Queen Mediocretia of Suburbia

Putting the TMI in absentminded

Month: October 2022

  • Giving the Bad News

    I once said that doctors should be well paid because they had to routinely tell people they were going to die. Dave’s new doctor had to deliver bad news about inoperable cancer on his first visit with Dave. Dave then talked to me on the phone and said he had a new doctor (he has…

  • Medical sites

    You know how you’ll look at a page in German and Google offers “Translate this page?” I want that for medical journal pages and doctor’s notes. I’ve read a lot of those pages recently, because of my brother’s decline. At some point, though, sadly, things become crystal clear. Cancerous requires no translation. Malignant ascites; I…

  • Weekly Paint Progress: 10/20

    This was going to be my brother’s fourth and final dog painting: It’s a dreadful photo of his very first dog – he took a slanted digital photo of a tilted collage of 1970s photos. It is very possible I won’t be painting it for my brother. He’s been in the hospital two weeks with…

  • In Which I Become Invincible

    The neurologist said, “Well, we’re giving out Evusheld now, right down the hall.” And then I knocked him down and trampled everyone between me and Covid immunity. Well, no, I did not, because I had to get registered, but I certainly gave him an enthusiastic yes. Yes to a treatment that will do for me…

  • Botox

    So, the neurologist heard me when I said that the bladder incontinence medication only improved the situation about ten percent. He then mentioned the next option: Bladder botox! (I’ve already heard the joke about having a youthful, unwrinkled bladder.) The way he described it, they put a shot of botox into your bladder muscle and…

  • UPDATE; Report from the Field, the Field Being Two People

    In the last week, I have heard two Covid veterans say they had been sick recently with something that was “way worse than Covid.” From what they reported the symptoms were: How mild were their previous Covid infections that this was worse? I mentioned this to the neurologist and he said he hadn’t heard of…

  • Seen on the Road Yesterday

    So many questions. So, given the placement of the exclamation point, they began with the correct phrase, “Tennessee or Bust!“ But what is Energy FC? International readers will be dismayed but not surprised to hear I had to look it up to see it stands for Football Club. So why was the T erased? Perhaps…

  • Remaining Vacation Projects: Deadly Dull, Talking to Myself, Really

    The next week-long vacation is coming up and here is what is left on the list: I think I can table all the bullets above so that I can work on the book over vacation. Well, even better, I will put in minimal effort per bullet. I’ll adopt Gary’s habit of doing one thing per…

  • Brain Soaps Redux

    I realized that a month ago I spent time crafting soap into brains and didn’t document the results for future generations, all of whom will have 3-d printers built into their iPhones and will not be impressed by soap carving. The carved soap project began with some Yardley’s lavender soap I got as a gift,…

  • Weekly Paint Progress: 10/9

    This week dog three went from this: … to this… When it was originally this.