An ex cow orker has been ill for some time. I just got word he is at Cleveland Clinic struggling to hang on: he needs a liver transplant.

This guy is the kind of guy who seems all gruff and grizzly, rough around the edges, and he is actually a big-hearted old hippy who I had a a great time working with. We'd bitch and laugh...a LOT!

I'd watch him from my office window, smoking a cigarette as he rode the riding mower on a beautiful day, and think "right now, I want to trade jobs."

I hope he can get a transplant and gets better. I was lucky enough to run into him early summer at (what I call) the Chicken Festival. He looked ill, but seemed to be getting around well. He had two canes, and told me "I normally only have ONE cane, but I won the other one today." Great guy.

It occurred to me I've posted about this before. He was told, at one time, he had very little time left...and he just keeps plugging away.

I hope he gets his transplant. :(

Me too Shaw, sorry to hear he's struggling.

Was his liver damaged from acetaminophen do you know?

Actually, he has some form of hepatitis...I don't know much about those kinds of things.

I got rejected by a placement firm yesterday...because I don't have enough recent administrative experience. Never mind that I have 17 years of admin experience and 5 years of management experience...not to mention the fact that I kept up with the world around me while I was not in an office setting.

Frustrating...but I gotta keep moving forward.

Gah! Sorry bro, I'll keep my eyes open.

Mum's friend Breda died last night after a pretty damned short battle with cancer.

Mum blamed herself, because Breda had some of the same symptoms as her mother (Nan) did and she thinks she should have seen it. I pointed out to her that if she went around diagnosing friends with cancer, she'd work through them pretty quickly. It's up to doctors to diagnose after all. And it didn't help that Breda had been given a rambunctious chocolate Lab as a present (I agree with Mum, completely unsuitable) who was yanking her arm off on walks every day. Why would you assume arm and shoulder pain was a symptom of cancer?

Anyway. I am glad she's dead simply because we all knew it was coming and all that was left to her in life was pain. She died before she had to go onto the really heavy duty drugs. Also, a devoted Catholic all her life, she received Communion and Last Rites before she died.

She was the archetypal Irish mother - sorry, might not have mentioned she was Irish, although with a name like Breda... Her house was always an open house. She'd give you the shirt off her back and the last teaspoon out of her silver. She had time for everyone. Christmases when I came home to visit the 'rents, I was always invited over. I'd sit in her overheated, stuffy house, and be plied with sherry, mince pies, sausage rolls, and told what a saint my mother was. Then she'd shake her head at how glamorous I was, and tell me how proud my Mum was of me and how she talked about me all the time. She ignored how fat I was and complimented my hair, my skin, my clothes.

Okay, she spun a yarn. The weakness of the Irish.

If I believed in God I'd say Breda was what he had in mind when he created the human race. Instead, I just have to stick with saying she was a beautiful human person. She touched many people and will be missed.

Are you Irish? ;)

OMFG SG you are going through it at the moment. But remember this, Breda was NOT spinning a yarn - she was seeing the good in you, as we do here on Teh Cellar. You are glamourous, you have fab skin and hair, and a glorious twintle* in your eye (except maybe not just at the moment). You are fabulous SG. Remember this - Breda is right.


*I like the word twintle, I think it's better than twinkle, okay?

I always try to tell her so but she never listens to me. I hope you and Breda have better luck.

oops I didn't realize she was referring to breda spinning a yarn about SG. Sorry SG. I thought you meant generally.

Sorry for you and your mom's loss, SG. Don't be so hard on yourself, and don't let your mom be too hard on herself, either. :(

Breast Cancer is not usually fast, but it's usually secretive. That's why it's so fucking lethal. Mostly/especially in the bad cases... by the time it's physically detectable, it's way too late to do anything. By the time it's causing pain ...too late. That's why mammograms are so important. No-one -not even doctors doing a touchy-feely boob exam can be blamed for missing it. Certainly not friends who knew someone with similar symptoms.

cat piss is upsetting me today. And yes, it can be life-threatening.

Yeah, life threatening for the cat.

that's the one....