Monthly Archives: February 2019

Meditations on the Vagaries of Time

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One of the things I try to do on a daily basis is check the Internet Speculative Fiction Data Base to see what birthdays are today.  Most of the names I don’t recognize, and many of the ones I do elicit a “Why the heck are they listed here?” response.  I mean, Toni Morrison?  C’mon, gimme a break.

Eric Frank Russell with Bea Mahaffey

But I also see a lot of names I recognize that most people probably wouldn’t.  I grew reading a lot of the older stuff from the 30s and 40s.  Reprint anthologies were abundant.  DAW’s Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF series was being published in those days, Those, the Del Rey Best of series, and the Robert Silverberg edited anthologies in the school library were where I first became aware of a number of writers such as Ross Rocklynne, Margaret St. Clair, Chan Davis, Harry Bates, Charles L. Harness, Cleve Cartmill, Rog Phillips, Judith Merrill, Malcolm Jameson, Tom Godwin, Miriam Allen de Ford, Eric Frank Russell, and others. Continue reading →

Richard Matheson’s Birthday

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There are a number of familiar (at least to me) authors who are having a birthday today.  The one I want to focus on is Richard Matheson (b. February 20, 1926).  I’ve written birthday posts on Matheson before, and I really haven’t had time to come up with something new to say this year.

So here’s the approach I’m going to take.  Early in his career Matheson was a prolific author of short stories.  Some of his better known tales were adapted for the original Twilight Zone.  Those episodes, and others which Matheson scripted, are among the best the show aired.

Matheson’s stories were a favorite of mine growing up,  I intend to read some this evening.  What stories should I read?  Let me know if you have a personal favorite.

For Valentine’s Day, I Got My Wife a Heart X-ray

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Am I romantic, or what?

Today was a another round of tests, followed by a visit to the radiology oncologist.  The chest x-ray and the liver ultrasound are standard.  As I understand things (insert grain of salt here), these tests check to make sure the breast cancer hasn’t spread and to make sure the patient is up for the radiation treatment.  One of the first places breast cancer metastasizes is in the liver.  I didn’t know this.

The results of the morning’s tests are positive.  Positive in this case is a good thing.  It’s not always in some of these cancer tests/screenings/exams.  Sometimes negative is what you want.

The radiologist went through everything with us, explaining how cancers are classified.  And not just Stage 0, Stage 1, etc., but the more detailed classifications.  I think I understood most of it.  I told him I’m going to use him as an example in class.  I have a lot of premed students,.  My exams contain a lot of explain-your-reasoning type questions.  I’ve been telling them they need to learn to write clearly and accurately because if they become doctors, they will have explain to a patient, the patient’s parents, or the patient’s children what the problem is and how it will (and won’t) be treated.  Today I saw an example of a doctor who was able to do that effectively.

Kathy is going to undergo six weeks of radiation therapy, five days a week.  Then she’s done.  The only thing standing in the way is getting the insurance taken care of.  That should be done in about a week.

The only negative is that she can’t leave during Spring Break next month.  I was planning on shipping the family (including the dogs) out for the week to visit family while we have the sewer line under the house replaced. My plan was to crash with a friend and not have to pay for a hotel.  That’s not an option anymore.  Of course since insurance isn’t going to cover any of the cost, a hotel is the least of the expenses.  I’ll burn that bridge when I come to it.

Frank Frazetta’s Birthday

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Today, February 9, marks the 91st anniversary of Frank Frazetta’s birth.  Frazetta was born in 1928 and needs no introduction here.  Rather than write a detailed tribute, I’m going to post some of his covers and let the artist’s work speak for itself.  I’d post the reproductions of the paintings themselves, but I don’t know if fair use would cover that.  I don’t want to violate copyright.  In the comments, let us know what some of your favorite Frazetta works are. Continue reading →

Overdue Cancer Update

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This should have been posted a week ago.  Like when we went to the latest doctor in the process. Apologies for letting the day job get in the way.

The news is good.  It’s also short.  All the markers they look at in determining future treatment are what they want them to be.  The things that should be positive are positive, and the things that should be negative are negative.  To put it another way, we are looking at a best case scenario.

The treatment will be radiation and an estrogen blocker.  They started Kathy on the estrogen blocker that day and gave her something for hot flashes.  The last bit is disappointing.  I was enjoying the hot flashes.  For once we were in agreement on where to set the thermostat.

Kathy will have to have a chest x-ray and a liver sonogram in a week.  This is routine to make sure her organs are strong enough for the radiation treatment.  We aren’t expecting any bad news.  The radiation will be scheduled once the results are in.

That’s all the news we have now.