(no subject)

[lunabee34]

1. My Aunt Gail died yesterday.


She was complaining of her stomach hurting the last time I saw her in late June, and now she's dead of ovarian cancer. I feel so terrible for Uncle David, who is still recovering from a stroke, and her son Scott, who lost his wife just a few years ago. The rapidity with which she declined has shaken everyone.

There's no definitive blood test for ovarian cancer; your results on the blood test can be fine, and you can still have it, but I had the blood work done, and it was fine. I also had genetic testing done and am waiting on the results of that. I'm probably going to also have an ultrasound done just to be sure. The reason the mortality rate for ovarian cancer is so poor is that it is often asymptomatic until it's too late. To be clear, I do not think I have ovarian cancer, but it is something I am going to be periodically screened for now that it's part of my family history.

2.

Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Look, I get it. Once upon a time, the idea of going into a bookstore and picking up a volume off the shelf and encountering deliberately, egregiously gross descriptions of sex and women's bodies and the writer's own body and bodily functions in general must have seemed truly revolutionary and novel. Now the sort of writing in Miller's magnus opus just seems utterly juvenile, like a teenage boy trying out all the pee pee and poo poo words he's amassed over the course of his adolescence. I'm not shocked, Henry Miller, nor do I think you are, as Ken Shapiro states in the intro to this volume, the GOAT. I think you are funny at times and crass at all times and boring a lot of the time.

Also bonus racism I'd forgotten about from my first read 20+ years ago.



View all my reviews

3.

How to Keep House While Drowning by K.C. Davis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a book about self-care and letting go of shame around cleaning and other tasks. It contains a lot of hacks for people who struggle with housework, meal planning, and hygiene tasks because of depression or executive function issues.



View all my reviews

Comments

[makamu]

*hugs* My condolences to you and your family. That sounds like a harrowing experience for your uncle and Scott, in particular. Cancer sucks!

[lunabee34]

Thank you so much.

*hugs*

Cancer does suck. Fuck cancer.

[author_by_night]

I'm so sorry. *Hugs*

[lunabee34]

Thank you.

*hugs*

[trobadora]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

[lunabee34]

Thank you.

*hugs*

[spikedluv]

I'm so sorry for your loss. How awful for her husband and son. I didn't realize that this form of cancer is asymptomatic. I'm glad you're going to be screened periodically. *hugs*

[lunabee34]

Thank you so much.

*hugs*

It's so scary that it's asymptomatic. It's almost always diagnosed at stage 3 or 4.

[lyr]

I'm so sorry about your Aunt Gail. *hugs*

[lunabee34]

Thank you so much.

*hugs*

[princessofgeeks]

I am so sorry for you loss. Wow, that family has really been through a lot. Very sad.

HUGS

[lunabee34]

Thank you so much.

*hugs*

It's really sad how much has hit them in such a short time.

[starandrea]

I'm so sorry to hear about your aunt and her family! My friend had an eerily similar experience five years ago - we traveled cross-country in August, not knowing anything was wrong, and by October she had passed as a result of stomach cancer :( Things change so quickly, though I sure am glad for the time we have. All the love and comfort to you (in this and everything) ♥♥♥

[lunabee34]

Thank you.

*hugs*

I'm so sorry that happened to your friend, but I'm so glad you got to have that time with her before she passed.

[umadoshi]

I'm so sorry about your aunt. *hugs* How sad and scary!

[lunabee34]

Thank you so much.

*hugs*

It really is scary how quickly everything happened. :(

[troisoiseaux]

I'm so sorry for your loss. *hugs*

[lunabee34]

Thank you so much.

*hugs*

[annofowlshire]

I'm sorry for your loss ♥

(Also, with you on the Henry Miller "zomfg so shocking!" Blatant gratiutousness doesn't shock me, it bores me. This is why I can't watch almost anything put out by HBO now.)

[lunabee34]

Thank you so much.

*hugs*

I don't watch anything on HBO because it's on past my bedtime. LOL

[amejisuto]

I'm so sorry about your Aunt, my dear. You have my condolences.

[lunabee34]

Thank you so much, my friend.

*hugs and hugs*

[oracne]

I'm glad you got some testing, and I'm sorry for your loss.

[lunabee34]

Thank you so much.

*hugs*

[chelseagirl]

Yup. Pretty much my take on Tropic of Cancer. It was more remarkable in the context of its times; it did nothing for me on any level.

Sorry I didn't jump in on the Ouida stuff. This summer got away from me, as always -- I got a lot done, but not anything close to my ambitious early-summer goals.

[lunabee34]

No worries. I know how precious the summer is; it goes by way, way too fast. :)

[gloss]

I'm so sorry about your aunt's death. ❤️

(And UGH Henry Miller.)

[lunabee34]

Thank you so much.

*hugs*

[musesfool]

I'm so sorry for your loss. *hugs* Fuck cancer!

[lunabee34]

Thank you so much.

*hugs*

Fuck cancer, indeed.

[ursula]

I'm sorry about your aunt. That's intensely unnerving.

[lunabee34]

Thank you so much.

It was really upsetting how quickly everything happened.

*hugs*

[sheafrotherdon]

I'm so sorry to hear about your aunt. Sending love to you and all who loved her.

[lunabee34]

Thank you so much.

*hugs*

[kat_lair]

I'm very sorry to hear about your aunt, that particular strand of cancer is a bastard.

[lunabee34]

Thank you so much.

*hugs*

It's scary that goes for so long without symptoms.

[aurumcalendula]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

[lunabee34]

Thank you.

*hugs*

[executrix]

Maybe President Harris will say "Let's redirect--instead of a Cancer Moonshot, let's have a Women's Health Moonshot."

[kore]

I have to wonder if "by the time it's symptomatic it's too late" is a question of the med establishment not looking for the right symptoms and/or lustrning to patients. I believe there was a paper about people who died of pancreatic cancer complaining about symptoms for a long time before their docs caught it.

[musyc]

*hugs offered*

--

Added the Davis book to my eTBR, looks interesting!

[lunabee34]

Thank you so much.

*hugs*

[minoanmiss]

Oh my goodness augh. hugs you applauds your review of Henry Miller hugs you some more

[lunabee34]

*hugs*

I can now safely release Mr. Miller into the giveaway pile. LOL

[timespirt]

I'm so sorry for your loss hon.
"HUGS"

[lunabee34]

Thank you.

*hugs*

[scintilla10]

Oh, I am so sorry to hear about your loss. My heart goes out to your whole family. <333

[lunabee34]

Thank you so much.

*hugs*

[independence1776]

My condolences. *HUGS*

[lunabee34]

Thank you so much.

*hugs*