BEER OF THE MONTH OCTOBER 2009

Beer of the Month Club for October 2009 is now ready for pick-up!

cheers,

dave hauslein
beer manager
415-255-0610

AUTUMN MAPLE

...IS HERE!!!

dave hauslein
beer manager
415-255-0610

Two wives down, four to go

For the past month or so, I've become completely and utterly obsessed with the TV show "The Tudors" on DVD. This is a soap-opera-like series based on the life of King Henry VIII and his six wives. It is completely trashy, and yet you don't notice any of the trashiness because everyone is wearing fancy costumes and speaking in English accents and murmuring about going to war with France and signing treaties (when they're not flinging their clothes off or taunting the Pope or beheading each other), so you can convince yourself it is actually highly educational and not trashy. It is trashy-cational.

I finally finished season two, and I'm actually a little bit relieved that season three is not yet on DVD, so that I can have my life back for a little while. I'm not sure if I remember how to live a normal, non-Tudors life. I'm going to have to try.

After each episode, I'd find myself running to Wikipedia to find out more. I'd find myself talking back to the TV, as though talking to the TV would not only influence the plot, but could change things that actually happened 500 years ago.

"Take the oath!!!" I said. "JUST TAKE THE DANG OATH!!!"

Thomas More did not listen to me. And look what happened to him. Seriously, don't talk to me about Thomas More. I've been upset for days. I just can't take it.

Anyway. If Wikipedia is right (and it always is), then "The Tudors" is fairly accurate, although there are a few errors. For example, here is the real Henry VIII:



Here is "The Tudors" Henry VIII:

Historical accuracy is highly overrated.

"what's wrong with breast cancer awareness month?"

"October is breast cancer awareness month, which again fills the stores with pink products and pink ribbons. But many people with breast cancer are feeling exploited."

It's only September 30th and I already have pink ribbon fatigue. I ranted about about this in 2006, 2007 and 2008 (there is also a version of this rant in my book, Not Done Yet).

This year, let me point you to an excellent article by Maija Haavisto (and I don't just say this because she quotes me):

Since 1985 October has been celebrated as breast cancer awareness month, often symbolized by pink ribbons and the color pink. It is interesting to note that the awareness month was started by the drug company AstraZeneca (which manufactures several breast cancer drugs) and the pink ribbon originated from cosmetics giant Estée Lauder.

Simply put, I think a lot of breast cancer awareness month is big scam. To quote Maija's article quoting me (is this as po-mo as it gets?):

"I really resent big corporations making a profit - while donating only a tiny percentage to breast cancer research - on some disposable item that has been made under questionable environmental conditions by workers who are paid less than a living wage."

Want to do something to raise breast cancer awareness? Make a donation to an organization doing good work. Advocate for changes in environmental laws. Encourage young people to be aware of changes in their bodies. Do something nice for someone who has been affected by the disease.

And if you are craving a slice of pink cake, washed down with a glass of pink lemonade, by all means, indulge yourself. Just please don't do it in my name.

CT Scan Today

I go back to the clinic today for my CT scan. I won’t get the results until my next oncologist visit in about three weeks. I’m not anxious enough to go and get them earlier.

On my last visit with the oncologist on Monday, I asked about H1N1 shots once again. This time she had some information. This year for the first time, the clinic will be offering free shots to the cancer patients.

Her first statement to me was that H1N1 could kill me. I was a bit shocked at what she said ... like I thought; did she really just say that to me? It was a bit of a reality check.

We then discussed the H1N1 shot. How the shot works ... a person needs 10 days for the vaccine to become effective. In my particular situation, because I’m on chemo, I can only get the shot after my blood work shows I’ve recovered from the last chemo treatment.

The big issue is that there isn’t 10 days between the blood work and the next chemo treatment. I get the blood work one day and chemo the next. If I get the shot and chemo the next day, the H1N1 vaccination is destroyed in my body by the chemo. It would not have time to immunize me properly and therefore making the vaccination ineffective.

My doctor does not recommend I delay chemo for the H1N1 flu shot because of the risk of my cancer growing. I was on the fence about getting the H1N1 shot and leaning to not getting it … so I guess that solves my problem … no flu shots for me.

Yizkor

My rabbi offered me the chance to lead the congregation as shlicha tzibur for the yizkor (memorial) service on Yom Kippur. I prepared as much as possible, learning new melodies, practicing every day.

But when I stood on the bima in front of hundreds of people, my nerves got the best of me. Even with two friends holding the Torah scrolls standing on either side of me, the new tunes I had learned went completely out of my head and I don't really know what I sang. The rabbi moved us on to El Maleh Rachamim for the six million and I thought she meant another prayer which I hadn't learned. The moment of panic was visible to everyone in the congregation. Somehow things ended smoothly with the congregation joining me in singing Psalm 23.

I was prepared to be very emotional, this being the first Yom Kippur since my father died and yizkor being such an oportuinity to remember those we love who have died. Instead I was so shaky with nerves that I didn't need the tissue clutched in my hand. Again I have learned that leading the congregation does not necessarily make for a resonant emotional experience the entire time for the leader.

Many people complimented me afterwards, so I guess I pulled it off. I hope the rabbi will give me another opportunity to lead this service and redeem myself.

Where's your wife?

Cancer Bitch recommends that you do not ask this question. She has asked it twice in the last 2 years and it was awkward in the first case. So why did she ask it again? She is a slow learner.

In spring or summer of 2007, she greeted one of her husband's co-workers at a fundraiser by asking where his wife was. He said, I don't know, and Cancer Bitch quickly understood that something was amiss. She asked her husband L, Why didn't you tell me? and he said he'd just found out himself. L is never the bearer of good gossip; he doesn't ask enough questions. The co-worker and wife are still separated.

At the Kol Nidre service at the hippie congregation, the rabbi asked everyone to introduce themselves to their neighbors. The man in front of her turned and they realized they knew one another. One of Cancer Bitch's pre-Prozac boyfriends (read: angst-ridden relationship) was friends with this man, M, and Cancer Bitch would always talk to the wife L when they ran into one another. Cancer Bitch remembered the wife describing how she photocopied her dissertation at her husband's office and sent out copies of the manuscript to agent after agent. Or was it publisher after publisher? And it was published. L sang in Hebrew and Yiddish and had red-frame glasses and a New York accent. Her husband told C Bitch: She passed away. Four months ago.

