Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

I really should read my own blog.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Republicans do not trust women.

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / Fuck Cancer / Claire update

Claire update

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Good afternoon — I took today off as I have some PTO that expires/disappears soon if I did not use it.  My morning involved testing out a new to me biscuit and breakfast place and then donating platelets.  I’ve been giving platelets a couple of times per month since the summer as pediatric cancer patients like Claire need them.  The Red Cross e-mails me every time they ship my platelets and I think that I’m part of a small group that are sending platelets to a particular patient as five of my last six donations have gone to the same, small hospital in the middle of nowhere.

Claire is doing well all things considered.  She is in her fifth round of chemo and treatment at the moment.  She is getting blood products a couple of times a week which has helped her tolerate the treatment.  As far as I understand, her numbers range from being good to really good.  This and the prior two rounds of treatment have been designed to blast out the unobserved and unobservable cancerous cells.  Assuming the next few weeks go as anticipated, she should be released from the hospital in the middle of February.

And after that, she is in the watch, wait and closely monitor stage of her treatment.  It will have been a very long and tough nine months for Claire and her family.

Right now, what Claire and plenty of kids like her need are blood donors.  If you are capable of donating blood, please do so.  You get to help Claire or someone like her out while also getting cookies.  That is a good trade in my book.

 

 

Reader Interactions

38Comments

  1. 1.

    Old School

    That’s wonderful news.  Here’s hoping for a continued recovery.

    Although I gave blood earlier this month, but didn’t get cookies.  I assume unwrapped baked goods are frowned on due to the pandemic.

  2. 2.

    TomatoQueen

    Numbers “good to really good” is wonderful to read. Safe distance hugs to Claire and her indomitable family.

  3. 3.

    JPL

    That is good news, and thank you again for updating us.   Someday she’ll be able to laugh about the blog that cheered her on.

  6. 6.

    laura

    Thank you for this welcome good news. The next phase – Tom Petty said it best – the waiting is the hardest part. After decades of donating blood I got the permanent boot, but spouse donates plasma or platelets on the regular because you can donate with greater frequency than with whole blood. He’s currently in excess of 600 units – the most recent was Tuesday.

    Here’s to Claire and all of those who are in the fight. Fuck cancer

    For some reason I’m thinking of Lily and her bows.

  7. 7.

    satby

    So happy to hear that Claire is doing so well with her treatments. May all the news continue to be good, and she and her family get to go home in a few weeks. We’re all pulling for her.

  9. 9.

    J R in WV

    Me too, thanking you for the update. So glad to hear reasonably good news!

    I used to donate, but now I’m elderly and on medications that contraindicate passing them on to recipients, so that’s over for me.

    So glad for Claire~!!~

    Keep us informed…

  11. 11.

    Cap'n Phealy

    Giving platelets is one of the easiest good karma sources known to humanity. I’ve been donating them every three-four weeks for most of the past 20 years. (Next appt. is Monday.)

    If your employer allows some PTO for charitable purposes, blood/platelet/plasma donation may be an acceptable use of that time.

  12. 12.

    JCJ

    I am O- and CMV- (cytomegalovirus) so I get called whenever I am ripe if I have not previously scheduled.  My blood is usually whisked away with “special orders” tags for Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.  I am not much of a meat eater and I ended up getting deferred a few years ago for mild anemia and evaluation showed I had very low iron stores.  That got me my first colonoscopy and EGD at age 43 to rule out malignancy.  I try to remember to take my Flintstone’s with iron.  Dino is my favorite.

  13. 13.

    catclub

    and then donating platelets.

     

    Good on you for donating platelets. If that is the machine I think it is:  Hated It. Quit.

    My BP is relatively low and it would alarm every time it went to suction mode. I was exhausted from trying to squeeze the rubber ball to keep up pressure.

  18. 18.

    CaseyL

    Thank you for the update!  I see the Claire sidebar every time I come to BJ, and always wonder how she’s doing.  It’s great that she’s doing well, and may even get out of the hospital in a few weeks.

