. The remaining tissue was the sewn together. Thus about 5 ½ inches of her esophagus was removed.
If you’re a fan of Forged in Fire and like the part when Doug Marcaida whacks on ballistic dummies with large swords and then states, “It will kill.” Then you might have some idea of how the incisions on my wife looked when the bandages came off. She had a vertical cut from the middle of her chest to the top of her belly button sealed by 25 fairly evenly placed staples. Not to be out done, under her right armpit she had a diagonal incision sealed by another 20 staples. Total staple count was 45.
Doug Marcaida from Forged in Fire
Prior to beginning the surgery, my wife had an epidural inserted in her back, about even with her shoulder blades. She kept this anesthesia for most of her stay in the hospital. At the conclusion of surgery, she had two drain lines in her chest. One was about ½ inch in diameter and the other was about a 1/8 diameter line. She also was given a catheter. A myriad of IV solutions were given to her thru the tops of her hands. She had a handy dandy port installed about two months ago in hopes that it would be used in the surgery. Sadly, it was ignored for her entire stay in the hospital, and she came home with the bruises on her arms to prove it. She also had a drain tube entering her nose and going into her stomach to keep her stomach empty. Simultaneous with that, oxygen was being given to her via her nose.
Her vitals were monitored via various instruments as well. My wife referred to the whole group of tubes, hoses, wires, and the like as “her spaghetti”.
We arrived at the hospital at 4:45 AM on the day of the surgery. She was prepped and on her way to surgery about 7:30 AM. The surgery was completed about 1 PM. Around 3:30 PM, I caught up with her in the Intensive Care Unit. I got there just in time to hear the following questions asked of my wife:
Do you know your name?
What is your date of birth?
Do you know what has happened to you?
Do you know where you are?
After three days in ICU, my wife was moved to a regular room on the floor for surgical recovery. Two days later, the doctor authorized a leak check of her stomach. The following day, she began a liquid diet. This was the first food or water that she had had since the day prior to the surgery. The seventh day of her stay, the large drain tube and her epidural were removed (in that order).
On her eighth day in the hospital, she was authorized to be discharged. About three hours before discharge, the small drain tube was removed. I got to witness this bit of torture as about 10 inches of medical grade aquarium tubing was pulled out of her side.
Mama now has a walker to help her navigate around the house and a special pillow to hug when she coughs–which is often. When properly medicated, she does ok, and the pain is manageable. After walking for a bit, she needs to stop and catch her breath. Her lungs and stomach are still coming to terms learning to share her chest cavity.
If everything goes as scheduled, the next steps are going to happen next week, the pathology report and several doctor visits.
As always, thanks for your prayers and we’ll check in as events unfold.
Omicron—allegedly the 15th letter in the Greek alphabet—is the latest Covid variant being used to oppress the masses. Folks, as Shakespeare once said, this is, “Much ado about nothin’.”
First, there are more documented Covid variants than there are letters in the Greek alphabet. Many (30 +) were known within the first few months of 2020. At the time the question was whether more mutations would occur “in the wild” or just under laboratory conditions. We documented this a year and a half ago on this blog.
A new study in China has found that the novel coronavirus has mutated into at least 30 different variations.
The results showed that medical officials have vastly underestimated the overall ability of the virus to mutate, in findings that different strains have affected different parts of the world, leading to potential difficulties in finding an overall cure.
Second, although some media outlets can’t seem to use spell check—example to follow shortly—two letters of the Greek alphabet were skipped Nu and Xi. Nu because everything about Covid is Nu—especially when it’s intended to scare the hell out of a willingly ignorant public and Xi because he’s the guy in charge of China and claiming this is the China virus—which it is—is somehow racist or some such insult even if it’s the F***ing truth.
The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed it skipped the Greek letters “nu” and “xi” in naming its new COVID-19 variant, which it dubbed the “omicron” variant.
The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, indicated that the B.1.351 variant of the virus was found eight times more in individuals who were vaccinated—or 5.4 percent against 0.7 percent—against those who were not vaccinated. Clalit Health Services, a top Israeli health-care provider, also helped in the study.
