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Post by driver1980 on Oct 26, 2024 14:11:11 GMT -5
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Post by Prince Hal on Oct 26, 2024 14:28:32 GMT -5
Well this has been a shitty weekend already. Found out my mother-in-law has breast cancer and it’s apparently quite aggressive. This is on the back of my father-in-law having had a kidney removed about six weeks ago due to cancer. My MiL lost her younger sister to breast cancer when my wife’s Aunt was in her late fifties, so my wife is very concerned. And everything will fall on her because of family dynamics and logistics. And, as a capper, I found out an old friend passed away. Willford King started King’s Komix Kastle in Boise in 1973, the first comic shop in Idaho. I met him as an undergrad and we became quite friendly, especially when we found out we were affiliated with the same fraternity. He was a lifelong teacher and his shop was open two days a week. A smart and very funny guy. I’ll miss him. Just venting mostly. But, take care of yourselves and be good to each other. Vent away, slam. Sorry for this avalanche of terrible news. Day by day, day by day. Some of us on these boards have had to deal with, scream at, battle against and otherwise defied f'in' cancer, in their lives and those of their loved ones, for a long time. We get it, so rant and vent away. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Oct 26, 2024 15:28:23 GMT -5
So many reasons to curse and rant over the Cancer epidemic. I have found 2 things that have uplifted my feelings
A toast to the several charitable organizations out there, such as the Pan Foundation, that help lower income folks cope with medical bills not covered by insurance. They certainly came through with me
And bless those dedicated nurses and doctors. I'm also fortunate to deal with a knowledgeable, sympathetic group regularly via the New York Cancer & Blood Specialists.
Sure, I'd rather be given a cure. My spirits do get lifted from those doing their best to help
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Post by driver1980 on Oct 26, 2024 15:36:38 GMT -5
So many reasons to curse and rant over the Cancer epidemic. I have found 2 things that have uplifted my feelings A toast to the several charitable organizations out there, such as the Pan Foundation, that help lower income folks cope with medical bills not covered by insurance. They certainly came through with me And bless those dedicated nurses and doctors. I'm also fortunate to deal with a knowledgeable, sympathetic group regularly via the New York Cancer & Blood Specialists. Sure, I'd rather be given a cure. My spirits do get lifted from those doing their best to help If I may, given the uplifting post above, may I say that in the UK, Macmillan Cancer Support did a wonderful job during a difficult time for a relative of mine. Not only was the cancer nurse (home visits) professional, nice and supportive, but there was also some other support available, some of which might not have been obvious at first, but there did often feel like an unseen team of support facilitating the work of the nurse. They do a great job. |
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Roquefort Raider
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Oct 26, 2024 17:42:20 GMT -5
Damn... when it rains, it pours. Best wishes to your mother-in-law, Slam.
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Post by Icctrombone on Oct 26, 2024 19:26:43 GMT -5
Sorry Slam.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Oct 26, 2024 22:16:53 GMT -5
Sorry to hear about all the crap your family is going through, Slam. That really sucks.
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Post by MRPs_Missives on Oct 27, 2024 1:41:11 GMT -5
Sorry to hear about your families trials and tribulations Slam! Good vibes headed to you and yours my friend.