After services M said that a year ago she'd had a seizure while singing in California and they'd found out that she had lung cancer that had gone to her brain.
She returned early to Chicago so she could sing on Yom Kippur with the hippies. She died at home, her sons sniging to her till the end.

Cncer Bitch had not heard, obviously. The family took out a paid notice in the New York Times, but not in the local papers. There is too much cancer-dying these days. There was L above; and K's wife E, who also had lung cancer; and the wife of another old boyfriend, after five cancer-free years; and her friend P's cousin is dying of ovarian cancer. There are heart problems and neurological damage and it seems that absolutely everyone is getting dental implants. This is middle age and it is only the beginning of the body's decline. Cancer Bitch has finally begun calling herself middle aged. For years and years she'd considered her mother to be middle-aged, but now that her mother is 81, she has to face facts. Sunday in Evanston Cancer Bitch walked past a house on Chicago Avenue north of Dempster and as always, remembered the time in 1980 when she went there to see about renting a room, and the guy there said that a cute Southern girl with a great accent was there first and he couldn't resist. She told this to her husband who said loyally, You were a cute Southern girl. She thinks about the Southern girl every time she passes the house but Sunday was the first time the memory was accompanied by a strong swoop of sadness: the passage of time. She thought of herself in her early 20s with her whole life ahead of her. The sadness of losing that feeling of potential. She doesn't regret her choices, except her many hours of wasting time, but she is no longer young, no longer just becoming, that's the point. Yeah yeah, there was Grandma Moses who started painting late in life, but there was also Mary McMarthy who told Cancer Bitch (in an interview in Florida) that people in their sixties and older couldn't write novels any more. She was referring to herself.

C Bitch has a novel in a file cabinet in the other room and in her computer and needs to gear gear up to revise and rework it.

Chemo Today

I just got back from my chemo treatment and to be honest I feel pretty good ... just a bit weaker. Things went really well. I was in a room with two other beds. One person slept through his treatment but the lady next door and I chatted a bit. She was diagnosed at the age of 49 with leukemia. That was 30 years ago. She seemed pretty spunky as she was in Vegas just a couple of months ago. More recently she has needed regular blood transfusions which is why she was there today.

Instead of watching movies on my portable DVD player, I read magazines given to me by some friends. After I was done with them, I left them at the clinic for someone else to enjoy.

Well I still have some reading to do for my class tonight so I best get after it. I had far too much fun reading my gossip mags instead of my school stuff.

Important moments

Our little family had some big achievements over the weekend. First, Jay went to Omaha and ran his first half-marathon! He finished with a good time, and we're very proud of him.

While Jay was away on Sunday, WCK and I went grocery shopping at Hy-Vee. As we walked down the spaghetti-sauce aisle, WCK announced that her tooth had fallen out. Sure enough, she had the little tooth in her hand! Several other shoppers witnessed the big event and were able to congratulate her, too. It was very exciting. We had to go to the cheese department for a slice of congratulatory cheese. (OK, we always go to the cheese department for the free slice of cheese, but on Sunday it felt like it was special cheese.)

WCK put the tooth under her pillow last night, and this morning it had vanished. The Tooth Fairy left a card in a special pink envelope decorated with fairy stickers and WCK's name in silver letters. Inside were four gold dollar coins, a nice letter from the Tooth Fairy, and a sprinkling of fairy-dust confetti. The fairy also left a gift bag, and inside was a tube of Hannah Montana toothpaste. I thought the toothpaste gift was really exciting, but it was not such a big hit with WCK. In fact, she saw the toothpaste before she realized the Tooth Fairy had also left her some money, and she was nearly in tears that the fairy had left her such a lame gift.

Really? Four-year-olds don't think that tubes of toothpaste are exciting gifts? I will have to talk to the Tooth Fairy about this.

Blood Work/Oncologist Visit

My blood work looks good so I am good to go for chemo tomorrow. My weight is down a bit ... I’m at 70.6 kilos (155 lbs). I think I’m down about four lbs from last time. I notice that my weight varies quite a bit though. The oncologist asked if I was trying to lose weight or it was just happening. I said I am trying a bit because I want to feel better and I’d sure like to get into a few more of my clothes.

I mentioned to the doctor that my lower back and legs feel weaker but over all my other symptoms seem to be improving ever so slowly. Tomorrow will be my 20th Taxotere treatment. My doctor said that is really good. If the Taxotere symptoms i.e. the fatigue gets to be too much for me, our plan would be to stop the Taxotere completely as I am at the minimum effective amount already.

When I started chemo in August 2008 I also signed up for a study. It’s a double blind study with 2/3 of the participants getting the study drug and 1/3 not getting it. Because I have many of its symptoms, I feel I am getting the drug.

So back to my chemo regime ... if we decide to stop the Taxotere, I could potentially continue on with the study drug only or maybe try some anti-estrogen therapy as my cancer is estrogen-receptor-positive or we could try some other treatment (chemotherapy or study drugs). I guess the message here is that there are options and when we have to we will decide what is best for me.

I think the oncologist and nurses are quite impressed with my overall condition, especially with me taking an evening course at the college.

I’ll let you in on a secret ... for two weeks of the three week cycle, I’m thinking to myself, alright I cannot do this any longer, the next time I see the oncologist, I’m going to ask to have my chemo cut back ... but then I have a few good days just before my next treatment and my attitude shifts to one where ... OK I can do one more cycle and then we’ll cut it back.

Repentance and atonement

Tonight begins Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. We spend the day fasting and praying, asking God and one another for forgiveness. The fast includes abstaining from eating, drinking, washing, wearing leather and sexual intercourse. In short, we deny ourselves the pleasures of life in order to focus on our souls.

The prayerbook says, "On Rosh Hashanah it is written and on Yom Kippur it is sealed: who will live and who will die." This is especially meaningful when one has advanced cancer. I have written before that people with cancer believe we know what will kill us, we just don't know when. Every time I recite this prayer in synagogue, I am reminded that I too believe I know that my cancer will kill me, but not when.

So I hope to be written and sealed in the book of life for this coming year. I wish you all the same: g'mar chatimah tova (a good conclusion), an easy fast, and to be sealed in the book of life for a sweet year of health and prosperity.

A Day Of Fun And Gifts

Yesterday was a quiet day. My mother and sister dropped by and brought some breakfast over. Very nice!! They had called prior to coming and asked if we wanted to go out but we had still been sleeping so we said no thanks. These days it takes me a good half hour and a strong coffee to shake the morning fog out of my head so that I can get moving. My mother had also brought over three different hats that I can wear. They will definitely come in handy with the cooler weather coming.

