beware the invisible Cloud

It's been a difficult weekend. More specifically, Sunday morning was awful. More for Deb than for me. Sorry Deb :-(

But... back to Friday.

That is, I *think* this post should be, "back to Friday"... Normally I would look at the last blog post, see when that was sent. Today -- Monday morning -- the Telstra network is dead. So I can't just, look at the last blog post. Not on the desktop PC, anyway.

So I'm typing on the tablet. The tablet operates differently... in a way which makes it ideal for writing a travel blog... and which is useful when Telstra fails. The tablet doesn't seem to spell-check though, so I'll need to proof-read carefully. And of course it can't post to the blog till Telstra works again.

I can see the last few posts -- in my "Sent" box. I can *type* a new post. Just can't actually post it. The real internet -- is dead. No email in. No email out. No google searches. No web, no internet. No thanks Telstra.

So on Sunday -- with the network connection popping up for a few minutes then dying for a few hours -- I was angry. Cursing like... like someone who curses a lot. Because I really did want to "do things" that required an internet connection. And nothing useful would work.

Poor Deb. Sure, I was cursing the PC. The tablet. Telstra. The (lack of) internet. But Deb has to put up with me.

Sorry, I said, eventually. (After a few hours of afternoon sleeping. Having given up on having a working internet.) It's okay, said Deb, You're under stress. Yes I am. But this reaction is just me. The stress is due to network failure. I can't excuse it as disease-related. Though I will come back to that... Meanwhile:

It's all very well to work on "the Cloud". Until the Cloud disappears.

But for now -- in full knowledge that the Telstra network is dead, so the internet is inaccessible and any Cloud is invisible -- at least I can restrict my aims. I can type this post... just not post it.

Oh. And it's probably just as well that I *print* -- on *paper* -- my schedule of times for radiation treatment. And doctors' appointments. And which days for which drugs. I'd hate to do all that from memory.

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So: back to Friday...

Lunch with Colin. I make it there by bus, very easy. As long as I'm not in a hurry... and the weather is fine for slow travel with plenty of waiting. Which it is.

A very pleasant lunch. Colin gives me a lift  home... Probably just as well, I fall asleep very soon after. Tiredness is one side-effect that I definitely do get! I also have the feeling that I may have been half asleep in conversation over lunch...

Saturday: The main event is orienteering. First of the summer series -- and close to home. Deb jogs round a Medium course, I walk round a Short. There's a threat of rain but no more than a few minutes of blustery mist.

It's good to catch up with fellow orienteers.

Sunday morning: enough said.

Sunday evening: family dinner, very pleasant.

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Overall -- and more cancer-related:

This is a very ... flat ... time. Nothing much happening, just a routine of radiation and drugs. With extra radiation expected to start today. Despite being "routine" there is stress. (Not enough to justify my failed-internet--tantrums, though. That's just me. Proving that I'm pretty much as ever in my dislike of opaque-and-failing systems.)

I'm half way through a six week course of radiation. About to start a three week course of extra radiation. That's my understanding, anyway. The Genesis clinic are slow to volunteer information. Last I heard was during the pre-abdominal-radiation scan, from a scanning technician: The abdominal radiation will start on Monday... if nothing delays the planning.

I have a week's worth of appointments. No clear indication that it will include the new abdominal radiation. Only definite way to find out -- is to turn up. See what gets zapped.

Heh. I almost said, I wish they would provide current information by email. (I ask questions via email, the responses are generally by waiting till I next meet with the clinic doctor.) Email would be pointless anyway -- with emails failing to get through the dead Telstra network.

All seems routine. Unfortunately, this means that there is no sign of progress. (Oh, except that my hair is definitely falling out. In a small area. So now I at least know where my head is being zapped.)

I have three more weeks' of radiation. Then four weeks' of nothing. No radiation, no chemo. Then... another brain scan. Then a delay of who knows how long... After which I may be told whether or not anything has changed.

Meanwhile, I take drugs and get  radiated. And have no idea of the effects on my cancers. I can't even get it all off my chest by blogging -- because there is very little to blog about.

Same old same old.

For another seven weeks.

I may just go back to reading Gone with the Wind. A long and tedious book which I can read on this tablet. It used to be my brother's favourite book. I've only read a few chapters and I dislike the characters, the situation and what little plot has so far been revealed. Still... it's a very long book. Should last long enough for Telstra to get our internet connection working again.

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Meanwhile: Deb contacted the Cancer Council. Who passed her on to some other group. Who meet regularly -- as cancer patients & carers -- to talk about... whatever. Deb will go to their next meeting, sometime next month. I mentioned it to  our sons, in case they may also be interested.

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Now I'll save this. And post it if the internet ever returns.

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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"Philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it." ... Karl Marx

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Now so much more than a simple holiday blog:  https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
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