See, it really CAN be EZ!

Glenda had a 9:00 a.m. appointment this morning (we are having permanent hair removal on her chin done, at her request). I had taken to her the morning meds and supplements at 7 a.m. after which she laid back down. I had her morning smoothie prepared and in the fridge, so I took Dak out for his morning walk, then to the club to read the paper, have a warm beverage, and tell lies with the other old men there. I returned home at about 8:15 expecting to wake her up to get ready for her appointment. I found her up and dressed. She's had her breakfast, made the bed, unloaded the dishwasher and was listening to her scriptures (which she actually got started herself!!). How wonderful! I told her she was working very hard on that wifely stuff this morning, and I appreciated it. Her appointment (first of 6) went well, after which we ordered our Thanksgiving Day Turkey Dinner, then swung through the Starbucks drive-thru for a hot chocolate and then home. Yeah, yeah. I know. All very routine and normal. That's what makes it so special to me!

More of EZ’s Saga

At my first appointment at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Mesa. My extraordinary run of luck seems to be continuing as I've been directed to exam room #13 to await the doctor.

This morning at MD Anderson went much as I expected. It took about an hour to get 'registered' as a new patient, complete a lengthy medical history, and for them to verify my Medicare and Tricare for payment for services. Proving that my lucky streak (except for the lottery) continues, I was escorted to exam room #13. Was seen by the doctor in just a few minutes. He reviewed my medical history with me in detail, examined the spot on my ear, and went over the information forwarded from my dermatologist who removed the original growth. He then went over the plan of confirmatory diagnosis with me. They will obtain the biopsy slides from the lab that did the original to examine in their own pathology lab. On 11/17 I will have an EKG, lab work collected, ultrasound of my neck and head soft tissue, and then see the doc on 11/21 for a pre-op visit. Assuming all goes well to that point, I then go off Eliquis and NSAIDs for a week and on 11/29 be at MD Anderson before 7:00 a.m. (nothing by mouth after midnight) to have neck/head lymphatic gland mapping (a three-hour non-invasive process), followed at 11:30 with surgery to remove additional tissue from the ear lobe and the sentinel lymph gland (one or more glands) for biopsy. This is supposed to be out-patient surgery, local anesthesia only, so I should be home by 3 or so in the afternoon.

If the removed ear tissue shows clear margins and the lymph glands are negative for melanoma, I will only need routine follow-up afterward. If not, we'll go to the next stage to discuss immunotherapy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or some combination of the three.

I will need someone to stay with Glenda on the 29th, as I have to be there early and stay most of the day (at least) and I'm not comfortable leaving her alone that long. Writing this up in detail has been good for me just to make sure I know and understand all this activity.

The Continuing Saga of Things That Ain't EZ

I learned today that my former massage therapist, of San Antonio, Texas, has just been diagnosed with malignant melanoma of the skin from the exact same type of lesion that I had -- a pyogenic granuloma. Mine on the ear, hers on her leg. This seems especially weird that another person that I know quite well would be found to have the same challenge as I at the same time as I when the doctors tell us that "less then 1/2 of 1%" of the biopsied pyogenic granulomae are positive for melanoma. Just seems strange. She was my (very excellent) massage therapist for nearly 10 years prior to our move to Arizona, and provided massage services to Glenda, as well. She is a very nice person and I wish her all the best in her battle with this cancer. I start my post-diagnosis journey tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Mesa, Arizona. One thing that seems somewhat encouraging: As I studied up on this disease from documents of the National Institutes of Health, my doctor's name was on a number of those peer-reviewed published articles.

Aging isn't EZ, is it?

Today, I received my fourth positive cancer diagnsis--a malignant melanoma. This based on a biopsy collected upon surgical removal of a small skin lesion from the lobe of my right ear that was thought to likely be a benign Plyogenic Granuloma. Literature I've found from a quick internet search tells me that Pyogenic Granulomas are found to actually be malignant melanoma less than 1/2 of 1 percent of the time. Lucky me. Earlier cancer bouts in my life include cancer of the prostate in 2015, for which I had a high-tech robotic radical prostatectomy performed. And twice, I've had small squamous-cell carcinomas of the skin found and removed--one on my upper back in 2012 and another on the back of my right hand in 2021. This malignant melanoma is a different animal. The removal of the granuloma and the collection of the biopsy was done by a PA that cared for one of my earlier skin carcinomas and also does my routine annual head-to-toe skin checks. This particular lesion wasn't found in one of those checks--it just popped up on my ear a few weeks ago. Her clinic has referred me to Banner Health Oncology for further treatment and diagnosis. She explained to me that they would likely start with additional minor surgery on the ear looking to ensure 'clear margins' around the visible melanoma site, and would probably also want to do further diagnostic tests including blood work and a neck-lymph-node biopsy. If that is positive, it will likely lead to further treatment by radiation or chemotherapy. Right now, I just feel tired.