    Has Claire been able to keep up with her schoolwork?  It’s an ironic bit of timing, her needing remote schooling at the same time everyone else is also remote schooling: at least she won’t feel like she missed out, compared to her friends.

  20. 20.

    Bluegirlfromwyo

    Good to really good is great news! Please thank Claire and family for making my Friday.

  21. 21.

    Mike R

    May the good news keep coming, so glad things are going satisfactorily.  Without fear of contradiction, Fuck Cancer!

  24. 24.

    Kent

    Here’s hoping for the best.

    Modern medicine really is great these days.  It’s the people who seem to be getting shittier. My wife is a primary care physician and she is on regular therapy just to deal with the burnout and finding it hard to give a shit about all the horrible patients she gets who put in zero effort to make themselves better and expect her to do everything for them.  She is a stable person but fucking needs occupational therapy to avoid just screaming “fuck all of you” and walking away from her job permanently.  Especially today with Covid and MAGA.  It shouldn’t be like that.  She should enjoy her job but the patients make it miserable.

  25. 25.

    Enzymer

    Excellent news for Claire, hope it continues.

    As a Durhamite, I’m curious what the biscuit/breakfast place was & if it was worth a visit?

  26. 26.

    Alison Rose

    So glad to hear that she’s doing…I suppose I could say, as well as can be hoped for. This must be so incredibly draining physically, emotionally, spiritually, and every other level, for her and the family. Sending lots of good thoughts for continued progress, and prayers if they are welcome. I’m not medically able to donate blood, but I’m very glad to here others doing so when they can. It’s literally life-saving, and what could be better than that?

  27. 27.

    Mary G

    So happy to see this news and wish you get more and even better news as time goes by. Thank you for the update.

    I’ve been banned from donating blood since the first time I tried at the age of 18. So frustrating not to be able to help, but in honor of my dad I donate to the usual places that fight cancer. Will increase that when I figure out my finances with my new pension.

  28. 28.

    stinger

    So good to hear this news! And boy are there some great Juicers. I praise Biden.

    (Trying to start a meme to replace I blame Obama.)

  33. 33.

    lurker

    Definitely glad to hear about Claire.  Sounds like they showed the cancer the red card and did the send off, and now are waiting on the league to hopefully pronounce a lifetime ban.  Fingers crossed.  Having kids come back smiling from tough situations is part of what makes our world worth inhabiting.

     

    If you see that guy Mayhew around, you can let him know I miss refereeing, but not as much as I thought I would.  Interesting that.  Anyway, not sure of where he would be, might be lurking in a mirror in your parts somewhere ; – )

  36. 36.

    J R in WV

    Here one of the big things is fresh baked biscuits and sausage gravy with lots of black pepper. Not every week, but every once in a while.

    Tudor’s Biscuit World! They do all kinds of standard country foods, baked steak, hot dogs, fried potatoes with cheese or gravy, etc. Pulled pork, pinto beans and cornbread…

  37. 37.

    MoCA Ace

    Soo glad to hear about Claire.

    @JCJ:  Me too.  I have been donating for at least 20 years in our  quarterly blood drives at work.  Still, I was constantly getting reminders to donate in the interim.  I would also get reminders from the Red Cross when the drive was coming up, in addition to the ones I got from work.  When I realized everyone wasn’t getting the same reminders (hounding really) I asked a nurse and she looked at my record and informed me I was CMV negative then explained the significance.  It’s really cool to know that dumb luck has protected me from the not-deadly-at-all (to adults) cytomegalovirus.  I always feel a little bit of pride now when I get the notices that my blood has been shipped to some research hospital or the middle of nowhere.

    Again, Fudge Cancer (children present) and you go Claire!

  38. 38.

    am

    So relieved to hear this. Best wishes for continued good news.

    @David Anderson: I have driven by Sunrise biscuits forever but the line always is long. But Biscuitville lines are always long, too. Flying Biscuit in Village District and Beasley’s downtown Raleigh are the tops I know of in the area.

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