A few notes from the week past...

1> Plumbing hurts. Our master bedroom's bathroom was desperately needing redoing, so I started. Of course, the medicine cabinet had rusted, so a new vanity was needed. Then the sink won't match the new mirror, so let's just put in a pedistal sink (makes the room look much less cluttered). And the linoleum was warn out. And.. well, you get the picture.

To put in a pedistal sink, I had to undo the twisty plumbing that was put in for the last sink. I started learning how to sweat (i.e. soldier) copper a couple of weeks ago, and after throwing my first couple of creations away, I thought I was ready.

Of course, I bought the wrong size drywall AGAIN. Sitting on the floor for 6 hours straight hurts. But I have pipes that aren't (yet) leaking, a wall that's mostly solid, and one step closer to the master bathroom of my dreams (or at least not my nightmares). And only two superficial burns. (Don't touch the hot pipe.)

2> Writing is hard. I've had three posts bouncing around in my head this week, but I've not been posting or writing in so long that I couldn't get started. Therefore, I'm just starting now. I think you'll get more posts this week. But that's not a promise. :)

3> I'm really really sick of politics. I should be more interested, but I get this deep, retching feeling every time I think of either group of bozos in Washington. I don't know if I'll be able to do much political commentary this year.

Why I'm Not a Conspiracy Theory Nut

Number 1 Son loves to watch shows about alien conspiracies. Milady and I have been working too well on instilling a libertarian streak in him: he doesn't trust the government to tell the truth. How he can also claim to be a good Democrat too, I'm not sure... ;)

I would use my own words, but daveschoder summed it up so well over in this comment at SlashDot:

We can't keep any of our classified programs secret; we have people coming out of the woodwork at AT&T and within the intelligence agencies themselves to leak every possible program we've got going on in the "war on terror", but yet we can manage to keep it secret that the government itself directly planned and executed 9/11 and also murdered 3000 of its own citizens, despite millions of pages of evidence to the contrary, Islamic extremist organizations the world over, and so on - this is getting better than Holocaust denial!

Like I've told Number 1 Son: Nixon and the plumbers couldn't keep a simple break-in secret. I used to suspect that the mafia had killed Oswald, but even the mafia couldn't keep that kind of secret. No, there's no way 200+ people have kept the Aliens secret at Area 51, or that Dub and crew fixed the WTC buildings, etc.

Requests for prayer

A young man, Drew O., who goes to our homeschool co-op, fell 30 feet out of a tree Tuesday, and has been unconscious and in ICU ever since. The doctors have had to put him in a drug-induced coma to try to keep his brain fluid pressure down, and have been somewhat successful. At last word, he will have to stay in the coma for at least another day or two, and then they'll wake him up to see if he can start responding again.

Also, the son of Little Miss' Sunday School teachers, Jarrod, has not been responding well after surgery to close a cleft palate. He has not been wanting to eat or drink. We need to pray that he gets his appetite back, and that eating and drinking don't hurt him.

(8:12PM Update: Jerrod is eating, and seems to be turning the corner. No updates on Drew yet.)

I fibbed

In the splash page, I said:

Thanks to the new work, I needed to move the blog over to a new database. I started to do it, and halfway through, I asked myself, "Why am I doing this?" That's when I realized that I am just not up to blogging right now.

I haven't tossed the old articles yet, so I may bring them back in a couple of months.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

It seems I'm hooked on blogging. I had the blog down two days and was wanting to post at least three different things. Guess you're stuck with me, whomever's reading.

He's Back

Dave from Revenge of Mr. Dumpling is back. Since Dave was one of the first bloggers to hit my webrolls, I just had to mention it.

Good to see you back.

Updated: I just checked the blog roll, and it looks like Spoons and Nick Queen have made a reappearance too. I've moved them out of the "no see" category too. You know, the one I was in. ;)

Milady is well

I had hoped to take the laptop to the hospital, but we ended up not staying long enough for me to even log in had I taken it.

Milady is very well. She is in great spirits, and is doing physically well. Moreover, the stress associated with the cancer is gone. Her blood pressure is down from 138/98 or so down to 118/78, and her sugar (we think) is also down from borderline high to normal.

She had a full bi-lateral mascectomy, and we have chosen not to have any reconstruction.

