When you're least expecting it.

Photo copyright Aji, 2024; all rights reserved.

Flawless blue skies today, and it feels warmer than it actually is. Sometimes, you get a blessing when you're least expecting it: a day without gale-force winds, and one in which things go smoothly.

My doctor agrees that my chemo dose should upped, based on the frankly extraordinary results the lower dose has given me so far. It'll take a day or two for the pharmacy to fill it, but then I'll have a supply that will allow me to titrate upward to the maximum dose, should I so desire [we both think it won't be necessary, but it gives me the flexibility if needed]. The max dose for autoimmune diseases is significantly lower than the dose used for cancer treatment; the idea is to suppress my immune system, not to destroy it completely. And apparently I am one of those rare people who 1) needs to have mine suppressed AND 2) has GOOD side effects from chemotherapy rather than nasty ones. Apparently I'm outlier across the board.

I also have a scrip, plus a supplement, for a new protocol for brain fog. It's one she hadn't heard about, but I had stumbled over it on Twitter last year, posted by a guy being treated for LongCOVID brain fog, and spent the intervening period researching it; she looked up the studies while I was there, agreed that it seemed like a good possibility for me, and is really interested to find out how my brain responds to it. For those who might be reading this and wondering what it is, it's a substance called guanfacine [prescription] combined with an non-Rx supplement, N-acetyl-cysteine [NAC, 600 mg to start]. If this is an issue for you, you might ask your own doctor about it.

Also, given what happened to me six years ago? Having her say to me "Your heart sounds REALLY GOOD" was a huge gift. I may badly disabled by pain, and I know that organ failures are ultimately a possibility with both diseases. But knowing that, apart from them, my baseline health is apparently good? It's an enormous relief.

Now, if I could just get the same kind of traction on sales . . . . None for about three weeks now, and that's not sustainable. I've got to get the tax stuff compiled and to our preparer, and then, of course, we'll have to pay the damn thing [the tax bill, not the preparer]. I also have to bring in enough to pay for digging a new leachfield as soon as we can get it done, and for paying out $200 cash every 8-10 days in the meantime until it's done [the most recent having been two days ago].

We've also had four requests for help here in the last two weeks, and a lot of it's tradish stuff, which means we can't say no. There will be a lot more of that this year, and when you occupy a [very relative] position of privilege, you have an obligation to help. I am also going to ahve to replace my laptop, and at some point, I will need to get a wheelchair, because even suppressing my immune system entirely is not going to regenerate the missing cartilage and repair the ongoing joint and connective tissue damage that comes from a lifetime of being refused treatment. I'm still not going to be able to stand for very long or walk very far, and that is the only way around it at this point. 

But to do it, I need help. As I said, Wings has a great deal of new work on the site: the newest three listed above, plus other necklaces, Warrior Woman pins, Pueblo pins, lots of new earrings. There are two new pairs of absolutely ethereal earrings from last week, and an extraordinary new necklace in the form of a spirit messenger. Go look; there's phenomenal work on there, new and less so. An as always, all the regular links are listed below, with sales, as always, being the most important:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (priorities now are the liquid soaps and the descalers that I can't get here, the dog treats for the monsters, and the newest thing at the top, a harness that will let me haul my camera around [which I have to do for our work] without further damaging my neck, now that the pain has become intolerable); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim 2023, we really need to get this year moving onto a better footing, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2024; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.