There and back again

Daniel Muller, (a dear soul, regarding whom I repeat that he really should start his own web journal), has gently requested that I start writing again.

Sorry, folks, but I have been a trifle busy these past two weeks. Among other things, I have had to write both a Petition for Writ of Certiorari and a Request for a Stay of Proceedings before the United States Supreme Court. The Petition was filed, but unfortunately, the Request for Stay was denied, after a desperate week of amending and resubmitting the Request in order to meet procedural requirements. For reasons of confidentiality, I cannot write much further, other than to say that as a result of the denial, I will probably be laid off from my job as a paralegal in a couple of weeks.

Two weeks ago, also, my wife went in for a mammogram. The results were sufficiently disturbing that last Monday she went in for a needle biopsy. At that time, she was told that she had a 6 cm mammary lobular carcinoma, and that it was likely (because of the size of the tumor) that it had metastasized.

After a week of a series of tests (e.g., bilateral mammary ultrasounds, bilateral mammary CT scans, full CT scan, barium swallow, bone scan, and subsequent bilateral placement of radiomarkers for later surgery) that made the rack seem like a walk in the park, we learned this Monday that there was no metastasis, and no bone or lymph involvement.

Yesterday, she went in for chemotherapy (the beginning of an eight week course of Adriamycin and Cytoxin, administered every other week, with a later eight week course of Taxol planned). The oncologist believes that with chemo and radiation, there is a 60% chance that the tumor may shrink to a size and condition that would make lumpectomy, rather than radical mastectomy, appropriate.

It appears that the chemotherapy will probably cost $30K in toto, and after insurance, our share will come to $6K, which we can ill afford. It is grimly amusing to consider that if we did not have medical insurance, it would be cheaper by far to take cruises every two weeks to Ensenada, Mexico, and have the chemotherapy administered there. It is also vaguely amusing to consider that the one rationale justifying the exorbitant expense (that is, research costs) is not present here, as all of the drug research for Taxol, etc., came from grants from the National Institute of Health, and presumably, was funded by tax dollars. These amusing thoughts are driving a long-time Libertarian to thoughts of nationalization of U.S. pharmaceutical companies. A pity that there are more drug lobbyists that there are members of the Senate and Congress combined.

I write this now so that those who are reading my little ditty may pray that my wife recover. Her name is Elizabeth.

I am informed by Mr. Muller that his secretary is disturbed by the Spongmonkeys, and that he requests that the profile be changed. I hope that she will be satisfied with the change. After all, who could be upset by bunnies?