Thanks for everyone's prayers and well wishes.

Milady will have surgery Friday

I was going to post the story of our trip to New York last week, but the computer didn't co-operate. Last night, I was going to try again, but then I had another migraine. So maybe tonight or tomorrow. ;)

Milady's doctors have advised her to go ahead and have a preventative mascectomy, and scheduled it for Friday. She will also have a preventative hysterectomy in December.

We haven't confirmed it yet, but it appears that her mother's family may have Cowden Disease in it, which means that her chances of feminine cancers are in the 30 to 40 percent range.

Please pray for Milady, and the entire family.

They finally hit a ball

I've been a Cincinatti Reds fan as long as I liked baseball. I think my Grandfather helped influence that. I've wanted Reds tickets ever since the 1990 World Series.

Our homeschool co-op got free tickets from the Reds for Friday, and I paid $30 in the silent auction for all 4 of those tickets. I thought it was a bargin.

Well, they weren't bad. For being way back in the far right corner, on the lower part of the upper deck.

Fortunately, we all REALLY like the Great American Ball Park. Even in the far corner of right field, the field was very watchable.

The game was a different story. The Reds couldn't get a hit, and they stranded 2 on base. Poor Coffey turned a 1 run deficit into a 3 run gap, and that sunk the Reds. The reliever isn't supposed to help the opponents so much.

A couple in our Sunday School class saw Saturday's game, and Arizona shut the reds down again. Terribly embarrasing.

At least the Reds won today, by the skin of their teeth (a 2 run homer in the bottom of the ninth). I told Number 1 Son that that's why you watch baseball: it's not over until the third out.

Playing free poker, again

This is Number 1 Son, if I ever let him play for money with me:

No. 1 Son thinks he's a really good Poker player. The only problem is, he is pretty good. Good enough to where we can't consistently beat the other.

That's why I told him that we can play free tournaments, and games that don't involve paying out money.

Last year, I played this tournament, and he "advised me" (until he got bored and walked off ;) ). So we're going to try it again.

---

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7330476

.

Migraines stink

Last night about 8PM, I ate some salsa with our neighbor, who'd come over to talk to Milady. Around 9, the salsa got its revenge: I got a migraine. A "spray the whole bathroom with vomit" migraine. This morning, I felt like someone had picked up my brain, used the inside of my head for hammer practice, and thrown the brain back in sideways.

What's worse, I may be getting day 2 of it. If anyone's still reading, I'd appreciate a quick prayer of healing.

(update 5/26: It looks like it's not getting worse, so I think it's just aftershocks, not a full-blown continuation of the attack. One can hope.)

Back from the cold

I think I've managed to lose all my readership but Jeff, but if you've stuck around to check on me, I really appreciate it.

Milady's niece had her bilateral mascetomy, and came through it with flying colors. They had gotten all of the first tumor with the core biopsy, but then found a tumor that had been starting up in the other breast during the post-mascetomy biopsy.

Unfortunately, her genetic test results were completely inconclusive. They didn't find any BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations. That doesn't mean there weren't any, or that there aren't any other mutations. Milady's geneticist says that the niece's cancer is genetic, and that Milady has a 25 to 50% chance of having it.

Milady's geneticist completely supports a preventative mascetomy and removal of the overies. She also doesn't think it'll be a problem getting the other doctors to set it up.

As the quote from Mother Theresa supposedly goes, "I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much."

We are praying to God that He leads us. We think right now that He's provided this information so that Milady can get the surgery done now, ahead of any cancer.

We would really appreciate all the prayers you can give.

Genetic Tendancies -- and needs for prayer

I'm sorry for not posting, but things have been hectic.

Milady's niece has breast cancer. It is Stage 1, and highly differentiated, so her doctors believe that it hasn't hit her lymph nodes yet, and that she can avoid chemotherapy. (The one doctor who did the core biopsy thinks he got the entire tumor when he did the biopsy, but of course couldn't promise it.)

Milady is consulting with a geneticist at the University of Kentucky, and the geneticist is certain that Milady's family is carrying one or more genetic markers for breast cancer. The geneticist is going to test Milady and her niece both, to identify which marker is in play, and whether Milady is now carrying the gene herself.