“We found a disproportionately higher rate of the South African variant among people vaccinated with a second dose, compared to the unvaccinated group,” said Adi Stern of Tel Aviv University. “This means that the South African variant is able, to some extent, to break through the vaccine’s protection.”
“Based on patterns in the general population, we would have expected just one case of the South African variant, but we saw eight,” Stern told the Times of Israel. “Obviously, this result didn’t make me happy.” He added, “Even if the South African variant does break through the vaccine’s protection, it has not spread widely through the population.”
Fourth, the media—which can’t spell—is lying to you.
Wait for it…
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — As of Sunday, the new COVID-19 variant, Omnicron, has still not made its way to California. In fact, there are currently no cases in the United States.
Wait for it…
Nevertheless, based on previous varieties, Omicron’s detection in the United States is simply a matter of time.
And the lie…
As long as there are huge populations of unvaccinated people, new varieties will emerge.
And the spelling error is in the title of the news story.
Truth is that unnecessary vaccination is the biggest cause of more Covid mutations. I will repeat the quote above, “…variant of the virus was found eight times more in individuals who were vaccinated.” That is settled science and has always been a fact in the study of virology until Covid when real science was trumped with politics.
Further note that only 6 percent of Africa is vaccinated—allegedly—so if half the infected got their shots then once again, those conforming to big pharma are at more risk of infection by actual Covid than those that were not.
So, what are the evil symptoms of this Covid variant?
Three days after petty tyrants all over the world instituted a travel ban on South Africa, we get this single news story echoed again and again in the media:
The South African doctor who first sounded the alarm on the Omicron variant of the coronavirus said that its symptoms are “unusual but mild” in healthy patients — but she’s worried the strain could cause complications in the elderly and unvaccinated.
Dr. Angelique Coetzee, a practicing doctor for 30 years who chairs the South African Medical Association (SAMA), said she believed she had found a new strain of the virus after COVID-19 patients at her private practice in Pretoria exhibited strange symptoms.
“Their symptoms were so different and so mild from those I had treated before,” Coetzee told The Telegraph.
She called South Africa’s vaccine advisory committee on Nov. 18 after a family of four all tested positive for the virus with symptoms that included extreme fatigue.
So far, she’s had two dozen patients who tested positive and showed symptoms of the new variant, mostly young men. About half of the patients were unvaccinated, she said. None of those infected lost their sense of smell or taste.
“It presents mild disease with symptoms being sore muscles and tiredness for a day or two not feeling well,” Coetzee told the paper. “So far, we have detected that those infected do not suffer the loss of taste or smell. They might have a slight cough. There are no prominent symptoms. Of those infected some are currently being treated at home.”
Please note that the symptoms of Omicron are very mild and last for only a day or two.
Give these mild symptoms, why is everybody hitting the panic button? What in this news story justifies a lockdown of travel to or from Africa?
After much contemplation, I could only come up with this, because half the patients are vaccinated.
Translation, the shot doesn’t work. No big revelation, we’ve been maintaining that all along. The shot is not a vaccine and never was. Vaccines cause permanent immunity, the shots from big pharma don’t.
So, we’ve known about this variant for almost nine months and just as Newsom, Merkel, and other likeminded tyrants might be forced to open society, we get this burst of panic because one doctor is South Africa is able to sound the alarm? No way. The WHO caused the whole world to panic again by a non-story. Folks this is a coordinated and orchestrated event not a random outbreak of a deadly Covid mutation. In fact, as of my writing, no one is claiming that a single person anywhere in the world has died from Omicron; but they might someday so obviously more tyranny is needed to protect the masses.
If you want an exercise on virology for the lay person, spend a few dollars at the Google Play Store and buy Plague Inc. if it’s still available.
This game predated Covid and shows you how difficult it is to create any kind of pathogen that can kill masses of people. This is because there is an inverse relationship between how lethal a disease is and its ability to transfer to enough people to keep it going. Ebola kills hundreds while Covid kills tens of thousands.