Later on, we went to visit our friends B and D. We had a nice visit looking at their wedding pictures from 1979. Everyone looked so young in the pictures ... where did the time go? We ended up spending the evening reminiscing, talking and snacking. It was very relaxing and enjoyable. And I walked out with a few Avon treasures ... how fun is that ... thanks D.

At about 11:00 pm, we’d been visiting for about 4 hours when my energy level hit the wall. I needed to go home or ... I said I’d be sleeping on their couch that night. I was fading fast so we headed home.

Today we’re off for lunch to my sister A’s and her husband’s place. We’re really looking forward to that. It’s been a while since we’ve seen them.

This week I spent a lot of time out and about visiting ... and it felt really good.

Next week is chemo and well, I don’t need to say much more than that.

How Fatigue Affects Me

I’ve often said that I have no strength in my legs for standing or walking. Well, today I wanted to share a few of the other ways constant fatigue shows itself in my every day activities.

Household chores such as washing floors, folding laundry, cooking, scrubbing pans, etc have become more than difficult. I have to constantly sit and rest while doing anything at all and to be honest ... I don’t do much house work anymore. Anything that requires physical effort just isn’t fun in the least.

Eating certain foods is difficult if not impossible. My jaw seems have no strength to bite down on some foods. For example; I have difficulty eating apples, fresh vegetables/salads ... raw carrots are out of the question. Sandwiches such as bacon and tomato or turkey or any type where the food is tough or chewy are difficult for me to bite through. So I usually avoid them.

Things like wraps are great for me because the food is already all chopped up. Last Wednesday when I went out for supper, I ordered Shepherd’s Pie which is ground beef with mashed potatoes. It was very easy to eat but I did experience something unusual for the first time. I had difficulty lifting the fork up to my mouth. Not sure if the outdoor table setup was an odd height or because it was an extra warm evening ... but my hand actually started shaking as I brought the fork to my mouth. I was so weak in my arms that evening.

Driving has become a bit of a challenge. Some days it feels like my car has standard steering instead of power. It actually takes effort to turn the steering wheel to turn a corner.

Brushing my teeth had become a real chore. But thankfully, my dentist gave me an electric toothbrush which cuts the effort by at least half. I now sit on the edge of the tub and let the toothbrush do all the work.

Applying make-up is no longer pleasurable. It requires too much effort so I don’t.

I can hardly believe I’m so weak.

PT has amazing idea

They physical therapist who specializes in manual lymphatic drainage measured my left arm yesterday and it is two centimeters (about one inch) larger in circumference than my right arm. That's a statistically significant amount and so I will have treatment, nine sessions authorized by the HMO so far

After giving me the gentle lymphatic massage, the PT came up with a great idea to help my insomnia caused by the bandaging: don't wrap at night. In her experience, several patients who have not wrapped at night did not see a change for the worse the next day. So last night I tried it. Took off the sleeve and glove and hand-washed them as usual, then just went to bed.

Of course I didn't take any ativan, and after taking it for twenty nights I had some rebound insomnia. (A nap this afternoon should fix any sleep deprivation.) But my arm seems fine this morning and I have hopes that this will work for me. As soon as I come off the ativan, sleeping without the bandaging will certainly improve the quality of my sleep!

The Passive Cancer Patient

She said, Did you ask your oncologist what she thought about the calcifications?
I said, No, I forgot.
Then I thought better of it and thought maybe I had asked. I said, I think I did. I keep forgetting about it.
She said, It seems you either are at zero, not worrying at all, or way up here, thinking about dying. You need to be able to tolerate a 3, to do what you need to do.
She said, It takes energy for you to forget about it, because you're not really forgetting, it's in the back of your mind.
She told me how she went to four doctors who all said she didn't have cancer. The breast surgeon told her she was a hysterical female.
She waited a month or two and finally insisted on surgery and of course it was malignant.
She reported the doctor to the board of whatever, but there were no consequences.
The form the Breast Experts gave me in June and December and in June again said "calcifications that are probably benign." The radiologist in December said I could have an MRI if I wanted but warned me about false positives.
Now, she said cancer begins as calcifications, if it bothers you, you need to do something about it. She said, It's labor-intensive for them to read MRIs, that's why they don't like to do them. And: it's labor-intensive to do a biopsy using ultrasound and they don't make much profit from it. She said Fancy Hospital was on the TV news because they had a backlog of mammogram patients and they didn't have enough radiologists though they promised to get more.
A local TV station reported earlier this month that at Fancy Hospital, women have to wait between 8 months and a year to schedule a mammogram. ABC7 checked with six other hospitals in the area and all were able to schedule a mammogram within a few weeks.
Fancy says that there's a shortage of radiologists.
But it seems to be restricted to only one block in the city.
Calcifications can be malignant--they don't turn malignant, they can begin that way. "Probably benign" can mean that there's an 80-98 percent chance that they're benign. MSN reports: Please note that some specialists may prefer additional testing (breast MRI, biopsy, etc.) while others may be more conservative. A lot has to do with your personal or family breast health history.
I still think the calcifications are not cancerous. But I don't know for sure. I emailed my surgeon's nurse and asked for an MRI. She wrote back today and said that she sent over the order, that I should call the MRI division and make an appointment, that it would take a few days to get precertification, but that insurance might not pay for it.
Because it's elective, I suppose. But it's not like I'm doing it for vanity. And it's odd--usually the doctors prescribe extensive tests to CYA.
There's a blog written by The Assertive Cancer Patient.
This is not that.

ALLAGASH FLUXUS/INTERLUDE AND MORE!!!

1. Allagash Fluxus
2. Allagash Interlude (2009)
3. Bruery Partridge in a Pear Tree is back!!! (Limited Quantities)

Drink you crazy Viking!

dave hauslein

beer manager

415-255-0610

At The Mall

Yesterday we stopped at the mall for coffee and a cinnamon bun. Good stuff!

Whenever I go out now, I’ve been wearing a hat instead of my wig. It feels so much more comfortable. People don’t really stare but I do think they look at me a split second longer at first. I’m kind of thinking to myself ... what took me so long?

We then headed to Sears to look at dishwashers and treadmills. I brought my Zuca bag along so whenever I got tired; I could just sit down on it. Like when the salesman was giving us the dishwasher spiel, I sat down at this dishwasher and then moved to another as he was talking. Easy breezy.

