Probably as good as I could've asked.

Photo copyright Aji, 2019; all rights reserved.

The Old Man, yesterday evening. We got incredibly lucky (or, rather, incredibly blessed and protected): Despite the icy, messy roads here yesterday morning, it was clear in town, and completely dry through the first 3/4 or so of the Gorge. There were a few slick wet patches at that point, but nothing really problematic, and the snow held off for both Santa Fe and for the trip back home. We're getting buried under it today, which is perfectly fine.

Yesterday was (other than the bitterly cold gale-force winds) probably as good as I could've asked in terms of the procedure itself. Yeah, it hurt. Yeah, it still hurts. Yeah, I have swelling and stiffness in addition to the pain (and today, this bug has blown fully into the open, so I'm sicker than a dog besides, probably in no small part due to yesterday's trauma to my body). But despite the fact that I had to be stuck with needles repeatedly and have a bunch of cells removed repeatedly, the doc was quick and thorough and as smooth as could reasonably be expected. After numbing me up, they did the standard three attempts; then they slide and stain them and see if they think they got enough useful cells to send to the path for analysis. If not, they have to come back and do it again, three more times. I got lucky; he got enough on the first three tries. Now, I wait; theoretically, I should know sometime between Wednesday and Friday, but I may not hear anything before my follow-up appointment next Monday. If you want to do something to help, pray for results before then, because I'm really not feeling a whole week of waiting.

As smoothly as it went, none of this, of course, stops the worry over money, either, given the massive outlays we've already had over the last six weeks and the ones that we know are coming down the pike. The Pueblo's been closed since the first of the month, and will remain so through most of March. Sales are vanishingly slim, and there's a lot of year ahead of us. If it is cancer, the costs are going to skyrocket very fast, and we have no way of paying for it, and neither of us cares; we're doing this. Determination is the word; with Wings's help, I'm going to beat whatever it is. So much fear intertwined with all of this, and no end in sight. We need sales. Badly. Selling today's featured work, shown just below, would take care of the biopsy costs. Even so, all this stuff is piling up fast and I have to get us through the whole year, not just the next two weeks, so please share the links (or use them, if anyone's so inclined):

• My Patreon, The Interstices (Writing Between Worlds) (and if you subscribe today you won't be billed until March 1st for February);
• Wings's site, for sales, with lots of new items posted;
• Wings's direct PayPal link;
• A way to buy me coffee (which actually goes to all of our medical bills, which continue to mount);
• Amazon wishlist, which mostly consists of animal and household stuff, with the kibble back on it; we gave several of our existing bags to a local disabled vet with a starving rescue dog who needed the help;
• Partial registry #1, from Bed, Bath and Beyond. I've added two or three new kitchen-y things on it now, stuff that I didn't realize we'd need.

All we want, to be able to have some confidence in making it through the whole year with whatever they're going to find going wrong in my body, is to make some sales. That's it: sales; nothing else. But I haven't been able to make even that happen, and the stress is telling. Good vibes for Raven are still welcome (he's still hanging with us, and I need him to be safe while we're out). But I could use some, too. We all could also use some help with sharing Wings's site (and testimonials, if you got 'em). Thanks.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2019; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.