Oops, sorry, it’s the Covid “vaccine” that has killed tens of thousands and the actual disease has killed more—although you can’t get an accurate number because Covid deaths are defined differently for Republican and Democrat Presidents. Ironically, this hasn’t really helped Biden since more Covid deaths have occurred in his first ten months in office than Trump’s last ten months even though the threshold of what defines a Covid death was much lower for Trump. But then again, Trump allowed more medical treatments to fight Covid than Biden, whose only answer to their proven effectiveness was to outlaw them and demand everyone get the shot whether already immune or not. Why is it that swamp rats like Biden and Fauci have one size fits all answers for us and a different set of rules for themselves?
Anyway, Covid -19-Omicron, is not even a new variant, it just has a shiny new name now that the governing elites have called it to service to promote more lockdowns and further loss of our liberty. Lockdowns are about controlling people not disease prevention.
The past few weeks have seen a gradual but steady improvement of my wife’s health. We were able to make another road trip to Idaho to attend to our property and see some old friends.
The hair loss that my wife has experienced after chemo and radiation has slowed. It’s thin but uniform. Sometimes it gets covered with a wrap/scarf sort of thing.
Eating food is better but she avoids spicy things and some types of menu items.
The second PET/CT scan was done about a week ago. The tumor is about 1/3 as bright as it was initially. Her SUV rating went from 18 to 6. (SUV is not a tiny Humvee driving around your innards blasting cancer cells with a microscopic .50 Cal machine gun; instead, it’s a measure of how much radioactive material accumulated in the tumor and its intensity on the scan.) This is good and the expected result of the treatment thus far. In addition, no cancer was detected elsewhere in her body during the scan.
Many days later, we did have a meeting with her oncologist. At the meeting, the oncologist said that a pathology report would be done on the tissue removed during her upcoming surgery. This is the first mention of a pathology report that I have hear from her medical team. The report would follow within two weeks of the procedure. The oncologist said that if the pathology report detects cancer cells—which is likely—then a follow-up treatment of immunotherapy would likely start in January. This also is the first admission that cancer will remain in my wife after the surgery.
It was at this point that the words of the oncologist got very close to using the “cure” word. The little yellow flags went up in my mind as I heard her say this. Such a promise is not what I have found in my reading of the literature on esophageal cancer. I can only reconcile the two opposing views as meaning that we can buy you a few years more if everything goes your way.
I have written elsewhere in this series about the surgery, so I won’t rehash that now; but I did need to get into the latest with Covid restrictions. The most important thing is that nobody with the initials M.D. after their name can tell you what the Covid testing rules are. We ended up being told to talk with the security guards at the hospital and find out.
What we learned is that there is no formal way required to prove that you had a recent Covid test. My two upcoming appointments at CVS or wherever it is, won’t get me very far. The security guys at the hospital will accept a home test if you bring it to them in the hospital.Please note this is a medical determination made by people that just might have a Red Cross First Aid certificate if you’re lucky and are probably the lowest paid folks in the hospital not changing bedpans. Also, they kept saying something about 72 hours but whether the test must be within that interval, or they only let you use it for that long; both or neither, I guess I will find out next week. Oh, I plan to have the home version of the Covid test in my car or on my person. I guess once they document my quickie test, I can trash it until I need another.
This brings up my next question which is why are face masks and Covid quickie tests just common garbage? If Covid is really so bad, then shouldn’t anything Covid related be biohazardous? Yeah, I know it’s not but if Dr. Fauci and the rest were serious then wouldn’t disposal be an important issue to prevent the spread? (Sorry I assumed for a minute that they might follow at least the easy science related to virology and contamination.)
Oh, lastly, when in the hospital, my wife is allowed one visitor per day. We are having sign-ups at our Thanksgiving celebration to let our relatives get in line. However, and isn’t there always one of those somewhere, the security folks will allow more people to visit if the nurses on her floor say that its ok. How this is communicated to the security guys was not explained. Also, minors are not allowed to see their moms in the hospital. Wanna bet it’s a Covid rule too?
Anyway, I’m thankful to have my wife and I’m glad see her doing better, even if it’s all about to be undone by the forthcoming medical procedure. Have a good Thanksgiving and expect to hear from me again after the surgery.