Our current prayer is that Milady's niece has an easily identified marker, and that Milady doesn't carry it. That means Milady's chances of breast cancer fall back to the same as the general population.

If Milady has the marker too, then plan B is a bilateral masectomy and Tamoxifen for a year or two until she is ready to do a full hysterectomy. She is prepared for that, too.

The worry starts if they can't identify a gene marker in Milady's niece or Milady. Then Milady has to consider having the masectomy and hysterectomy anyway, since the geneticists are 60-80% certain that this cancer is genetic. She just doesn't get that certainty of knowing she HAD to have the surgeries.

Milady's niece has been scheduled for surgery on Friday for a bilateral masectomy, so please pray for her and her doctors. Also, pray that Milady is not carrying the gene markers, and for the geneticists, that they will get an accurate diagnosis.

Prayer of Thanksgiving, and renewal for other prayer request

Milady had her mammogram today, and an ultrasound. She is completely clear and healthy, excluding a pulled back muscle that just won't get better. I'm hoping that's from the stress of waiting for the mammogram, and it'll get better today or tomorrow.

Milady's niece may not be so fortunate. She has calcium deposits consistent with pre-cancerous cells. Depending on test results, this will at least result in a lumpectomy, and possibly a masectomy. Please continue to pray for her.

Request for prayer for Milady and her niece

Wednesday, she went to the doctor with a new lump in her breast, and the doctor said that she should have it checked out further, just to be sure. They didn't have any appointments until next Thursday. Despite her best efforts not to, Milady is fretting over it.

It doesn't help that her niece also has a calcium deposit in her breast that will probably be removed, since her mother died of breast cancer a couple of years ago.

Please pray for both Milady and her niece.

A Small Outage

The home network went down promptly at 9:35AM EDT this morning. For once, it was Alltel actually doing what they were supposed to do: change over my DSL line to the new ATM technology.

I've gotten a speed boost, and packets do seem to flow much faster now. Things will be even better when naked DSL can be obtained, but we'll take things one step at a time. :)

Rest In Peace

It was one year today.

(No) Safety in Numbers

Number 1 Son got to attend TeenPact last Friday, so I took a day off work and accompanied him. They held it in one of the committee rooms in the Capital Annex, so we had to go through security.

If you can call it Security at all. Everyone I saw was setting off metal detectors, and no one looked. I had my laptop backpack on, and no one even cared to look. I could have left my backpack anywhere in the place, and no one would have cared a bit. Anyone who was armed could have shot their way through the security and been on the floor of either House in a matter of moments.

I'm really glad no one has felt the need to attack Kentucky's State Government, because it would be easy to do.

How can Albany be beating UConn? -- Maybe not

I thought UK was playing at 8:15, so I turned on the UConn-Albany game. It's 11:59, and the only reason UConn is only 10 down is that they are fouling left and right. They can't even make their free throws.

I don't know if UConn will win or not, but Albany deserves to win.

-- Update: OK, UConn won, but they sure didn't deserve to do so.

Hope it continues

Yesterday, Number 1 Son went with me to Casey County in the morning to pick up the 1/2 of a beef that my dad had had packed for us. He wouldn't say it directly, but my whole family has been a bit disturbed by my habit of falling asleep when driving tired (imagine that...). I think he was afraid I'd be too tired to drive straight.

Milady wasn't happy for the two of us to head out at 6:30 AM, but out we went. We had to drive by my parents' house to get a second copy of the map to the packing house, then head most of the way in Liberty. When we got to my parents' house, Number 1 Son insisted on calling Milady and telling her we were there. Then he did it again when we got to the packing house.

"Son, why did you call Mom?"

"She was really worried about us, so I wanted to make sure I called."

"She wasn't really that worried."

"Yes, she was, Dad, so I wanted to call."

As Milady said, we can only hope that he keeps this up when he's 16 and out with friends....

What I've been doing

Milady's niece is having a wedding, and my sister-in-law was throwing me dirty looks. It seems I was overdue a trim-down. I called it my Taliban look:

(the color's not right, the picture went dark, so I had to gamma correct the living daylights out of it)

Now I've got a beard that approaches respectable:

I ended up cleaning some 3 inch hairs out of the sink once I was done trimming my beard.

Fortunately, I'm still one of those long-hair freaky people: