Aspic Advent - Day 7
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Saturday, November 29, 2025
Looks like someone just got the surprise of their lives.
Lurking in the background, carefully averting his gaze, is Gomez Addams in disguise. Not how he is positioned for a hasty exit once chaos breaks loose, which should be any moment after the pink volcano erupts.
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Filed under: Aspic Advent 2025
11/29/2025 4:48:58 PM
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The Aspic Advent is Nigh!
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Saturday, November 29, 2025
Prepare yourselves for another 25 days of gelatinous joy!
Joy may be in the eye of the beholder, but know ye that when these horrors were published, they were indeed joyful. Hence the name of not one - but two! - "Joys of Jell-O" recipe books! Seriously, these dishes were of their time, meaning they were cool. After all, they were refrigerated! The mere act of serving these up meant that not only could the family afford a refrigerator, but they could afford one large enough to fit a fancy mold or two without crowding out the rest of the food for the dinner party. Of course, it also infers that the hostess has the time to keep mixing the partially set wobbly stuff so the fruit or meats become evenly distributed or to keep making and adding layers of different colors - or both! Yes, these were truly status symbols of their time.
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Chemo/Life Update
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Julie Barrett
Tuesday, November 18, 2025
Today was chemo day. I want to give a shout-out to the staff at Texas Oncology Plano East for the wonderful treatment. There a huge practice (this is just one of many locations across the state), but they don't treat their patients like numbers. My doctor is great, and the chemo staff is awesome. Can I take one of those chairs home? A heated, massaging recliner with USB ports? Nice!
Now the less awesome but still not bad: My blood work continues to improve, to the surprise of my oncologist. But hey, it was so messed up before there was probably nowhere to go but up. He would like to do another PET scan at the end of December. When all this started he said there would be some scans over the course of this, just to monitor things. Not worried. I do have one question, though. When they give me the radioactive isotope, can I upgrade to a better superpower? Nausea isn't a good one. I s
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Filed under: Life
11/18/2025 10:18:18 PM
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It's Been A Rodney Dangerfield Kinda Month
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Wednesday, November 12, 2025
You may know of Rodney Dangerfield, the comic whose schtick was "I get no respect."
The joke is on me now, and I'm not laughing.
Last year it was burnout, and no one believed me. This year, it's cancer and chemo, and it seems that people still expect me to perform for them at peak level. Believe me, it's all I can do to keep what some days seems like my three remaining good brain cells working amid bouts of nausea and neuropathy. But that's okay, I guess, as long as I can drop everything and do some complex tasks at the very last minute.
I had planned for some continuing education this week. But no. I watched about an hour of it and realized I couldn't multitask. Believe me, that hurts.
So now I make a promise: The more sick I get, the more unfiltered I'm gonna be. "But Julie! That's not like you! You're better than this!" Fuck that. I'm tired of performing to everyone else's
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Filed under: Life 11/12/2025 10:11:33 AM
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Medical/Life Update
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Friday, October 31, 2025
I've not spent a lot of time on social media lately, and that's by design. I've put together a list of things to do, and doing them I am! So if I don't see your good or bad news, apologies.
On the chemo front, the neuropathy is starting in. The change in the weather hasn't helped. I always get cold hands/feet at this time of year, but nothing like this! I'm wearing fingerless gloves during the day and fuzzy socks to bed at night. Other than that, I'm doing pretty well. My next infusion is Tuesday, so we shall see.
My USB-powered hand warmers arrived today. Generally speaking, they're going to very useful as the weather cools. I'm going to take them with me to bowling on Wednesday and see if they help. I may not need them as the forecast is calling for a warm day, so the temp inside may be okay. I totally get that it's ea
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Filed under: Life
10/31/2025 10:02:00 PM
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Chemo Day Medical Update
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
It's mostly good. I say mostly, because the nausea really hit me this past week. The main issue is keeping track of which nausea pills I can take and when. I've mentioned the schizophrenia drug, which is prescribed off-label for chemo-induced nausea. I take that for four days of chemo week. Just took one. I have two other nausea drugs, one of which I can take on chemo days if I really need it. The other I can't take on chemo days.
So how do I keep track? Well, there's a chart on a piece of paper, but you know me. If there's a complicated technology to do it, I'm doin' it!
Enter Home Assistant, an open-source home automation server. It connects to a truckload of devices, and found all of ours on the first scan. That's cool, because potentially it's a one-stop shop for controlling everything rather than using a ton of apps.
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Filed under: Cancer Sucks
10/21/2025 9:18:42 PM
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So Long, Arya
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Friday, October 17, 2025
Arya took her final visit to the vet today. This was fast and has hit us hard.
She was a very sweet kitty and will be greatly missed.
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Filed under: Cats
10/17/2025 9:27:21 AM
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More Medical and Life Updatery
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Monday, October 13, 2025
Hey, it's time for an update!
I'm here to tell you that chemo brain is real. Between that and the anemia, I'm having quite the adventure. The good news is that my hemoglobin levels are right on the edge of being in normal range. Oh, and I'm also blonde, so there's THAT. ;-)
The nausea has also been a thing, but I'm getting that under control. I thought I'd use up the previous round of nausea meds from my PCP, and those were sorta kinda working. Turns out the oncologist prescribed the same med, but double the strength. That works! (For the curious, it's ondansetron.) As noted before, I have other nausea meds, and I get the heavy artillery during chemo week.
The meds schedule during chemo week is wild, and I'm working on something that will help me keep track. I n
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Filed under: Life
10/13/2025 9:03:39 PM
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Bowling With Chemo Brain
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Wednesday, October 8, 2025
The oncologist said I could go ahead and bowl as long as I wore a mask.
So I did both.
On a 146 average: 151-160-150=461
I'll take that! I'm celebrating with a zero proof G&T. It ain't bad, and I do tire of all water, all the time.
My kilt bag worked really well to hold the chemo ball. I hardly knew it was there. I did have to do a little MacGyver strain relief. No, that's the wrong term as he wouldn't wear a bra. Yep, we're going into that territory. There's a lot of tubing to give me room to hang my bag up while I take a shower, and the tube includes a connector or two and two cutoff clamps. It's just enough weight to tug on the port, and I don't need that. So (sorry, guys) I was able to pull the t
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Filed under: Cancer Sucks Bowling
10/8/2025 9:20:53 PM
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The Chemo Has Begun
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Tuesday, October 7, 2025
Today was my first day of chemo. There was a massive delay as someone forgot to put my name in the queue for lab work, which come first. They've always been fast on the lab work, so I was concerned. I finally flagged down a phlebotomist and told her how long I'd been waiting. She did everything but impale herself on the dinner knife to get me in next and get my blood work done.
But this meant a longer wait to talk to the doctor, and another wait to get chemo started. The doctor went over everything and also set up my appointments for the next six weeks. He said the slots fill up fast (I believe it! Every chair in the chemo room was occupied. There were at least 20.)
They finally got me in about an hour and a half later than my appointment time. That did give me time to go to their pharmacy and get some pills that I'll be t
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Filed under: Life Cancer Sucks
10/7/2025 9:30:05 PM
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