20 hours wrapped -- limited improvement

I finally decided to spend an ultimate 20-22 hours bandaged to treat my lymphedema. When I do this I basically have to face a day/night with nothing to do since I can't type, cook, write, or even feed myself well while wrapped from my fingertips to my shoulder. Hell, I can't even bend my elbow!

Yesterday seemed the perfect day -- lunch with a friend, a visit with another friend, no meetings until the evening. Unfortunately by 10 PM I was completely frustrated with my inability to do ANYTHING, came home cranky from my evening meeting and took it out on Rik. Even taking a full mg of ativan didn't help me sleep. So now I am sleep-deprived, had to wake up early to go to the physical therapist, and don't even have much improvement to show for it. And since I gave up doing anything productive yesterday, today I have to catch up on the errands, ironing, etc. that I couldn't do while bandaged.

I hope the PT will have some good suggestions, or at least will be able to start treating me after taking measurements and have some availability for future appointments soon. I don't think I can give up too many more days of living my life in order to bandage, and I certainly don't want to have to wait more weeks to get additional PT appointments.

Lymphedema sucks.

Out For Lunch, Out For Supper

Being my good week, I try and book up visits with friends. Yesterday afternoon was our regular Breast Cancer support group coffee get-together. There were only a couple of us as two ladies where suffering from the flu and others were busy with other appointments and stuff. So S and I had a nice chat one on one.

I came home for a couple of hours and then headed off for supper to “Vi’s For Pies” with some fellow co-workers from a previous job. We sat outside on the patio because the temperature was still close to 30C (86F). It was a bit warm for me at first but after drinking a couple of glasses of cold water and iced tea ... I cooled myself down a bit. There was a water fountain not far away and trees and flowers decorating the patio that added to the atmosphere. It was nice to catch up on all the news and especially to talk about something else other than cancer. I wasn’t sure I would be able to make conversation but with all the surfing and television I watch, I had no trouble at all.

When I came home, I mentioned to D that I had a lot to eat that day and I was happy about that. It had been a very good day.

Talking to a stone

I am the stone. I've heard over and over that exercise is important in keeping breast cancer from coming back. I even have an exercise book especially for bc survivors. I haven't looked at it for months and months. But I keep getting emails from our rowing coach, J, about exercise and breast cancer and on the ROW website she has links to articles that extoll the value of exercise in keeping metastasis at bay. Finally it sunk in. Monday I went to rowing practice, and Tuesday and tonight I rowed at the YMCA. I also rowed last week. I know I should cross-train but I like doing one thing over and over and over. (That must be why I created a workshop called The Joy, Joy, Joy of Repetition.) Just about everybody there except me has an iPod. I look at the TV when I'm sitting back up and leaning back. I watched part of The Office last night, and when it was over I switched it to the PBS station. Uh oh. PBS didn't have closed captioning. But I was already strapped into the rowing machine so I just watched people's mouths move. They were talking about Milton Bradley, the out-of-control Cub and I could presume what they were saying. I am interested in him because of his name. You know, like the board-game company.
Tonight I watched the Nature Channel on Colony Collapse Disorder. I learned that in Sichuan in China, where a pesticide has wiped out the bee population, people do the pollination. It's very labor-intensive, as you might imagine, and involves sticks with feathers on the ends.

One solution to the disorder is to bring in Africanized bees that are resistant to CCD. But those bees are aggressive and who knows what they might do? or what a hybrid bee would be like?
We should all be as busy as bees, and develop our own waggle dances. Or just pull back and forth, back and forth to get our heart rates up.
Alas, it appears that bees don't listen, either. New research shows that bees observing the dance often ignore it.
I need 150 minutes of exercise a week to be called moderately fit. So far I've had about 75, not counting yoga, and it's only Wednesday.


[The increasingly rare bee suit]

NEW ARRIVALS

1. NOGNE-O TYTTEBAER-Wild ale brewed with Scandinavian Cranberries. Very limited quantities.
2. NOGNE-O IMPERIAL STOUT
3. NOGNE-O TIGER TRIPEL
4. EKU 28
5. KULMBACHER EISBOCK
6. GEANTS SAISON VOISIN 12oz.
7. JANDRAIN IV SAISON
8.KERKOM BINK BLONDE
9.KERKOM BINK TRIPEL
10. KERKOM BINK BRUIN 12oz.
11.THIRIEZ AMBER is back!
12.MIKKELLER SINGLE HOP CASCADE IPA
13. MIKKELLER SINGLE HOP NUGGET IPA
14. HANDBRYGGIERT NORWEGIAN WOOD
15. HANDBRYGGIERT NORSE PORTER
16.HANDBRYGGIERT DARK FORCE
17.DIEU DU CIEL PECHE MORTEL is back!
18. OLIVER'S HEREFORDSHIRE MEDIUM CIDER

Enjoy!

dave hauslein
beer manager
415-255-0610

Handrails Are Too Skinny

Yesterday I went to the clinic for my weekly PICC line dressing change. The chemo room was busy as ever and the nurse said, “Could you come back in about 10 minutes and take your time?” I said, “No problem, I need to go downstairs to physiotherapy anyway.” I needed to return the borrowed lymphedema sleeve as I had purchased my own a week ago.

On my way back, I was getting a bit tired and decided to use the handrailing that was mounted on the wall. Well as I slide my hand along the railing ... wack ... my fingers hit the mounting brackets. The handrails are too skinny and my fingers hit the brackets. Normally, this would be no big deal but this was one of my chemo fingers where the nail bed is lifting. Ouch!! It’s a bit sore today ... thank goodness it didn’t rip off.

So to all you handrail engineer reading this blog ... handrails must be fat like on escalators and not skinny ... otherwise, you wack your fingers on the brackets when you slide your hand along the railing.

There I feel better.

k. and the colossal colon

On Friday evening, my friend K. will be arriving from the Netherlands for a long-anticipated visit. I haven't seen her since she flew to London to hook up with S. and me in the spring of 2008. I can hardly wait! Two more sleeps!

K. is a gastroenterologist and is coming to Canada for a conference in Toronto. She's making a special trip to Ottawa to hang out with my family and me for the week end.

The last time K. came to this part of Canada was in 2005, when she attended a conference in Montreal. I took the train to meet her, and we went out to dinner and had a sleepover. At that point, we hadn't seen each other in almost twenty years and I was worried that we wouldn't recognize each other. That turned out to not to be a problem, and I remember how my heart lifted when I saw her.