When we last left my wife, she was getting her potassium back into the normal band. Since then, about two more weeks have passed. She is still dealing with nausea and occasional vomiting. She is eating three small meals a day; think mashed potatoes, ice cream, oatmeal, and other fairly soft foods. In addition, she is getting saline added to her via the port about twice a week.
She says that it hurts to swallow many types of food but that it no longer is getting “stuck” on the way down. Speaking of down, she said that she is down 40 lbs. from the time of her first chemo treatment until now. Another symptom that she is now experiencing is that much of her hair has fallen out. Its not all gone but is very thin compared to what it was back in July. Ironically, the hair loss didn’t start until chemo and radiation were concluded.
In other developments, my wife wants to make a short road trip before her next PET/CT scan scheduled in mid-November. Yep, cancer patients get cabin fever too. Surgery is scheduled following Thanksgiving.
As I have previously mentioned, this procedure is not one I enjoy contemplating. It will forever change her lifestyle and maim her for the rest of her days. As a refresher, let me briefly explain the surgery.
The esophagus is about 9-10 inches (25 centimeters) long and less than an inch (2 centimeters) in diameter when relaxed. It is located just posterior to the trachea in the neck and thoracic regions of the body and passes through the esophageal hiatus of the diaphragm on its way to the stomach.
As previously blogged, the “height” of her tumor is 6 cm or about 2.4 inches. Per what I have read on medical websites, the upper incision of an esophagectomy is 3 inches above the top of the cancer.
If the cancer is in the lower part of the esophagus (near the stomach) or at the place where the esophagus and stomach meet (the gastroesophageal or GE junction), the surgeon will remove part of the stomach, the part of the esophagus containing the cancer, and about 3 to 4 inches (about 7.6 to 10 cm) of normal esophagus above this. Then the stomach is connected to what is left of the esophagus either high in the chest or in the neck.
Ok taking the above quotations, let’s do some simple math.
We know that my wife’s cancer is in the lower third of her esophagus. Let’s say that the tumor is one inch above her stomach’s sphincter. (This is a guess and the only part of my math that is an estimate.)
Length of Esophagus (10.0”) minus distance above stomach (1.0”) minus height of tumor (2.4”) minus additional three inches (3.0”) leaves 3.6” of esophagus.
Thus, the likely outcome of the surgery is that my wife will get to keep about 1/3 of her esophagus (3.6 inches) plus, the top of her stomach will be removed. The remaining parts will then be sewn together. This surgery takes about seven hours.
Folks, the above scenario and a “successful” surgery involve many things going right and none going sideways.
I’m not sure that my wife has the stamina to take a road trip in mid-November but I’m willing to let her try. I don’t think you will hear from me again on this subject until we get the scan results. Until next time…
Yep, I bet you missed that headline last week, but it was there if you could connect the dots. I mean what else could you conclude when you read that beginning in 2024 California will outlaw electrical generators.
California became the first state in the nation to outlaw the sale of gas-powered leaf blowers and lawnmowers in an attempt to curb emissions, a move met with both positive feedback and frustration.
Signed Saturday, the new law orders regulators to ban the sale of small off-road engines (SORE). While this is a broad category that includes generators, lawn equipment and pressure washers, it comprises a type of small engine on pace to produce more pollution each year than passenger vehicles.
Try this article for a more comprehensive understanding of the law.
California just banned the sale of gasoline powered backup generators, lawn mowers, small gas powered fire fighting pumps, and other small stationary engines, as part of their drive to reduce CO2 emissions.
The text requires regulators to consider “… (E) Expected availability of zero-emission generators and emergency response equipment. …”, so there is no doubt they plan to cover backup generators and emergency fire fighting equipment if they can.
This is beyond serious. Imagine trying to fight the fire approaching your house, only to have a low battery light start flashing on your fire fighting water pump. Or someone who requires powered medical equipment, like oxygen generators or sleep apnea devices, struggling through an extended power outage without proper treatment for their health condition.
Gasoline powered equipment, barring a mechanical failure, works as long as you can keep it supplied with gasoline. But battery equipment needs power to recharge it. Where do you get more power, if the sky is covered with smoke or clouds, or the solar panels are covered in dust, snow or ash, and the power lines are down?