Modern machines. Do they make life EZ?

You can’t win the battle against the machines. They just bide their time until you are completely dependent upon them then they execute a suicide mission inflicting great pain and misery on you, slave to their needs. Last week it was the Roomba. This week the dishwasher. Absolutely refusing to do their expected duties until they are thoroughly and lovingly massaged by people who charge more per hour than a heart surgeon. Next week, I assume, will be the refrigerator’s turn to suck several hundred dollars out of our budget. I feel betrayed—I have NEVER let them go without electricity. Twice a month they have been dusted or lovingly wiped down. I have no defense and have abandoned the skills needed to be happy without them. Now pardon me, I must go give the Maytag a loving pat…

Apparently, skinny-dipping is EZ.

So, I took my dog, Dak, for a walk last night right around 10pm in our 55+community. As I approached the pickleball court area I could hear music, loud talking, and laughter, male and female voices, coming from the direction of the community pool area. 'Strange,' I thought. The club closes at 8pm on Sunday and they'd usually ask people to be out of the pool by 7:30pm or so. Curious minds want to know. 

So I walked around the courts toward the front of the club. I noted two cars in the parking lot, a white Honda Accord sedan and a dark-colored Nissan Altima. They were parked at the curb near the club and side-by-side. Still hearing the voices, I approached the fenced-in area of the pool near the exit door. Peering in through the mesh-screen fence, I could see light and movement in the area of the spa, but due to the angle, the distance, and the darkness couldn't really see anything else. 

Photo by Nick Dunlap on Unsplash

Then walking past the front of the club and around to the back , approaching the fenced pool area from the club lawn side (where the fence is a more normal picket fence without the mesh screen) I could see there was a group of six or eight young folks (late teens or early 20s, I judge) enjoying the hot tub. The only visible linens were piled on the pool deck outside the tub. Curious. No pool area exterior lights were on, and the pool itself had only minimal lighting. More light seemed to be from flashlights and the music seemed to be from a portable speaker. Returning to the parking area I snapped photos of the rear of the cars with the plates visible. 

This morning I reported the 'sighting' to our club manager and let him know if there was any damage, I at least had the license plate. On inspection, there was no apparent damage. I made it clear to the manager that if anyone is skinny-dipping in the community pool after hours, it should at least be those of us that pay our HOA dues and not just kids out for a good time!

It's EZ to say: May you live in interesting times.

Today's update:

https://www.npr.org/2022/01/08/1071198056/theres-chaos-in-kazakhstan-heres-what-you-need-to-know

Politics still aren't EZ - Reflections on Kazakhstan and the U.S.

Jan 6, 2022 – One year later and one month since my last blog post.

I was listening to BBC today. They were reporting on political violence occurring in Kazakhstan. Crowds there were rioting and attacking government facilities. The BBC reports explained that the violence was due to the failure of the central government to address with fairness long-standing concerns of the citizens. The reporters were expressing shock and dismay that the government of Kazakhstan was referring to the rioting citizens as ‘terrorists,’ implying that there would not be political violence there if the central government was not failing. The prevailing sentiment seemed to be in favor of the rebellion and counter to the government, which, to be clear, is authoritarian and had called in Russian troops to shore up the establishment. Many residents of Kazakhstan interviewed on-air were expressing surprise and dismay that such events could happen there, in one of the main cities of their land.