I also remember the Colossal Colon that was set up in the atrium of the conference centre. The thing was huge colossal. I was awestruck. And I seem to remember that no one else was giving it a second glance.

I was reminded of this reunion and the big colossal colon the other day, when someone on Facebook linked to an article by Miami Herald columnist and humourist Dave Barry:

"What happened was, a giant 40-foot replica of a human colon came to Miami Beach. Really. It's an educational exhibit called the Colossal Colon, and it was on a nationwide tour to promote awareness of colo-rectal cancer. The idea is, you crawl through the Colossal Colon, and you encounter various educational items in there, such as polyps, cancer and hemorrhoids the size of regulation volleyballs, and you go, ''Whoa, I better find out if I contain any of these things,'' and you get a colonoscopy.

If you are as a professional humor writer, and there is a giant colon within a 200-mile radius, you are legally obligated to go see it. So I went to Miami Beach and crawled through the Colossal Colon. I wrote a column about it, making tasteless colon jokes. But I also urged everyone to get a colonoscopy. I even, when I emerged from the Colossal Colon, signed a pledge stating that I would get one.

But I didn't get one. I was a fraud, a hypocrite, a liar. I was practically a member of Congress."

Barry goes on to tell how some jarring news about his brother moved him to finally have the colonoscopy. And other than the prep, it was no big deal.

It's called, "A Journey Into My Colon -- And Yours" and it made me laugh out loud in several places. Go read it.

And, if you're over 50, make an appointment for a colonoscopy.

CNN Airs News Story on Male Breast Cancer at Camp Lejeune

By Pam Stephan, About.com Guide to Breast Cancer

Mike Partain, male breast cancer survivor and former resident of Camp Lejeune, is back in the news again. Tune in to CNN on Thursday and Friday night (September 24th and 25th) at 8 p.m. EST. That's when you can see a two-part special about the 22 men who developed male breast cancer - most likely as a result of having lived at and consumed water from the base's supply from 1957 to 1987.

Now I would think that the Marines would protect their own water supply, wouldn't you? But during the time in question, dry cleaning chemicals were dumped into at least two water distribution systems at Camp Lejeune. Many Marines, Sailors, their families and civilian employees have been affected by the contamination. We're talking about drinking water that contained Tetrachloroethylene, Trichloroethylene, Vinyl Chloride, Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, and Xylene. I wonder how anybody could stand to drink it, but perhaps it was a matter of people becoming accustomed to it over time. Trichloroethylene is used to degrease metal parts - my husband used to use it to clean broken tape recorders and VCRs when he worked in a repair shop. Benzene is used for lots of industrial processes, including petrochemical production. Xylene is a cleaning solvent - I used it to clean photostencils off of silk screens in college art classes. Toluene is used to make benzene and urethane - stuff that is used in paint, rubber, insulation, and golf balls. These things are commonly used in dry cleaning, and they do not belong in anyone's drinking water!

The Marine Corps still hasn't notified everyone who drank that water at Camp Lejeune - but the people who developed many kinds of cancer - including male breast cancer - as well as birth defects and miscarriages need to know, and to have their rights protected. These Marines are the folks that go out into danger to protect and defend this country - they should also be protected and treated well, and given the whole truth about their health risks.

Men have only a small amount of breast tissue, especially compared to women, so a man's lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is quite rare. In fact, only about 1% of all breast cancer cases are diagnosed in men. When men are diagnosed with breast cancer, it's usually later in life, not when they are just 39 - like Mike Partain - and not in clumps of 22, as at Camp Lejeune. We know that cancer gets started as the result of mutated DNA, but we don't always know what breaks a person's DNA, and why it doesn't repair itself. Our modern diet, lifestyle, and environment seems to play a part in contributing to a rise in cancers of all types. But what if all the people that were exposed to the water at Camp Lejeune could be identified, informed, and surveyed - so the full extent of the effects of this health disaster could be properly studied? Would it lead to a new discovery about the development of cancer?

Mike Partain learned of the water contamination almost by accident, after his diagnosis. Turns out the Marine Corps had known about these chemicals in the base water supply since 1980. Mike parents were consuming the contaminated water in 1967, when they were expecting him. He was a small baby, born with a persistent skin rash, and developed other health problems as he grew up. His parents, along with many other base residents, have developed more than the average number of health problems. Camp LeJeune's water supply was contaminated for 30 years. This preventable water problem and the resulting health disaster may have affected an estimated 800,000 to 1 million former Marines and their families. It takes my breath away!

To learn more about this, tune in to CNN on Thursday and Friday night (September 24th and 25th) at 8 p.m. EST to hear Campbell Brown reporting on this story.

*****

Keep up to date with the latest news in breast reconstruction at The Breast Cancer Reconstruction Blog. Also follow us on Twitter.

*****

Bucket of spaghetti

A drive-through Italian restaurant just opened in Kansas City, and it sells spaghetti by the bucket. Seriously. A bucket. It's like a one-gallon ice-cream bucket filled with spaghetti. Jay has been absolutely thrilled by the idea of the spaghetti in a bucket, because he always loves feeling that he got a "deal". For $19.99, you get the spaghetti bucket, a second bucket filled with sauce and meatballs, an entire loaf of garlic bread, and a giant box of salad.

Last weekend we were pretty excited to get the bucket deal, never mind that we're a tiny family of three and one of us weighs 37 pounds, never mind that this bucket deal is probably a glaring symbol of everything that's wrong with America. We wanted the bucket. The three of us ate our fill of spaghetti, and the bucket still appears to be completely full. I swear, no matter how much we eat, the level of spaghetti in the bucket does not go down. My two scientific theories are 1) It's an enchanted bucket that refills itself or 2) The noodles are constantly giving birth to more noodles. Do they reproduce asexually, like Jabba the Hutt? We don't know.

I've given up on eating the spaghetti, but Jay continues to eat the leftovers, trying to get the most out of the spaghetti deal. We have no room in our fridge anymore, because the fridge has been taken over by the buckets. Remember the time Homer Simpson became obsessed with an enormous sub sandwich and kept it for months and months until he could finish eating it? It's exactly like that.

I'll update you next month and let you know if the noodle level has gone down.

