How I "Repurposed" Two Bad Pieces of News

Hello Fellow Travelers!

Jon Snow Making a Friend (Drogon) on GOT - They Grow Up So Fast!

Two men shared their opinions on two very different situations this week.  Both opinions seemed honest, dispassionate and not ill-intended.  I have no reason to believe that either man bore me, personally, any ill will.  Nevertheless I found both opinions completely unacceptable.

The first person to surprise me and then I  forever slammed the door closed on any further discussion was The President.   I had followed his career with increasing horror since the 90's.    I saw him August 16th defending neo-Nazis and the alt-right.  I apologize to anyone reading this for calling out Donald Trump.  I have never publicly commented on anyone's politics or process - I really have no opinion.  As a rule, I loathe politics and politicians.  I am, however, an avid student of world history.  I read "The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich" when I was 12.

I've seen and read many, many biographies of Adolph Hitler and his henchmen.  I've researched the death camps.  Hitler's Reich only lasted ten years.  In that relatively short time his evil regime accomplished a lot - all bad.  Hitler's "Final Solution" killed 6 million human beings.  "Those who don't learn from history are condemned to repeat it".

Adolph Hitler and his ideas were terrible!  We discovered the cure for polio, the secret of flight, the magic of electricity, why would we go backwards and endorse an agenda based on hatred and racism?  We wouldn't, I thought but King Donald made those ridiculous comments and suddenly the news was full of idiots marching with tiki torches.  I mean what's next?  Scarlet Fever?  Scurvy?

Nazis are not just bad, they're like cancer - the worst. Condemning Nazis should have been a "gimme" - easy - like a Geico Ad - "Nazism is bad." Everybody knows that.

But Trump equivocated.  He waffled.  Trump compared the fascist skinheads to the people protesting the skinheads.  I still can't believe it!

To hear any person, let alone The President say "there were fine people on both sides" is awful.

What really got my attention was how he spoke.  Trump owned those evil words.  His petulant attitude all but screamed, "Yeah, I normalized Nazis!  What are you gonna do about it?"

Disassociating from Nazis (neo, old school, whatever) is rote, expected, duhuh.  Nazis are bad!

Referring to Nazis as "fine people" is un-American!

When Billy Bush and the Access Hollywood video became public I thought the President was spectacularly icky. Something some of us would barely tolerate, like a bad cold.  Since the infamous Charlottesville press conference, I've thought of him in an entirely different light.  That is, to say, I can ignore him no longer, he is damaging our country.

The other piece of "new" information came yesterday from my new oncologist.  Unlike Mr. Trump, my newest doctor was soft-spoken, thoughtful.  It was obvious (to me, anyway) that he was reciting a prepared speech he had delivered countless times.  What I heard (the PS heard it too) was this: "It's amazing you're alive.  If you were going to regain your abilities (walking would be good) you would have by now.  Be happy you're here at all. This is as good as you're going to get.  I don't believe in neuroplasticity."

He asked questions about my medical history and accurately referred to the dates of my brain surgeries.

The tone of his responses was discouraging - danger of recidivism from my brand of brain tumor is highest in the first 8 years, not 5.  I thought I was done with MRIs.  Nope.  Unfortunate!

Yearly MRIs, more rehab, whatever, bring it!

Because I know something.  There is no more cancer. There won't be. This fellow can MRI my noggin until the odious machine explodes, it's gone forever.

I'll never stop looking for answers, the rest of the story. Something is going to happen!  It may not be good but I have to be ready!  I can't listen to The Donald or a Dr. Death, neither know me.

I'll keep working, keep fighting I don't hear anything that's negative or hateful.  Did you see the eclipse?  Amazing!

A Tale of Alls Well That Ends Well! Or It Works So Who Cares Why?

He's Ba-ack!  Imagine red lasers shooting from his eyes or his spinnerets (butt)

Hello Fellow Travelers!

Anybody who has read this blog knows (all too well) that for some unknown reason I developed an insatiable appetite for melted sugar, toffee and caramels.  I've never understood  it, my doctors have never explained it - prior to neurosurgery I avoided desserts entirely.  As a child I always preferred salty snacks - for the last five years I've followed the philosophy of The Cookie Monster (The CM):  "C is for Cookie".  I dreamed molasses and vanilla beans, my father sent me cases of ginger snaps, bags of toffee.  My best girlfriend had French macaron delivered from Beverly Hills.  My sister-in-law made a Kahlua bundt cake that haunted my thoughts!  I lived vicariously through dessert TV Shows.  I DVRd "Cupcake Wars", "The Great British Baking Show" (The British really know their cookies!) and "Cake Wars".  I discovered the "wars" were baking competitions, not, as I had hoped bakers lobbing pastry at each other or throwing croquem bouches and chocolate sauce around.

After 40 years of perfect dental reports, I needed fillings. Blood tests showed I was pre-diabetic.  My PS immediately forbade any sugar.  And, sugar is in almost everything.  Your body converts fruit and grains into sugars.  So lowering my blood sugar is as difficult as it is necessary.   A stupid hamburger bun is full of sugar! I keep asking "Dr. Stranglove" (my PS)"what can I eat?"   Protein.  Eggs. (Yuck)  Meat (I don't eat anything with a face).

I'm not a meat person, but I'm supposed to strictly regulate my carb intake and try to eat protein.  I drink water, lots of water,  a lake of water, good old, plain, unflavored, no fizz, no ice, tap refreshment.

 I longed for anything involving gingerbread - a gingerbread "Tiny" House, a gingerbread shingle from aforementioned "Tiny" House!  A "Tiny" door, a ginger 2'x4', a ginger anything!  I pined for brown sugar.  I begged my mom for sugar free cookies.  I looked up gourmet toffee online just to see images.  I was never satisfied, I was always hungry and cranky - I felt really deprived.  Feeling bad for my plight (or just wanting me to shut the heck up!) an oncologist friend prescribed a chemical that had helped a nurse curb her cravings and he found a pharmacist who would custom make the capsules (Naltrexone) because it had to be hand  made to order.  I was grateful that the problem was solved.  One less log on the "Bonfire O' Stress". Or so I thought!

Sometime on day #3 of taking the new pills the constant pang of hunger, the all-consuming preoccupation with brown sugary confections stopped.  It's as though a switch was flipped.  I continued to take the Naltrexone and it worked - all the deprivation and ceaseless hunger ceased.  Or did they?  While I thought I was taking my daily dose of "Sugar-Be-Gone", Dr. Lecter (My PS) secretly replaced my prescription with capsules from a health food store.  Dr. Bombay (The PS again) ("Emergency!   Emergency!  Come right away!") was skeptical about the effects of Naltrexone and was proving a point testing the "placebo effect";by giving me Chinese sawdust (or something) in capsules

What Dean Wormer (AKA, my spouse) proved ("I had you on double secret probation!") I already knew - like every other substance, material good, or liquid on the planet, I am strong enough to eliminate anything that's in my way.  Hunger doesn't matter.  Pain just means something needs fixing.  Dr. Feelgood(my beloved) can feed me any story, any pill he likes - we both have the same objective:  health.  So we're both right!  Dr. Strangelove (my reason for breathing) went to great lengths to prove the strength of the "placebo effect".  Whatever.  No medication?  I am strong? Big deal.  I already knew that! So score for one for me!  I never feel deprived anymore and I still don't need any medication.  Winner, winner!  Vegetarian/Protein Dinner!

Now I can focus on what's important like where to get a really big shoe...