Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Bad News!

He sat in the examination room and waited for the doctor.  The nurse had been in earlier with her questions.  He glanced at the magazine he had brought with him.  Glancing.  Flipping pages.

The doctor came into the room, sat on his stool and said, "I've got some bad news."


His brain froze.  Bad News!  What Bad News!  No doctor just comes out with "Bad News."


The doctor said, "Last week's CT scan shows that you have an enlarged lymph node on the mesintery where the tumors were taken from.  In January, this lymph node was 2.4mm now it's 3.0mm."  The doctor took out a ruler and showed him how big 3mm was, about the size of a quarter.


The doctor said, "Are you under the care of an oncologist."


"No," he said.  "I know who to see and was going to start going to see one for follow-ups."


"It's time to see him."


As he drove home, a wave of sadness flowed over him.  Drowning him.  "Why couldn't it have waited longer?  I knew it would be back.  Why so soon?  I don't want to go through that again."


When he got home he Googled mesenteric lymph nodes: "With the advent of multidetector computed tomography, routine evaluation of mesenteric lymph nodes is now possible. For the first time, normal mesenteric nodes may be reliably identified noninvasively. Because of the increasing volume of cross-sectional imaging examinations being performed, lymph nodes in the mesentery are being detected with increasing frequency. This is often an unsuspected finding. Although the detected lymph nodes may be normal, there is a large number of disease processes that may lead to mesenteric lymphadenopathy. The most common causes of mesenteric lymphadenopathy are neoplastic, inflammatory, and infectious processes. Many of these causes may also result in lymphadenopathy elsewhere in the body. It is important to recognize mesenteric lymphadenopathy in patients with a history of a primary carcinoma because the lymphadenopathy affects the staging of the disease, which in turn will affect further management. In addition, mesenteric lymphadenopathy may be the only indicator of an underlying inflammatory or infectious process causing abdominal pain. The distribution of the lymph nodes may indicate the exact nature of the underlying disease process, and the correct treatment may then be instituted. Besides neoplastic, inflammatory, and infectious processes, many other disease processes may occasionally result in mesenteric lymphadenopathy."


Oh yeah, that's really clear.  



So, for now, he waits until next week to see the oncologist.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Tell No One by Harlan Coben

Today I finished reading Tell No One by Harlan Coben.

Tell No One is number 49 on the NPR listeners list of favorite thrillers Top 100 'Killer Thrillers' and was a 2002 Edgar Nominee.  I read it as a part of my Learn to Write by Reading program.


My expectation was for a fun read.  And because Coben wrote it, lots of twists and surprises.  What I got was a fantastic example of how to structure a story and how to not waste anything.  There isn't a word, sentence, paragraph, or chapter that isn't moving the story forward.  It is a great primer on how to plant back story, red herrings, and foretelling.


I loved this book.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Pinterest

I read a blog that suggested that every author should have a Pinterest page to attract readers.

I couldn't figure out how selecting (pinning) photographs and posting them to my Pinterest page could possibly attract readers to an author.

I talked to my daughter who actively "pins".  She explained to me how it worked and showed me her pages.  I laughed heartily at some of the quotes and sayings she had collected and pinned.

I like quotes and funny sayings.  So, I started a Pinterest account.  I have pages for Hot Rods (my hobby), My Garage (photos of my cars), Humor and Quotes, Gardens (to post my photos of flowers and gardens), Pin Up art, Favorite Places (Places I've been to), Wow! (amazing photos) and My Style (photos of my tropical shirts).  And, I set up a page for Bon Secour where I intend to post photos of people, places and things that will be described in the book.

Maybe this will capture the attention of readers who stopped by to look at photos of gardens or hot rods.  It has a reference to this blog.  Who knows.  They may visit the blog.

What I can tell you is that Pinterest is as addictive as I imagine crack cocaine to be.

The blogger who said we needed a Pinterest account must have decided that if we all had an account he would have less competition because we would all be pinning instead of writing.  Pinning is so much fun, but it eats up all available time.  It's addictive!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Do The Work by Steven Pressfield

Today I finished reading Do The Work by Steven Pressfield.

My work in process Bon Secour isn't getting anywhere very fast.  I am having a problem getting the work done.  Just getting it done!!!   I wanted to know why.

"The enemy is not lack of preparation; it's not the difficulty of the project, or the state of the marketplace or the emptiness of our bank account.


The Enemy is Resistance.


The enemy is our chattering brain, which, if we give it so much as a nanosecond, will start producing excuses, alibis, transparent self-justifications and a million reasons why he can't/shouldn't/won't do what we know we need to do.


Start before you're ready." 


Knowing more about resistance hasn't made me less susceptible to it.