Yet, with startling shortsightedness, the state assembly has sent Governor Gavin Newsom a bill that will effectively eliminate a go-to backup: gas-powered generators. The bill (AB-1346) lumps gas-powered generators in with the offending landscaping equipment and all other “small off-road engines,” referring to them as SOREs. It “encourages” the California Air Resources Board (the state’s own sort of EPA) to “adopt cost-effective and technologically feasible regulations to prohibit engine exhaust and evaporative emissions from new small off-road engines” and to consider “expected availability of zero-emission generators.”
When the power went out last August, says Collin Blackwell of Eldorado Hills, California, “We went out and bought an $800 generator, so that way we could have the fridge powered up in the garage at least and be able to have food and everything in the house.” Mark Galloway of Cameron Park said he lives in a mountain community where losing power is fairly common. “You should have something, so having the backup generator and things like that—I think it’s on you to really take care of that,” he said. “It’s not like it’s something that you can’t plan for.”
Californians who have been seen power supplies become more unreliable in recent years have increasingly turned to gas-powered electric generators to keep the lights on during “public safety power shutoffs.”
According to the industry trade group, there are 1.5 million portable generators in use in California today. The average gas-powered generator can provide 10-12 hours of power to run lights, phone chargers, refrigerators, microwaves and more, with a simple refueling keeping them powered another half-day.
Ok, given the above, can you start to see why Newsom must think he has or will soon fix PG&E?
I mean, what utility has the most voluntary power disruptions?
What utility starts half the major conflagrations that California experiences in their service area?
What utility is driving the sale of portable generators in their service area?
What utility is responsible for the homeowner’s insurance crisis in rural areas?
What utility is even less popular than our state legislature?
So, if Newsom and his brothers under the dome have the stones to ban private sector electrical generation and portable fire pumps, then a reasonable person can only conclude that he will fix PG&E, solve fires in our mismanaged forests, and replace the current system with a more reliable and redundant electrical grid.
If Newsom has failed to fix at least these problems, then Newsom and his fellow big city Democrats have said that they are willing to forfeit the lives of everyone in rural areas. Folks this law prevents you from protecting your life and property. It hits the elderly and poor the hardest. People that need to refrigerate insulin or keep the 02 flowing or the AC on when it’s 115 outside, will have to do without. Generators are about more than preserving the stuff you bought at Costco, but shouldn’t you have the right to keep it cold when PG&E’s lawyers tell them to pull the plug on your neighborhood?
San Francisco Waterfront homes burning 1989
Can you imagine the fire department showing up and letting your place burn to the ground with grandma inside because they can’t use their portable fire pump? Or the emergency workers can’t cut you out of the car with their portable equipment because their equipment relies on gasoline?
Portable equipment in use by rescue workers
Does Gavin really not remember all the gasoline powered fire pumps used to keep San Francisco from burning to the ground after the 1989 earthquake during the World Series? Or the emergency equipment used when the elevated portion of the MacArthur freeway collapsed? Why is Gavin the only one that doesn’t have vivid memories of where he was on that day?
Portable equipment used to free trapped folks and recover the dead
So, either Gavin Newsom and his fellow Democrats have fixed all the problems mentioned in this blog or they are willing to kill a lot of people to save us from the myth of global warming. Also, this policy has the effect of preventing poor and middle-class folks from leaving the big cities that Democrats control. Guess rural living is only for the very wealthy—kind of like dining at the French Laundry.
This week started out where the last ended and much on the same downward trajectory. Even though chemotherapy is over, we spent several hours at the infusion center on Sunday trying to get hydration and potassium into my wife. After about 3 bags of potassium solution and some saline, we headed for home; however, we did schedule a return trip the next day for more hydration. While this sounded like a good plan, Monday found a way to go off the rails.
My wife started hydration at 8 AM at the infusion center. While there, she also had a blood draw for lab work. Then shortly after 10 AM hydration was stopped, and she got her usual radiation treatment. Having completed her business at the hospital, my wife got in her car to head home only to get a call from her oncologist instructing her to check herself into the emergency room and get her potassium levels up.