Diabetes drug metformin appears to target breast CSC

Diabetes Drug Metformin Shows Promise as a Breast Cancer Treatment, NCI Cancer Bulletin 2009(Sep 22); 6(18). First two paragraphs:

Low doses of the commonly used diabetes drug metformin may be an effective treatment for breast cancer, primarily because the drug appears to target breast cancer stem cells, Harvard Medical School researchers reported online September 14 in Cancer Research. Cancer stem cells, also called tumor-initiating cells, are thought to be relatively rare cells that can give rise to new tumors and are resistant to standard cancer treatments.

In the study, the combination of metformin and the chemotherapy agent doxorubicin was more effective than either drug alone at eliminating cancer cells and cancer stem cells in cultured cell lines of four genetically distinct breast cancer types, including HER2-positive and triple-negative breast cancers. In a breast cancer mouse model, the drug combination eliminated tumors and prevented regrowth, whereas doxorubicin alone only reduced tumor size and did not prevent regrowth, and metformin alone had little effect.

This bulletin is about the publication: Metformin Selectively Targets Cancer Stem Cells, and Acts Together with Chemotherapy to Block Tumor Growth and Prolong Remission by Heather A Hirsch, Dimitrios Iliopoulos, Philip N Tsichlis and Kevin Struhl, Cancer Res 2009(Sep 14) [Epub ahead of print][PubMed Citation].

Ice Berg Feet

After sitting here with my coffee for a while, I decided to get dressed and put socks on, my feet are so cold right now. Chemo has given a whole new meaning to cold feet. D can attest to that ... they are definitely ice bergs.

That’s it for now ...

Improvement in the hand?

I thought there was some improvement in my left hand. Spending a quiet day was supposed to help. Well, I went without the glove until 2 PM yesterday, but things still got puffy in the late afternoon. Then instead of just giving up and wrapping my arm, I put on the glove for a few hours.

I had to take a full 1 mg ativan tablet last night in order to sleep. I worry that I am temporarily hooked on ativan since I have been taking it as a sleep aid for several weeks now. Once the manual lymphatic drainage works and my arm gets back to normal, I am sure I will have rebound insomnia to deal with.

I guess I should take comfort in the fact the my hand was enough better that I could go without the glove for a few hours, but it's still very frustrating! This has been going on since September 4th and I am more than a little tired of it.

Inflammation

There's a great article in the new issue of Cure magazine, "The Internal Flame" about the connection between chronic inflammation and cancer. I attended several scientific presentations about the inflammation-cancer connection at the AACR annual meeting this year. Long term inflammation from chronic infections, such as hepatitic C, are associated with the development of cancer. Some autoimmune diseases are also associated with an increase cancer risk. It has been discovered that cancer in essence hijacks our immune system processes to promote it's own growth and metastasis...what our body means for our good, cancer uses to proliferate it's own growth and destructive processes.

I have an autoimumne disease also, rheumatoid arthritis. Kind of interesting, cancer in the end caused my RA to worsen, as I had my ovaries removed in my cytoreduction surgery. The early menopause initiated by the removal of my ovaries caused my RA to escalate, which in turn caused me to become dependent on more immune/inflammation suppressing drugs to control that disease.

I also take a chemotherapy drug weekly, methotrexate, to control my RA. Interesting how the use of that drug came to treat autoimmune diseases. Woman who had RA and cancer and who were treated with methotrexate for cancer went into remission of their RA while they received it. They experimented with dosages until they found the lowest possible effective dosage of the chemotherapy for inducing remission in RA and other autoimmune diseases. They know it works, but not why. More chemotherapies are being tested for use in autoimmune disease. It is so interesting that drugs that suppress cancer also suppress inflammatory autoimmune disease while at the same time inflammation is being associated with cancer occurrence. I am also on several drugs to suppress my immune system and inflammatory responses, including low dose steroids.

Interesting too, that a protein our body creates and that can destroy some types of cancer cells, TNF (tumor necrosis factor), also plays a part in the destructive inflammation of RA and other autoimmune diseases. It was suggested once that I take new drugs that block the effect of tumor necrosis factor. I felt that if I had an over-abundance of this protein, in light of my cancer history, I didn't want to "block" it. I'm waiting to see long term studies about the cancer incidence in those taking these new drugs. I don't believe patients with a cancer history were included in initial clinical trials of these drugs.

At first, after I was diagnosed with cancer, I was afraid of suppressing my immune system with the RA drugs...don't we all want a good immune system and hope our immune system will prevent our cancers form recurring? I was so afraid suppressing my immune system would make me vulnerable to a cancer recurrence.

Now after reading a lot about the cancer-inflammation connection, I wonder if all of these drugs that suppress my inflammatory responses and immune system might in the end help protect me from cancer? But then again I wonder if my malfunctioning immune system and chronic inflammatory disease had anything to do with my cancer occurring in the first place. It's a mystery.

I don't know, but I continue to take my drugs as they keep me in remission from RA, and I haven't had a cancer recurrence in 8 years, so the drugs certainly do not seem to be hurting me in that regard.

But it makes me especially intrigued by the new connections between cancer and inflammation...I'm watching that research closely.

Settling Down

Had a quiet weekend ... blogged, read and relaxed. I went out for breakfast Sunday with my sister and mother. Coffee is becoming enjoyable again; this will be the week I OD on coffee.

Emotionally things are settling down a bit. I’m not as agitated and angry as I was last week. Sleep wise, I had a few intense dreams last night and woke myself up with this oddest sound that came out of my mouth. When I talked to my husband about it, he said it woke him up too and sounded like ‘metal’ clanging. I have these odd sounds that come out of me in the middle of the night ... it’s kind of bizarre.

I’m really hoping to feel good this week because it gives me the momentum I need to go into chemo next week.

talking "not done yet."

I'm going to be on BlogTalk radio tomorrow!

The show: Lovebabz Lovetalk.

The time: 12:30-1:15 EST.

The call-in number: (718) 766-4895

The subject: Not Done Yet, Living Through Breast Cancer.

Please call in, if you can. I am really looking forward to this on-air chat with my friend Babz.

tired

I've been really struggling with insomnia lately. Falling asleep is tricky enough, but remaining asleep is the real challenge.

Most nights, I find myself awake plagued by questions:

Where do I know the actor from who played the handyman in The Waterhorse?

Should we have washed the dogs before we cleaned the carpets?

What if my oncologist ordered a thoracic CT scan so soon after my last abdominal one because they heard something during my last exam (and not just because I hadn't had one in a long time)?

Is the hat I'm making for D. going to be too small?