The above report followed the BBC’s report on the events in Washington DC on this date a year ago, and President Biden’s remarks of earlier today. Likewise, BBC reported on shock and dismay that such could happen here, in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. Otherwise, the contrast in attitudes and reporting was stark. The BBC reporters had no problem with the U.S. Government referring to its rebelling citizens as ‘terrorists.’ The BBC reporters didn’t hint that perhaps the U.S. Government (minus Mr. Trump) should share any part of the blame—they covered, in depth, evidence that Mr.  Trump should carry some of the blame (which I certainly agree with). But I must ask, could the differences in reporting be indicators that the media is biased? Could the entire Trump presidency and all its trappings be at least partially a result of our establishment's choosing to ignore the concerns of many? Or do we decide that nearly half of our country's people are simply evil or insane?

The horrific events in the U.S. a year ago were and remain very complicated.

Current reporting forgets that Democrats have called conservatives “deplorable, despicable” and “backward” for years, all the while investing no apparent effort into listening to concerns counter to their own agenda. For decades, many of the liberal elite have demonstrated a ‘better than you’ attitude without showing any attempt to understand others’ positions. On (taxpayer-supported) college campuses, they have demonstrated that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution applies only to liberal speech. Could our establishment be at least partially to blame for not listening to the concerns of citizens? That seemed to be the case for the Kazahkstan establishment, according to the reporters.

It seems to me that the liberal half of our political body has treated half of our citizens as an abusive spouse treats their partner, setting that partner up to be easily seduced by a lover who will listen and not call them derogatory names.

BBC did report that Democrats distrusted the 2016 election to pretty much the same degree (61%*) as Republicans distrusted the 2020 election (62% initially increasing to 68% today*). What has caused the increase in Republican distrust over the past year? It is easy to blame the increase in distrust to the BIG LIE and social media spread of related conspiracies. While probably a valid point, I believe there is more to it. On January 6, 2021, Mr. Trump was nominally in charge but as a lame-duck president was not able to propose changes that may have improved the security of future elections or our democratic republic’s institutions--even had he wanted to, which I don't believe he did. The situation is complicated by our republic form of government, with 50 different state laws and elections to make up the whole. The federal government doesn't have the authority to fix everything. 

Mr. Biden’s administration has pursued prosecution of those who participated materially in the violence against the Capitol a year ago with no compunction shown in using the 'terrorist' label. But the charges against those prosecuted have been trespassing, not insurrection. Is there not proof of insurrection? We have not seen the current administration successfully implement anything to address improving our election security. Have they proposed significant improvements to the overall fairness of our institutions? Perhaps H.R.1, the For the People Act, was intended to do that, but it was not crafted in a form that could be passed in a 50-50 split Senate. Maybe something like including a universal voter ID (with assistance, funding, and assurances to make the ID available to all) as an offering to conservatives would have tilted the balance in favor of an improved voting rights bill. I don’t know if that would have been enough to attract the needed Republican Senators’ votes. When Texas passed a voter-ID law (never fully implemented) I volunteered to work with a local organization to help the elderly, poor, disadvantaged, or handicapped get proper and acceptable IDs. In the 90 days the organization was actively and very publicly seeking to provide that help within Bexar County, Texas (with a population of over two million, 17% of whom are living in poverty), we got zero calls for help. No one identified a single eligible voter that did not have a valid government ID. I did hear of one person in Austin that qualified for help in getting an ID they didn't have, but they refused assistance. It seems most liberals were interested only in defeating the voter ID law and not in helping any ID-less disadvantaged citizens (if any exist) comply with the rule. (Are they afraid of that voting rule? And if so, why? Other countries that liberals present as model societies, such as Finland and Germany, require voter ID.) Changes in U.S. state laws regarding federal elections are piecemeal and seem counterproductive and in some cases harmful and regressive rather than helpful.

On a freeway overpass, as I drove under, a small crowd waved U.S. and Don’t Tread on Me flags and displayed signs that said, “ANTIFA + FBI = Jan 6.” I do not believe ANTIFA had any significant involvement in the events in DC of January 6^th. I have seen no proof of ANTIFA involvement. I have seen reports that seem to indicate that the FBI leadership made conscious decisions to fail to act on intelligence that could have allowed Capitol authorities to be better prepared for January 6^th. If that is true, was it done to increase the chance of the success of the attack on the House, or was it done to allow the attack to become worse than it would otherwise have been, thus hardening attitudes toward those who participated in the attack on the House?

So, this is what we’ve come to. Kazakhstan and the U.S. Compare and contrast.

*As reported by BBC on NPR.