-M
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Post by driver1980 on Oct 27, 2024 14:14:52 GMT -5
I thought this was a nice photo shared by Amtrak on Twitter:  |
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Post by berkley on Oct 28, 2024 21:11:22 GMT -5
I've been debating to myself about sharing this news. But since I've been conversing with so many folks here for many years, I consider you all as friends. So here goes I got cancer. Bad. Stage 4 Lung Cancer Started a year ago when suddenly I had trouble with breathing after small physical exertions. Tests showed buildup of fluid in the lining of one of my lungs. And the fluid was cancerous So starting this past January, I began getting chemo therapy, infusions that lasted about 3 hours each round. The chemo occurs once every 3 weeks. Had about 15 rounds of chemo so far And it seemed to had been working. I get a PETSCAN every 3 months and the news was that it looked like the cancer was retreating. There was a bad side effect to the chemo. It caused my blood to become anemic (not enough red cells resulting in extreme fatigue and shortness of breath) I got the results of my latest PETSCAN last week. The cancer returned. And it is now mutated and won't respond to some previous medicines. This is uncharted waters according to my doctor and my next chemo therapy (tomorrow) will be a different chemical cocktail as they try to stop the cancer as well as reverse the anemic conditions. I'm on the borderline of needing a blood transfusion because of anemia So there it is. Which kind of explains some of my prolonged absents and lack of chattiness. My motivation to converse as well as the amount of hours I'm actually awake have been limited. It could be worse. I'm not having any physical pain as of yet. I've lived over 70 years so I got my money's worth of life. Plus there are so many folks who have gotten worse breaks in life than I have and been able to overcome and survive I know I'll not survive this. There is no lung cancer Stage 4 cure and cancer might go into remission but it always returns. Just got to enjoy what I can, while I can
It's good to see you back on the boards, participating in multiple threads, and adding your characteristically original observations on various topics. And now, just when I was starting to take your presence for granted again, there's this. My thoughts and best wishes are with you.
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Post by berkley on Oct 28, 2024 21:21:19 GMT -5
Now, I will omit the period after things like Mr and Dr, except at the end of a sentence. Middle initials, too. You have to have some rebellion.  In French, there is no period after an abbreviation that ends with the word's last letter: Dr or Pr wont take one, nor would Mme ( madame), but M. ( monsieur) would. Your rebellion is gallic in its nature! What about initials? I've noticed myself typing HG Wells but for some reason will usually type E.T.A. (or even E. T. A. , with the spaces) rather than ETA Hoffmann. Possibly through some vague anxiety that "ETA" might look like a word rather than initials to someone skimming the text quickly but I'm not really sure. |
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Post by impulse on Oct 28, 2024 21:58:38 GMT -5
Damn, Slam_Bradley. I'm so sorry for the avalanche of shit your family is dealing with. |
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Roquefort Raider
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Oct 29, 2024 6:12:20 GMT -5
In French, there is no period after an abbreviation that ends with the word's last letter: Dr or Pr wont take one, nor would Mme ( madame), but M. ( monsieur) would. Your rebellion is gallic in its nature! What about initials? I've noticed myself typing HG Wells but for some reason will usually type E.T.A. (or even E. T. A. , with the spaces) rather than ETA Hoffmann. Possibly through some vague anxiety that "ETA" might look like a word rather than initials to someone skimming the text quickly but I'm not really sure. Periods are required for French initials, but I often wondered myself about spaces when there are several in a row. A cursory look online shows many "official" grammar resources using the "E.T.A." form, without spaces (a form I find more practical). Interestingly, there is apparently such a thing as "identification" initials, which might be at the end of a memo for example, and which forego even the periods: ETAH (accounting dep.) I swear, grammar rules are more convoluted than Dungeon and Dragons'! |
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Post by driver1980 on Oct 29, 2024 7:08:07 GMT -5
On the topic of grammar and the like, I feel that having a comma before the word “anyway” often feels counter-intuitive to me.
“We’re powerless, Bob is going to crash the party, anyway.”
“We’re powerless, Bob is going to crash the party anyway.”
I know the comma clarifies sentence structure and follows the formal writing conventions (I’m sure). I get how a comma works in other ways, e.g. “Let’s eat Bob” is a different meaning to “Let’s eat, Bob.” But, I don’t know, it always feels odd when it’s before the word “anyway”.
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Post by impulse on Oct 29, 2024 11:28:21 GMT -5
On the topic of grammar and the like, I feel that having a comma before the word “anyway” often feels counter-intuitive to me. “We’re powerless, Bob is going to crash the party, anyway.” “We’re powerless, Bob is going to crash the party anyway.” I know the comma clarifies sentence structure and follows the formal writing conventions (I’m sure). I get how a comma works in other ways, e.g. “Let’s eat Bob” is a different meaning to “Let’s eat, Bob.” But, I don’t know, it always feels odd when it’s before the word “anyway”. In the former, as written, my natural interpretation is a transition to another thought. Like, "Oh well, anyway." Regardless of technically correct grammar. |
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