In this season of giving thanks, I cannot adequately express my appreciation for the incomparable generosity of the Buffistas.

I xposted in Bitches about Bartleby's progress, but the short of it is that, halfway through his recovery, he is doing better than could have been expected.

We had his drain removed today and found out that the biopsy showed NO CANCER CELLS. So, we are doing the happy dance around here.

If you are of a mind, you can see a photo of the uber-ugly wounds left by the surgery in my blog post about it. It makes clear how incredible it is that he's doing so well.

I humbly thank each and every Buffista who helped to finance this endeavor, helped me to keep my sanity, gave me advice on treatments and kept us in very kind thoughts and prayers.

May your Thanksgiving be as warm and bright as mine will be as a result of this beautiful community.

[I might be slightly away from the board, fighting monstrous paperwork, trying to write papers and understanding why my country thinks democracy is passé, but it doesn't mean I can't do other things in and for this community, dammit].

So, without further...

It's time for my annually-Christmas-announcement/reminder to Buffistas with religious affiliates. Stompies, if this should belong in Press (since I do plan this to continue as long as I am a part of this community), let me know and I'll repost it there.

For those of you who don't know: I live in Israel, and spend pretty much equal amount of time in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa. I also know this board has religious people on it, or people with religious families and friends.

So if any of you of any faith would like something from here - the Old City, or anywhere else - for Christmas or any other occasion, it's really easy for me to get it and send it overseas. In fact, I'd LOVE to do this for you, given enough guidance and information (I am and was raised Jewish, and pretty much everything I know about Christianity came from popular culture TV). I'm even OK with rubbing objects against graves/approximated graves/holy locations, if that what turns you on.

Profile addy is good, and again - it's not a hassle. In fact, it's the opposite of it.

Happy holidays!

I've been terribly grey during the day. New job has the internet on lockdown. Can't even check gmail, and many people have warned me that Big Brother is watching. I tried to go to an online radio station that I like, and got the big red message.

My fourth installment on Early Sixties Horror is up at Hilobrow.

This time I look at Eyes Without a Face (1960), which, as at happens, is not just a Billy Idol song. Rilke, Cocteau and the French fascination with facial mutilation are discussed. (It should have particular interest for anybody who has seen Almodovar's The Skin I Live In recently, since Pedro drew pretty heavily on Eyes Without a Face.)

As always with these articles, if you do me the kindness of reading it, please click on the Facebook "Like" at the website. Re-tweeting is also good. Thank you!

This is in the planning stages, so nothing is set:

Do any Buffistas live in the Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton, PA airport area who would be willing and able to pick me up from the airport around 8-8:30 PM, and let me crash on the couch/floor? My flight would leave at 6 am, so I wouldn't expect anyone to drive me to the airport at 4am.

Again, I'm planning how to get M home from the holidays for the cheapest way possible.

ETA: Um, that's January 2nd arrival and Jan 3rd departure. Any info, e-me at profile addy!

I put this on FB this morning, but I changed my cell phone number to 720-454-9131 today. The old number no longer works.

Quick Bartleby update:

We had the sutures removed about an hour ago and it looks pretty...um...red, back there. Still, the nurse assured me that the tissues are healing well.

The anticipated problem with the Y juncture of the incisions has not seen fruition, except that it is taking longer than the other sites to heal.

I made a huge mistake by letting Bartleby play (in the house) with a friend on Saturday, which resulted in some pretty dramatic bleeding. It was very reminiscent of the 'bad old days' and really freaked me out.

I accepted a sadly well-deserved, severe dressing down from an emergency room nurse and have vowed to not let him move much at all for the next week or two.

My bad judgment does not seem to have caused lasting damage, thank goodness.

None of the predicted post-operative complications have seen fruition, but after Saturday, I will count no stitch before it is completely healed!

Thanks again to everyone for their on-going support and good thoughts. We are more than halfway there!

I know I've got a lot of nerve asking for some vibes and such seeing as I'm almost never here, but one of my very best friends - the Caro to my Vivi - lost her Dad on Monday and her mom this morning. She's strong and magnificent in her ability to get to the brass tacks and get down to what needs getting down to, but she's in a lot of pain right now - most of which I can't imagine she's even aware of. Please send her prayers and thoughts and vibes or any positive, healing thoughts as she and her brother bury both of their parents.

Thank you, lovelies.

It is 4:30 in the morning and Bartleby and I just got home from 3 more hours in the emergency room.

We finished his antibiotic two days ago and I was lulled into a false sense of security.

I came home from the movies this evening...the first time I left him alone without a watcher in 6 weeks...only to find he had an inflammation on the back of his leg, as big as my fist.

The trip to the ER garnered many more hardcore antibiotics and some 'rule out' tests for the nose issue that has suddenly resurfaced.

He has 'sprung leaks' on both ends and his left nostril is completely blocked. These issues are unrelated, so we need two completely different treatment plans.

Some information came to light that was not available earlier, and at least let me let go of the idea that he has an allergy. The nice young doctor said lots of scary things, though, and my nerves are just shot.

I'm going to do whatever it takes, but right this minute, my spirit is pretty beaten up.

Philly peeps!

I will have a layover between 11:07 am and 1:30 at the Philly airport on 1/3/12, if anyone wants to/can meet me for lunch or something.

I've never been to the Philly 'port, so I know nothing about whether this is feasible for security, but I would be delighted, if it's possible.

(X-Posted with F2F)