Life is Fun, Death is Peaceful.

It’s the Transition that’s Troubling

For this title I thank the late Isaac Asimov, one of my all-time favourite authors. Problem is, the transition can trouble some of us more than others.

Some people get cancer and get cured, while the rest of us have to fight ‘holding actions’. Some of those fighting holding actions can make the fight last for many years… The rest of us well… that has abruptly become the troubling part. I just got back from my latest visit to the oncologist. For those of you who care, I’ll just be blunt and worry about amusing us all later.

It seems that the chemotherapy protocol I am on has stopped working (they all, eventually, do) and my troubling little oncs are not as little any more. In fact they have doubled in size since December. There is one more chemo-protocol left, but it is given only a 10% chance of success.

Surgery is unlikely to actually ‘lengthen’ my life although we are looking around to see if there is a surgeon who would even be willing to even try… (I’m troublingly complicated and knotted up inside). Last time I had surgery the troubling oncs went away for ten months :).

First stage studies are available but the chance that one of them will do me any good is given at about one in a thousand (and they often raise troubling quality of life issues).

Radiation is completely ruled out; the oncs are so widespread that they would have to radiate my whole abdomen and that would be immediately fatal… troubling.

I expect I’ll try the last chemo-therapy protocol, but this, of course is the kind of thing you have to discuss with your family.

If anything changes, I’ll write another blog. I expect I’ll keep on writing them as long as I can :)

Last time I ended my blog by saying, ‘Pretty soon I’m going to have to start saying some of the stuff that’s important.’ Some people found this a bit ominous, thinking that I was going to say stuff like the stuff just above here… like I just said… dire life and death stuff. Actually that’s not what I meant. This stuff here is a bit of a surprise. I actually thought that my oncs were shrinking and that the chemotherapy was working. I seem to be wrong about this all the time. When I think I’m getting better, I’m actually getting worse, and vice versa. What I should do, is envision myself at death’s door, and my illness will miraculously disappear :).

Well, in a sense, I did mean I was going to have to start talking about dire, life and death stuff, but I was thinking about the environment, politics, overpopulation and stuff like that... stuff that seems a bit more serious to more people than just me. I’m going to talk about the kind of stuff that is going to make me unpopular in some quarters. I’m going to express my opinions, and I’m not always going to even say they are my opinions. I’m going to state them as facts.

Our Environment

Let’s start with a matter that’s been worrying me since the seventies, the world and our stewardship thereof.

We’re not doing it right.

We have never done it right. We’re not even close.

If we don’t do it right, and soon, we are all doomed.

The longer we wait to do it right, the more draconian we are going to have to be.

Yesterday, our provincial government delivered what it called a ‘green budget’. Two of the measures it introduced were a ‘carbon tax’ on automobiles and a $0.10 cent increase in gasoline (petrol) tax. (Brining our average fuel price to around $1.15/litre). Sounds like a step in the right direction, but the fuel increase might have been more effective at $1.00/litre, and the carbon tax only amounts to $28-$68 per vehicle per year. I can’t help thinking that what we really need to do is to at least stop adding more ‘gas guzzlers’ to the ‘fleet’. What we really need to do is prohibit the sale of vehicles of less than a given fuel economy. This, more than any other move we could make, might force the development of zero emission replacements for the worst of the worst.

In Eastern Canada they are manufacturing a car called the Zen. It is a full electric four seat sedan that is good for local work, commuting, going shopping etc. It is selling for $12,000 and is quite popular in Europe and the US, but it has not been approved for sale in Canada. What we need to do is approve it immediately, and subsidise and promote its adoption by as many people as possible. Then, the company might be able to make electric mini-vans and pickups. Why not?

Well, I’m a bit tired for some reason, so I’ll stop here. I will try to make more blogs, but probably smaller ones, in the immediate future.
Since nothing in here has anything to do with Kèthîra, please keep the comments on the blog itself…

KP alive and doing very well…

Oh hey… here’s something to do with Keléstia Productions, anyway…

I notice that our membership has topped 150, and thanks to Jan’s excellent and improving security measures, these are all legitimate members (there are probably another few hundred bots who have been unable to spam the site and are not included in our membership list). Congratulations on making Keléstia Productions a remarkable success and kelestia.com a genuine community.

Over the past five years, I have to confess that the reaction by a few Hârn fans has been rather disappointing. I have never quite understood the possibility that anyone could love my work yet have no respect for its creator. It is only the steadfast support, loyalty and understanding of the rest of the Hârn audience, who are decent, thoughtful folk that has kept me going. Without you, there would be no point in my continuing with my work.

I will continue. And when it emerges, in the fullness of time that I have to stop, others will take up the ‘cause’. Thank you from the bottom of my rapidly evolving abdomen :).

Until next time…