At the ER, they did another blood draw for lab work. Her potassium level was in the basement. They hooked her up to an EKG machine and started pumping more potassium into her. The doctor also decided to add magnesium to the mix as well. After many hours they did another blood sample for lab work. Finally, my wife was .01 below the normal band for potassium. The doctor made her promise to fill a prescription for a potassium supplement at a local 24-hour pharmacy and take it immediately and then sent her home. She got home sometime after 7 PM. After a few minutes to refresh, we jumped into the car and set off to get the prescription filled.
The potassium supplement “tastes like the strongest orange whiskey that you can imagine. It is very salty and burns all the way down.” My wife vomited this stuff up several times over the course of the week.
Nevertheless, the remainder of the week was better for my wife. She had another IV bag of fluid on Tuesday and was feeling even better on Wednesday. She was able to eat mashed potatoes and ice cream in addition to “smoothies”. Her favorite treat this week was a concoction of ice cream and lemonade from Chick-fil-A. On Wednesday, she even broke out the Cricut Maker to craft t-shirts for the radiation crew since the next day was her last radiology treatment. This week, the radiological oncologist warned her that the full effects of the radiation treatment will not be felt for another two weeks. My wife has to take several medicines to ease the pain enough so that she can swallow anything. It hurts from the throat to her stomach and without the medicine, eating and drinking would be almost impossible.
My wife has been in good spirits this week and tried to eat several new things; however, it was not unusual for her to be unable to keep them down. The sores in her mouth have gone away.
Saturday, we had a family gathering at the house to belatedly celebrate her birthday. It was a fun time, and she did very well. For much of the gathering, it was hard to tell that she was even ill.
While this week started badly, it finished in a happy Norman Rockwell sort of way. Sunday (tomorrow) is the next blood draw and I expect that it will show improvement in her lab results.
This week started out with a bizarre but happy twist to my wife’s chemotherapy regiment. On Monday, she met with the Oncologist who informed my wife that she’s done with chemo. Our understanding of what was going to happen was upended by this announcement. So, no more pumps or all-day trips to the Infusion Center each week.
We were left wondering why? If you recall, the chemotherapy was supposed to be done concurrently with the radiation treatment. My guess is that the new chemo drug was so strong that users need to take a break before having another round of treatment. Since the next round of treatment would be after the radiation, there is no need for more.
Meanwhile, my wife is having much difficulty keeping anything down, even water. She is miserable much of the time. As a result of her treatment, she has developed sores in her mouth and pain in swallowing. As expected, her esophagus also hurts because of radiation and acid reflux. Coughing fits were common during this week. Several nausea medications were given to her along with mouth rinses and other concoctions. While not having infusion this week, my wife did go to the infusion center on Friday to get some saline because she thought she might be dehydrated.
A few times during the week, she was able to eat scrambled eggs—many of which were from the local Costco. Specifically, she likes Three Bridges Egg Bites which come in Eggs Whites with Bell Peppers and Scrambled Eggs with Cheese and Uncured Bacon. Of the two, the egg whites were her preference as the bacon bits in the other “were like little pebbles as they were going down.” By Saturday morning she was able to eat two pancakes for breakfast and about 1 ½ more for lunch. This is the most solid food she has had in about eight days.
Without a doubt, this has been the toughest week thus far. My wife even had me drive her to radiotherapy one day due to dizziness. I expect next week to be better because she only has four radiation treatments left. Then the long and probably quiet pause before we start gearing-up for surgery. The only new appointment is one with an allergist to document the reaction to whatever was in the IV bags that affected her.
Lastly, the wife is still in great spirits and clinging to the belief that she can return to the classroom in February and complete the school year. However, …
A few hours ago, I was in the midst of explaining to my son what the treatment path was for his mom once the radiotherapy is completed, when she walked into the room. When I mentioned that if the tests prior to surgery showed that the cancer has spread that there would be no surgery then she got very angry and said, “That’s not going to happen.” If nothing else, it showed us that she is not willing to opening discuss the seriousness of her cancer. Flowers and unicorns are all she wants in her world right now. In addition, saying “No” to her about making long term financial obligations has also become a thorny topic but one beyond the scope of the current post.
