Hubris & Nemesis

En français ci-dessous.

2nd edition with French translation. Warning: Using the French translation for academic purposes could be dangerous for your grades and ambitions.

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I've been bragging on the French health system. Well, everyone's got problems. I'll try to keep to the short version.

As near as I can figure, another hospital is having staffing problems and the oncologist from my hospital is spending half her time there. Or something. Whatever, she has not responded to any of my phone calls for 3 or 4 weeks, so that I haven't been able to complain, yet again, that the current chemo protocol is totally ineffective.

In addition to being able to feel the tumours with my fingers, I am losing control of my bladder. To empty it requires pushing on my stomach and there are occasional leaks. I believe, but may be wrong, that the sciatica that is crippling me is not caused by my usual back problem, but the tumors pressing on the nerve. So, finally, I arranged for a scan elsewhere, had a series of blood tests and, yesterday, saw an oncologist at the cancer institute in Avignon.

The bad news: My CA-125 is over 2000, again, the tumours have about doubled in size (I knew that without the scan) and have probably invaded my kidneys. I have an appointment with a urologist in Orange tomorrow afternoon and there is the possibility of radiology or surgery following that. He'll do the evaluation.

The good news: I have an appointment at the Léon Béard Center in Lyon next Friday. It is "the reference" for research/treatment centers in the region.

How I feel: Angry, leg in constant pain, not very mobile, pissed off, not exactly frightened, but somewhere in there, tired (platelets down to 35), annoyed and vulnerable.

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Mauvaise traduction du blog:

Je vantais le systeme des soins en France. Or, tout le monde a des problèmes. En court:

J'entends dire que l'hôpital de Montpellier manque des médecins et l'oncologue de l'hôpital de Montélimar passe une partie de son temps là-bas. N'importe. Elle n'a pas répondu à mes coups de fils depuis 3 ou 4 semaines, donc je n'était pas pu me plaindre, encore, que le protocol actuel de la chimio est completement inefficace.

Je peux toucher les tumeurs avec des doigts et je perds la mâtrise de la vessie. Il faut pousser sur la ventre pour la vider et, des fois, il y a des fuites. Je crois -- mais peût-être en erreur -- que la sciatique que me fait estropiée vient de la pression des tumeurs, pas du disque. Enfin, j'ai eu le scanner ailleurs, a fait faire une prise de sang et, hier, a vu un oncologue à l'Institut Sainte Catherine à Avignon.

Les mauvaises nouvelles: Le CA-125 est à plus de 2000 de nouveau, les tumeurs sont deux fois la taille qu'ils ont eu en mai (j'ai le dirais sans scanner) et ont envahi les reins. J'ai un rendez-vous avec un urologue à Orange demain soir et il y aura la possibilité de la radiologie our la chirugie après. L'urologue déciderait.

Les bonnes nouvelles: J'ai un rendez-vous avec un oncologue au Centre Léon Bérard à Lyon, la réference des soins pour la région, vendredi, 7 aôut.

Comment je vais en moi: fachée, jambe douleureuse, pas très mobile, fachée, pas exactement peureuse, mais un peu, fatiguée (plaquettes à 35), fachée, et vulnerable.

Physiotherapy

Stretch that shoulder

The newbie

The personal trainer

"Dogs" and Dogs

There are gypsy caravans parked on the place, where we usually walk Nala and Van-Ly, next to the river. The gypsies are here for the fruit picking season. In our area: cherries and apricots and plums. Lower down: those plus peaches and nectarines.

The gypsies have dogs and, after a couple of days, two of them got up the nerve to wander over and check out the action.




Our "dogs" do the dog thing and sniff butts. They are not, however, into reciprocal sniffing. Nala tries avoidance. Van-Ly lifts her lip. Before she can attack, I make her sit.

The two dogs kind of get the message, but after five minutes of no further activity, the brown one bounces down into a play bow in front of Van-Ly. Now if there is one thing that annoys Van-Ly more than some moron trying to sniff her butt, it's a moron who thinks she wants to play. I make her sit, again.

Nala would be O.K. if the dumb dogs wouldn't insist on acting like dogs. Van-Ly is hopeless.

Terraces and Terracing

We have had our new friend, Thomas ("Toe-mah"), over to see if he can dig out in back of the house to make our terrace. Maybe, but there is no access for the digger and we'd have to hire the big builder to make a road first. Big bills. But Thomas had an idea.

