...a big bruise from the guy digging around in my arm to draw blood

Ugh. The bruises from my blood draw two weeks ago are still somewhat visible. I hate it when they have trouble getting a good stick.

What does the travel routine look like? Fly down Thursday evenings, back Sunday afternoons?

That's it.

Tried to nail down and confirm we were on for next Friday but the insurance company that covers the study has to coordinate some shit with our insurance company and blah blah bureaucracy slow down and now I'm afraid to buy the tickets until they are certain.

As to your question, dcp, her pain has been well managed. So much so that we've ordered a lower dosage of fentanyl patch so that it won't make her so dopey/sleepy/drugged up.

But I'm also leery of changing a system that is working, because (as I now know) changing any narcotic prescription sets off a bunch of holds and time limit releases and override approvals etc.

So if we go to a lower dose and need to move back up, I have no confidence that we can make that adjustment in a timely fashion. And you don't want to be under medicated for pain. And you don't want to have to use the backup meds which cause horrible constipation. Which also leads to further weight loss.

There's this whole delicate juggle you have to do with the meds after every infusion balancing pain, constipation, nausea, brain fuzziness and weight loss. And after four infusions we had figured out what works with FOLFOX.

But now we have to start from scratch again with FOLFIRI (which has an unfortunate predisposition to diarrhea, which is scary to contemplate on a flight home).

The vast drawer of drugs is really all for symptom management.

It looks like the clinical trial runs through Dec' 2024. So we've got a good solid year and nine months of biweekly travel in front of us.

Wow, that’s a lot JZ and Hec! Continuing to send good thoughts to you.

I have Covid. Currently TCG and ltc don’t. So, I’m quarantining in the spare bedroom.

Wow, that seems like a long time but maybe good to have a stable schedule over that time? Once you get it established. I hope the adjustment of symptom mgmt meds is easier than it might be

{{sj}} I"m sorry.

Oh wow, that is a long time, David.

Oh no, sj! Bummer.

Yikes, Consuela! That seems like a pain.

Timelies all!

Speedy recovery, sj.

Tomorrow morning we're going up to visit Mr. S. If the weather is decent, we'll take him to a playground near the facility for a bit.

Oh, meant to say, that's pretty wild and I'm sure inconvenient, Consuela! But people stealing license plates is one of those things I have only ever read about in fiction and hadn't experienced in real life even as an anecdote so sort of an achievement unlocked kind of thing? Anyway, hope the DMV can make reporting and replacing pretty easy.

... well today I realized that on Tuesday someone stole my license plate.

Are you sure it wasn't one of your coworkers trying to make a point?

Good luck and hugs to people with health challenges and irritations. I'm such a hard stick that it's a miracle when someone can get me on the first try without much pain. I have one vein that's pretty much guaranteed, and it's going to be unusable at some point, because I give blood periodically and get an infusion every three months.

Health~ma all around and license~ma to Consuela!

Around midday our neighbor came by to tell me that a bunch of crows were "tearing up" the new grass in the backyard. By the time I looked there were no crows in sight, but the grass looked fine to me. I concluded that the crows in question must've just been pecking at the grass to find whatever delicious insects might be hidden therein, as birds are wont to do, but I kept an eye on it for a while.

Turns out the crows have figured out that they can lift up this strange new grass by its corners, but they're not tearing it up at all--just picking it up and setting it down when they realize A) nothing that interesting is under it and/or B) that the pieces are too large and heavy for a bird their size to carry away. It's a short-term problem anyway, since soon enough the sod strips will bond to the ground.

Basically:

MY NEIGHBOR: Oh no! Birds of destruction!
ME: Look at my clever crow friends! So curious, and also so sleek and black and pretty! But wouldn't you rather have these nice peanuts I just set out on the deck rail?
CROWS: Peanut alert! CAW!

Hah I totally want to see crows collaborating to fly away with a whole sheet of grass!

I’m starting watching a new reality singing series on Apple TV about outsider country music (gay, black, etc). Hopefully good.