Week three of chemotherapy was the most difficult yet. My son and I spent the week with colds while trying to care for our cancer patient. We did the home Covid test twice and it was negative—not that we could have done much about it anyway. Junior got to return to school about the time I started suffering from the cold symptoms.
Monday saw us do a two-hour procedure to install a port into my wife’s chest. The entire thing is under her skin and seems to take a path from its endpoint to somewhere near her heart. It is painful and uncomfortable. There is much bruising from this being done to her. Less that 24 hours after installing it, it was being used at the infusion center.
The infusion day was the longest yet. My wife had yet another allergic reaction to a whole different family of drugs. As it turns out, my wife is allergic to a secondary chemical used to keep the medicine suspended in the IV bag. I have heard it also referred to as a preservative. Anyway, this stuff is also a major component of the Covid 19 vaccines. Thus, my wife is medically excused by the CDC from getting the Covid jab.
As an aside, if my wife did get the Covid shot and died—which we now know would happen, the CDC would not classify her death as related to the vaccine because any death within two weeks of getting the shot doesn’t count under their methodology. So next time they claim to be “following the science” you can know yet another reason it’s a lie from the swamp.
Anyway, the infusion time was about 8 to 8 ½ hours for the first chemo drug. We also came home with a portable pump in a fanny pack. My wife is expected to pump this stuff 2.5 ml per hour for 96 hours. The pump uses those rectangular 9-volt batteries; one at a time. We learned this because they sent us home with two spares. We are currently on the second spare, and I had to dig up one of my own in garage just in case it quits at 1 AM like it did last night. Saturday night at 5 PM we can get the pump, hose, and needle assemble removed until the next infusion day. I can’t imagine having the same needle sticking in your chest for over four days while getting dressed and undressed, taking a shower, eating, sleeping, etc.
Meanwhile the radiation is affecting her ability to eat and drink. Even liquids are painful to swallow. The radiological oncologist says that this is expected and said it might get easier in another week. We will see.
Between the chemotherapy and radiation, this week has been the most difficult. My wife even had to ask for help to get to her radiology appointment yesterday. Today was better and she went on her own. Nausea and occasional vomiting and the medication to prevent them have been a big part of this week. Two more weeks to go until this phase of treatment is done.
Chemotherapy week two has been an epic failure. (Is it just me, or do you think of Aaron Park whenever someone uses that term?) Anyway, after five and a half hours at the hospital’s Infusion Center, session two was cancelled by the doctor. Again, my wife had an allergic reaction to the chemo drug even though they gave her three different drugs to prevent any reaction prior to beginning the introduction of the main drug. She was given no more than a fourth of the solution. We were sent home with orders that the doctor would be contacting us the next day.
Some here at the blog wonder if my wife’s reaction is related to the fact that she is a Trump loving Republican that is being given a known poison called “tax all” via an IV. Clearly many Democrats in California are addicted to this stuff. As you might expect, “tax all” was the easy path. One that has now been denied to us as we learned from the doctor the following day.
In reality, my wife ended up speaking with the doctor twice the following day. It looks like the new treatment will be Cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU).
If I have this right, Cisplatin will be given weekly at the Infusion Clinic and the fluorouracil will be administered at home over a series of days via a pump connected to a port. Yep, we get to do self-administered chemotherapy for the next three weeks. What could possibly go wrong?
This treatment requires that my wife has a “port” installed.
Your healthcare provider’s decision to recommend a port may depend on several things. Some chemotherapy medications can only be given through a port because they are too caustic to be delivered into a peripheral vein.
Beyond that, using a port is often easier than inserting an IV each time if you will be having several infusions of chemotherapy.
The port may be placed on your upper chest or occasionally your upper arm. It is then attached to a catheter tube that is threaded into one of the large veins near your neck, such as the subclavian vein or jugular vein, and ends near the top of your heart.
Oh, while all this is happening, the radiation therapy continues, and its effects are starting to manifest.
Lastly, Really Right junior has come home from school with a runny nose, sore throat, and cough. As a precaution, we told him to start the over-the-counter Covid symptom reduction stuff that we bought at the local pharmacy. We bought the stuff just in case something like this happened.