The unpainted doors to the right are where the workshop machinery will go and above it will be the living room.




You can see the problem in the cutaway Nick made. The house is built into the mountain.




Here's the potential machine room, finally cleared after 2 months. (The manger still has to come out.) I can't show you a picture of the room above because it's not safe to walk in there.
Before starting the workshop, we knock down the current ceiling and install scaffolding. Then we knock out the rear wall of the upper story (living room) and dig from the inside, dumping the rocks and earth into the workshop. The stone we keep for terracing, so the mountain won't fall on the house, and Thomas will cart the dirt away.


We'll have a smaller terrace than originally planned, leading from the living room, and a glass wall, slightly recessed into the room. Stairs will take you to the upper garden level -- level with our neighbours terraces.

This is the design that Nick drew.

Talk about lemonade from lemons!

Not Perfect

If you have a weak stomach or a highly-developped sense of privacy, you might not want to read this. Some enquiring minds want to know.

The new chemo protocol gives me constipation, which lasts about a week. Trust me; dire rear is better. Whatever the pharmacist gave me doesn't really work. Combined with the the pressure on my bladder from the tumours, by yesterday it was bad enough to keep me in bed and calling the doctor. Then, last night I got a migraine, which lasted through this morning. There is no point in my taking anything for it at night. For some reason the pills don't work if I'm sleeping.

It is now noon on Monday and I feel fine, again. But I did want you to know I'm not perfect.

By the way, my CA-125 dropped a little, but not enough to be significant. What is significant is that it didn't go up.

I think I'm ready for Wii-Fit, again. Birthday present from Nick. I love having my own personal trainer.

Fun Day at the Hospital

No, really.

My first roommate of the day was a woman who has been undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer for eight years . She has had 6 operations. She had all those things removed that I talked about a couple of weeks ago: bladder, intestine, anus, etc. But she doesn't have pouches. Her primary care is at a specialist research clinic in Lyon and she says the excision is temporary and then they put something back. I do believe I read something on the internet about that, but didn't understand it.

I almost fell out of bed when she told me she was 70. She looks 50. And, like me, she says she doesn't get colds or otherwise sick. (One of the nurses mentioned this phenomenon to me a few months ago.) "In fact," she says, channelling me, "if it weren't for the cancer, I'd be really healthy."

What more encouragement could I ask for?

I picked up my blood results on the way to the hospital. Good thing, because they were faxed to the wrong number. Anyway, I have platelets. Lots of platelets. More platelets than I've had since last summer.

Les Volets Bleus

or: The Blue Shutters.

Blue is the traditional colour for shutters in Provence. And, in the old days, farm carts, too. These days shutters come in every colour under the sun.

However, blue isn't my favourite colour, so for months -- literally -- we discussed colours. We first thought a natural wood tint, but then we'd see colours that we liked, then we'd think wood, then. . . we never could come to a decision. Eventually, we settled on navy blue. Tres chic on stone.

Navy blue, though, only comes as paint. I prefer staining (and treating) to painting. The stain/treatment applies easily enough that even your local Jewish American Princess can come up with a good result. Also it's softer against old buildings than paint. Lasts longer, too. And it now comes in colours.

When we finally went to buy the stain the darkest blue we could find was Blue Jean. We tried it and decided it looked good, personal preferences aside. So that's how we chose our colour: by default. (Would there be a market for a system called Default Decorating, I wonder?)

Tradition says that blue shutters keep the flies away, something that we foreigners think is kinda cute, but probably in a category with planting with the new moon and other tales from the paysans.

Funny thing, though. The paysans' gardens do better than ours. And I've actually just figured out about the blue.

The first light bulb went off when we went canoeing a couple of weeks ago. When I took off my flashy aqua tights (also known as ski underwear) and laid them on the ground, they were immediately covered with butterflies. Later, when I was staining the shutters and planning on telling you about keeping the flies away, I could hardly keep my paint brush ahead of the flies. So much for that theory.

But, no! That's the thing. The blue doesn't repel flies; it attracts them. And keeps them out of your house. Aha!

Remember this?

After:

I'm not crazy about the blue screen door, though. It may have to revert to a normal wood stain.