Cancer Showdown All Over Again

It’s My Party and I’ll Take a Day Off If I Want To

Today I’m beginning a regimen of intravenous therapies for cancer, which will include both immuno and chemo treatments.  

The second recurrence of head and neck cancer is serious. The papers I signed authorizing infusions didn’t say anything about being “cured.” Treading water is more like the hoped for outcome. I’m not feeling any discomfort at this point, so why not?

I have no idea what my side effects will be. The biggest risks, I'm told, are acne and/or rashes. Then there’s the page long list of possible bad things happening, which includes things that could interfere with my ability to express myself in writing.

The last time around a decade back, (a different drug) chemo made me into a bump on a log. I got by spending hours listening to my walkman. (Remember those?) There is no evidence saying that’s what will happen this time–but it’s my biggest fear.

Anyhow, my Plan B is to rewatch as many episodes of the various Star Trek shows as possible. I have a La-z-Boy in front of my TV and I know how to use it.  

I’ll be back tomorrow. Probably.

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News I Found to Share 

How to Claim a Settlement in the Lawsuit Against Facebook Via NPR

• Facebook users can now apply for their share of a $725 million privacy lawsuit settlement if they had accounts from May 2007 to December 2022.

• Facebook's parent company, Meta, is doling out the payments to settle a lawsuit alleging it allowed Cambridge Analytica, a former British political consulting firm used by the 2016 Donald Trump presidential campaign, to access about 87 million users' personal information.

• To apply for the funds, people can apply online or by mailing their forms by Aug. 25.

Don’t Get Your Hopes Too High. A lot of people will be applying.

Best Explanation of Debt Ceiling Crisis Via Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson.

• That inability to get their way through normal political channels illustrates the larger story behind the Republicans' position: they want to destroy the government as it has existed since 1933, but since that government is actually quite popular, they cannot get the cuts they want by going through normal legislative procedures. Instead, they are trying to get their demands by holding the rest of us hostage. It is notable that while the Republicans are willing to slash education, food safety, and so on, they want to preserve the Trump tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations that cost the Treasury $2 trillion. Their stated concern for financial responsibility is also undermined by the reality that repealing the funding for the woefully understaffed IRS is expected to cost the Treasury $124 billion as wealthy tax cheats continue to avoid enforcement.

America's Loneliness Epidemic Is Fueling The Far Right, Via Huffpo

• About seven months after U.S. society reorganized in response to the coronavirus pandemic, 36% of Americans reported feeling lonely “frequently” — up from 25% before the pandemic, according to an October 2020 survey conducted by Harvard University.

Common mistakes, uncommon reactions in 3 separate shootings Via Associated Press

•  In the span of six days, four young people across the U.S. have been shot — one fatally — for making one of the most ordinary and unavoidable mistakes in everyday life: showing up at the wrong place.

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