Week three is coming fast and looks to be a bumpy ride.
Folks we all know that America’s citizens are honest, hard-working folks; just ask any politician. Conversely, we all know that our leaders would sell-out their dear old granny for another term in office. Stuck in the middle are America’s families.
Families are faced with the question of where to send their child/children to college. I know this process can be a daunting task. My son is looking at a college with an annual tuition of $50K plus room and board. Given the high cost of college, perhaps you should rethink college.
Why, you may ask? We have solid proof that college is a waste of money.
How? We have data from people without four-year degrees self-reporting their 2019 earnings to the government. If widely circulated, the data we are about to present would shatter the myth that college is the path to wealth. The data that we are about to present is not manipulated by government bureaucrats or defenders of college. Why encumber yourself with debt when you can earn the wages that we are about to present for more menial jobs?
What you are about to read is data that was randomly collected during a one-week period processing unemployment claims at California’s Employment Development Department. You may ask how I know this stuff is true and all I can tell you is that the following wage information was visually verified by our blog’s staff.
Occupation
Salary
State
Beauty Operator Apprentice
$ 65,000
New Mexico
Beautician
$ 80,000
Montana
Bone Cooking Operator
$ 70,000
North Carolina
Barber
$ 70,000
Georgia
Photographer’s Model
$ 80,000
New York
Contractor
$ 75,000
Pennsylvania
Hairdresser
$ 75,000
Indiana
Beautician
$ 68,000
Nevada
Abstract Manager
$ 83,000
Texas
Assistant Manager
$ 95,000
New Hampshire
Retail Area Supervisor
$ 96,250
Illinois
Maid
$ 950,000
Arkansas
Photographer’s Model
$ 78,000
Virginia
Retail Area Supervisor
$ 82,000
Texas
Security Guard
$ 60,000
Texas
Retail Area Supervisor
$ 50,000
Michigan
Cashier
$ 56,500
Illinois
Beautician
$ 82,850
Texas
Chef
$ 72,000
North Carolina
Delivery Driver/Warehouse
$ 90,000
Arizona
Cashier
$ 80,000
Arizona
Cashier
$ 56,500
Illinois
Abstract Manager
$ 120,000
Utah
Manager-Fast Food
$ 900
Missouri
Apron Cleaner
$ 65,000
Florida
ASC Certified Auto Tech
$ 33,034
California
Invoicing Clerk-warehouse
$ 78,855
California
Business Office Cashier
$ 120,000
California
Gardener
$ 79,000
California
Banker
$ 120,000
Texas
Account Information Clerk
$ 125,000
North Carolina
General Maintenance/Janitor
$ 150,000
Minnesota
Abstract Manager
$ 300,000
Florida
There it is unequivocal proof that you don’t need college.
Analysis
Gospel truth, the highest paid person in our list was a maid who made $950,000. I guess that she learned from Al Capone that if you report illicit income, they can’t send you to prison for tax evasion.
The Beauty Operator Apprentice was one that I didn’t recognize. I had to ask the wife. Her understanding of the job is that this babe is the one sweeping up the hair clippings after you get a haircut. I never knew people pushing a broom were paid $65,000.
I tried searching for Abstract Manager on the Internet but came up with nothing that made sense. Given the wage scale, you’d think they were government employees, but we all know that government never lays off anyone. With a pay range of $83K to $300K, it must be a good gig.
The last job that needs special remarks is the General Maintenance/Janitor gig. Please note the wage of $150K. Folks this person claims to have earned this wage in Nevada County California. Per Nevada County statistics, the per capita income for this county in 2018 was just over $37K.
Hopefully by now, you are suspecting that I have withheld some information. If you think this is the case, then you are correct. Remember that I said that these wages were self-reported. This is true but I didn’t say why and therein is the rub. These wages were reported by people applying for California unemployment. The State category in my list is the state the person lives in now. Oh, none of these folks had any reported income on record with the State of California.
Who said crime doesn’t pay? These folks are doing all right or so they would have you believe.
Final thought, I hope this small widow into the fraud making its way thru EDD would be of interest to our readers.
