It's a Buffista anniversary. The first Buffista board was founded on May 19th, 1997. Thank you ita for enriching so many lives.

So say we all.

Wow... 1997.

It's a Buffista anniversary. The first Buffista board was founded on May 19th, 1997. Thank you ita for enriching so many lives.

That's 26 years!

raises Ting in toast to ita

And thanks to Gud for rebuilding the board for the modern-er world.

My MiL is visiting in our off weekend here, and Matilda was crying last night about school. Only two more weeks for her and she's done. But she doesn't have a job lined up this summer, her BF is away almost the whole summer (as is her close friend Iris) and we're still traveling all the time.

So that's a recipe for depression.

I have approximately 1,733 onerous tasks to do and fully 877 of them are follow-ups about various things which *should* have been done already but weren't.

That is to say, tasks I completed and crossed off my list, but remain unfinished because of bullshit somewhere in the process.

I just booked our flight and hotel for next week, so that's done. But I've got a pile of receipts to submit for reimbursement. (And they haven't reimbursed us for anything yet and we're well into 5 figures of travel costs.)

One thing which is working better and is less stressful is that they have assigned a Symptoms Management Doctor to JZ and whenever we need refills on the myriad drugs in play, she places the order immediately, confirms it with us, and it goes through without a hitch.

One thing which is working better and is less stressful is that they have assigned a Symptoms Management Doctor to JZ and whenever we need refills on the myriad drugs in play, she places the order immediately, confirms it with us, and it goes through without a hitch.

That is so smart, I almost can't believe the US medical system allows it.

That is so smart, I almost can't believe the US medical system allows it.

Right? You remember how stressed I was back in January just getting one refill of any kind of controlled substance which inevitably took three trips to two different pharmacies and innumerable calls to get somebody to authorize it.

That symptoms doc sounds like a great plan but sorry about the onerous tasks!!

I realized belatedly that yesterday I was SO TIRED and then had a headache….and then this morning I saw I hadn’t taken my meds yesterday AND I didn’t have any coffee. Yeah, bad combo, self. Duh. Today, both accomplished, hopes for a better day.

I've been trying to sign up to receive Social Security (retirement) benefits. I've maxed out what I can receive, haven't received a raise for several years and costs keep going up, so I figured I'd better get started. I went online to sign up - in March - and got blocked by their system, so I scheduled a phone call for this morning. Turns out that, since I signed up in March, I can receive six months of payments! And then monthly direct deposits. Took half an hour, but I think it was worth it.

Once this gets settled (there's going to be paperwork to deal with, so I expect it'll take a while) I can look at signing up for Medicare. oh joy.

Took half an hour, but I think it was worth it.

Hell yeah, it was worth it!

I'm glad Symptoms Management Doctors are a thing (although it's unfortunate that they're needed).

I broke some wee plastic thingy off my coffee maker Wednesday night, and rendered it unusable. I ordered a new one that looks like it might use my old carafe, as it would be nice to be able to have one in the washing machine and one awaiting the morning brew. But it's going to be Sunday before it arrives. Until then I'm using my French press. A process that is charming on a lazy Saturday morning is less so early on a work day when I'm too rushed and sleep deprived to be pouring boiling water around. Still, as life woes go, it's pretty minimal.

Symptoms Management Doctor

At our first meeting, my oncologist introduced herself as "...and a palliative care specialist." It was quite a shock, because the only context I had for the term "palliative care" was hospice. I remember thinking, "I didn't think it was that bad!" and desperately tried to keep my expression neutral. I have since learned the distinction between palliative care and hospice care.

My team at the cancer center is the oncologist, the PA, their coordinating nurse, the clinical trial coordinator, and the scheduler. It has been amazing (and reassuring) to see how smoothly they all work together. The coordinating nurse is effectively the master sergeant -- whatever needs to happen, she sees it gets done.