Was the other movie The Truth About Cats and Dogs? (I looked it up. His name is Ben Chaplin and it he was the actor in both movies).

Was I sent for two CT scans two weeks apart because of poor planning (or poor communicaiton) or is there something ugly growing on my lungs?

If the hat is too small, should I give it to someone else or rip it out and start over?

And so on, until I realize that sleep is hopeless.

Then I get up, play a little online Scrabble (or Lexulous), look up movies on the internet, check out what's happening on Facebook and hope that I will start to feel sleepy again.

But I'm tired today and tired makes me feel melancholy (I have more on that subject but I think I need to save it for another post).

I could drink more caffeine or go take a nap but neither will help me sleep tonight. Don't know if I can help myself, though.

What's on my food?

I found a new-ish (launched this summer) website that tells you what pesticides you're ingesting with each piece of fruit or vegetable. Kind of; it tells you what was on a sampling of foods in 2007, and what damage those pesticides can do. It's part of the Pesticide Action Network. (Oh no, does that mean we gotta do something and not just complain??)

Aurothiomalate being studied in a preclinical lung cancer model

Mayo Clinic researchers find lung cancer oncogene holds key to turning off cancer stem cells, News Release, Mayo Clinic, September 8, 2009. First two paragraphs:

Scientists at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida have found that the lung cancer oncogene PKCiota is necessary for the proliferation of lung cancer stem cells. These stem cells are rare and powerful master cells that manufacture the other cells that make up lung tumors and are resistant to chemotherapy treatment.

Their study, published in the Oct. 1 issue of Cancer Research, also shows that an agent, aurothiomalate, being tested at Mayo Clinic in a phase I clinical trial substantially inhibits growth of these cancer stem cells.

The news release is about this publication: Atypical Protein Kinase C{iota} Is Required for Bronchioalveolar Stem Cell Expansion and Lung Tumorigenesis by Roderick P Regala and 5 co-authors, including Alan P Fields, Cancer Res 2009(Sep 8) [Epub ahead of print][PubMed Citation]. The final paragraph of the full text:

Our present results show that aurothiomalate exhibits potent antiproliferative activity toward the tumor stem cell niche in a relevant preclinical lung cancer model. Future studies will be required to assess whether aurothiomalate has similar antiproliferative effects on human lung cancer stem cells isolated from primary human lung tumors.

Comment: The publication reports results that were obtained using a mouse model. The News Release states that a Phase I clinical trial is under way at the Mayo Clinic, but this trial isn't mentioned in the full text of the publication in Cancer Research. According to MedicineNet.com, aurothiomalate is a "gold-containing chemical (salt) used in treating rheumatoid arthritis".

Follow-up

Swedish researchers found that eating foods that were high in acrylamide did not cause breast cancer. To wit: During a mean follow-up of 17.4 years, a total of 2,952 incident cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in the cohort. In multivariate analyses controlling for breast cancer risk factors, no statistically significant association was observed between long-term acrylamide intake (assessed at baseline and in 1997) and the risk of breast cancer, overall or by estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) status.
Interestingly, in looking through media reports about acrylamide, I've found many hostile responses in the Comments sections, some calling the info "junk science." How valid are the accusations? Who knows? But it seems that some researchers consider the substance to be a danger.

This And That

The other day we found a card from our neighbor in the mail box. Inside it said something to the effect ... if there was anything they could do to help. Yesterday, she dropped by with a Saskatoon pie and again reiterating that they would be willing to drive me to appointments if necessary. How nice is that?

Well it didn’t take long for me to open up that pie. I’m still struggling with my taste buds but you know with a little ice cream, I thoroughly enjoyed my piece ... and D his. It’s been a while since I’ve had Saskatoon anything. I grew up on a farm and back then my mom did a lot of canning. That was one fruit that was free and plentiful as the berries grew wild. There was never a shortage of canned Saskatoon. It brought back memories of the old days.

This week, emotionally I’ve been feeling very grumpy. Not sure what that is all about. I may have to give myself a good swift kick in the ass. I think some of it has to do with the fact that I haven’t been feeling the greatest. I’ve had a sinus headache for most of the week. In the mornings, I wake up and sit in a chair in the living room staring at the wall for about 20 minutes just to drain some of the fog out of my head. Usually after a coffee, I’ll start feeling better; I think it’s because hot fluids loosen up some the stuffiness. I’ve been taking Benadryl thinking its environmental allergies but it doesn’t really do much. I do feel a bit better as the day goes by.

What we ate to ring in the new year

As many of you know, Jews always have special foods at our holidays and celebrations. One of my favorite and funniest stories to explain so many Jewish holidays goes like this: They tried to kill us. God saved us. Let's eat.

So here's what we ate on Friday night to celebrate the new year of 5770. You'll notice the sweet taste of many of these foods.

Wine and grape juice
Round challah with raisins
Apples dipped in honey
Gefilte fish
Chopped (chicken) liver
Fresh tomatoes from K's garden
Chicken Marbella (prepared with dried prunes and olives)
Farro with apples and onions
Couscous
Sauteed zucchini with pine nuts
Travados
Apple cake
Tea with honey

I imagine many Jewish cooks prepared Chicken Marbella this year in memory of Sheila Lukins, the co-author of The Silver Palate Cookbook who died recently.

The travados recipe was given to me by a Sephardic friend and I make them every year.

It was a wonderful evening filled with good friends, much laughter, and too much food.

IP rules for CIRM disease team project delayed

Prop. 71 Minutia Stalls CIRM Again, David Jensen, California Stem Cell Report, September 16, 2009. First two paragraphs:

The board of directors of the California stem cell agency Tuesday failed to achieve a quorum and was forced to put off action on regulations tied to its ambitious, $210 million disease team grant round, the largest ever in CIRM history.

That means it will be at least another two weeks or more before the board can act on the IP rules that it needs for disease team project. The grants are scheduled to be awarded later this year

Comment: To see previous posts in this blog about the Disease Teams Awards, see posts with the tag "Disease Teams".

Government Of Canada Issues Guidance On H1N1 Influenza Vaccine Sequencing

Canada released new guidelines on who should be first in line for H1N1 pandemic flu vaccines.

As taken from the Public Health Agency of Canada website ...

The guidance identifies groups and individuals that will benefit most from immunization, and those who care for them. These include:

• people with chronic medical conditions under the age of 65;
• pregnant women;
• children six months to under five years of age;
• people living in remote and isolated settings or communities;
• health care workers involved in pandemic response or who deliver essential health services;
• household contacts and caregivers of individuals who are at high risk, and who cannot be immunized (such as infants under six months of age or people with weakened immune systems); and
• populations otherwise identified as high risk.
  

Personally, I’ve never had a flu shot of any kind, so now comes the decision … to immunize or not?

I was wrong about the demonic babies

They're not demonic babies. They're "zombie babies". In case you still don't believe me:

http://www.spirithalloween.com/product/zombie-baby-prop-/

WARNING: Do not click unless you are sure you want to see this. Once you've seen a zombie baby, you will never remember a time in your life when you hadn't seen a zombie baby. And if your husband goes out of town for work, any little creak in your house at 2 a.m. will obviously be a group of zombie babies breaking into your house to eat your eyeballs.

New Lips of Faith!

1.New Belgium Lips of Faith Transatlantique Kriek
2.New Belgium Lips of Faith Le Fleur Messieur
3.New Belgium Lips of Faith Biere De Mars


COMIN' AT YA!

dave hauslein
beer manager
415-255-0610

Hello, Sweet; Good-bye, Crunchy

First the sweet: A pot of bright tomato-red-orange lilies appeared in one of our flower beds yesterday. It seems new, since the tag is still on it, and we plan to plant it. Our across-the-street neighbor denied any knowledge of it. Did someone receive the plant and give it to us because they assumed we'd give it a good home? Someone once told me of a Dutch Jew who had to leave a hiding place (all during the Nazi occupation, but you knew that) and walked through a neighborhood and rang the bell on a stranger's house. The Jew asked the stranger to hide him/her and the stranger did, but asked, Why did you pick my house? The Jewish person said: Because your roses look so well-tended.

There is no real moral to this story because some horrible people have beautiful gardens. But still a nice story.
***
Then the crunchy; farewell to crunchy, crispy, roasted, well-done, crackly and blackened. I've heard for years about the dangers of charred food. Now here's a new twist, today's Tribune tells us. If you cook high-carbohydrate food at high temperatures, a substance called acrylamide is formed. When rats eat it, they develop tumors and neurological problems. The Swedes have been concerned about this since 2002, when its food administration reported on high levels of acrylamide in high-carb foods, and a link between acrylamide and cancer in lab rats.
The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment tells us that it's possibly carcinogenic to humans.
The bad news is that you can't just eschew french fries and go about your merry way. According to the Office and the FDA, reports the Trib, of 100,000 people who ingested coffee once every three days in their whole lives, one person would develop cancer from acrylamide. Pie, pizza, breads, popcorn and sweet potatoes are also culprits. So are potato chips.

In 2005, the state of California sued chip makers Heinz, Frito-Lay, Kettle Foods Inc., and Lance Inc. for not having warning labels on their bags. A year ago, the companies settled out of court by paying $3 million in fines. They also pledged to cut down the amount of acrylamide in the next three years.
The Trib advises: Think golden yellow instead of golden brown, pre-sock potatoes in water, don't store them in the fridge, trim bread crusts, toast lightly
, and eat fewer processed foods and a balanced diet with lots of grains and fruits and vegetables.
As always: be a vegan or vegan-ish, avoid processed foods. At least chocolate wasn't on the list.

The first Jewish service held in Germany during WWII

Rik sent me this article from today's New York Times about Max Fuchs, the soldier who helped lead the first Jewish service in Nazi Germany since Hitler's rise to power.

My dad was very proud of his army service during the war. He died last summer, so I can no longer ask if he was at Aachen on this momentous occasion. But you can watch a video made by the American Jewish Committee. Especially on this eve of Rosh Hashanah, it's worth watching.

“We bring you now a special broadcast of historic significance: The first Jewish religious service broadcast from Germany since the advent of Hitler.”

QUESTION.

If I were, hypothetically, to use my fashion design skillz to make a product that would promote cancer awareness and donate part of the proceeds to cancer research, what would you want me to make?

Or, more appropriately, what would you want to buy?

A dress with paisley cancer cells printed on it? A t-shirt with a rad cartoon? A silk headscarf with a funny hair pattern?

Please share your ideas. I want to design a piece for cancer awareness that escapes the whole corny pink ribbon thing. Something chic and fresh that you would be excited to wear.

comment away!

random. out of necessity

It's Day 3 After Chemo and my brain is jumping around like a puppy with a burr up her butt. I can't focus on anything for more than a few seconds so here is a little bit of randomness:

One:

It appears that my family and I will be among the first in line for the H1N1 vaccine. My kids will be so thrilled.

Two:

My friend Jeanne, the Assertive Cancer Patient, posted about a reader in Texas who has $187,000 worth of Neupogen that she can't use:

"Texas doesn't have a drug repository that would take this medicine and pass it on to someone who needs it, and she hates to see it go to waste, as do I.

Any ideas, readers?

Obviously, we can't break the law and put this stuff on eBay or Craigslist, so I am looking for legal ways to get these expensive drugs to someone who can use them."

Three:

Yesterday, I got a phone call from the CT booking unit at my local hospital. I was informed that my oncologist had ordered a scan of my abdomen and chest, to be administered within the next couple of weeks.

I had a CT scan on September 4. When I mentioned this to the person who was booking the appointment, she had me call the nurse who works with my oncologist to confirm that they really want me to have another one. The nurse called back today and said that I didn't need to do the abdomen but since it's been a while since they have done the chest, we should go ahead with that.

I called the booking person back and the appointment has been scheduled for this Sunday afternoon at 1:20 (I had to cancel plans). My questions: Why didn't we they just order my chest scan for the same time as my las CT? Or my next one? I have no reason to believe that my doc suspects that there is anything wrong and I bet that if I could talk to him directly he would say that the chest scan can wait until we next do the abdomen. Why should I be subjected to extra radiation, an extra trip to the hospital and an extra session of find-the-vein when we have no reason to believe that there is anything wrong (and while I continue to undergo chemotherapy)?

But it's just not worth fighting about. Sigh.

Four:

Finally, I have another finished object to show. It's a Clapotis. I totally wish this one were for me but it has been promised to someone else. I will definitely add another one to the knitting queue. I made it from Knit Picks yarn (the Gloss Sock Yarn, merino wool and silk). It's lovely stuff (especially after washing) and relatively inexpensive. It also came quickly. I'll definitely order from them again.

These photos don't really do it justice but my son was a very, very good sport about posing for them.