Ned Henry January 13, 2021 · nedhenry.medium.com
Slept fine. Took a while to fall asleep. Couldn’t turn my thoughts off. Eventually nodded off. It took that sleeping pill and an ambien a little later. Sleeplessness is by far the worst side effect I have had from the chemo. And cold feet. So my next translation when get to it will be about my cold feet. Last night they were cold but Sue’s little heating pad at the bottom of the bed kept them warmer. Jack is also sending some kind of thing you put in the microwave for a specific amount of time that will hold heat and go at the foot of the bed and stay warm for a couple of hours while you fall asleep. Blankets were fine and flannel sheets are really cool. Had never tried them before and they are wonderful. Comforter did it’s job once it took it out of the duvet. So I was plenty warm last night. Won’t bother to buy an electric blanket. Don’t need it especially if I can’t find one with a zone for feet. So I’ll give Sue the new heating pad that came for me and just keep her old one. It’s the same thing. Just want to read the instructions so I know about turning it off and stuff. So my bed problem solved. Busy day today. I have to negotiate with Sirius XM and I have tutoring with Yunus at some time but still don’t know when. I have him on the calendar at 3 PM. I do hope he wants to continue. It is important for a refugee kid in this country to try to learn basic stuff like math. But when you’re 14 you have other priorities. My NEW summer-ry T-shirts came today. I’ll wear one when I take my nexty selfy with less hair. Listening to the Brahm’s requiem. One of my foavorites. Have sung it several times and never miss a chance to join a choir singing it. Sang it in Anchorage, with the Emory student chorus and with Summer Singers another group led by Bill Baker. It’s too big a piece for Collegium and doesn’t fit our charter of singing lesser known works. The Brahms German requiem is filled with Joy. We sing “Freude! Freude! Freude!” Joy! Joy! Joy! It’s beautiful.
This is Mike Hastings with the amount he raised for Dana Farber during the Covid year when he rode the miles by himself across Michigan instead of Massachusetts since Massachusetts was closed to public events. It is much less than usual. They adjusted their total goal this year to down to $42M. Mike gave them $20K. My $100 is in there. Prepandemic they usually raise $65M with this event and Mike has been riding in it for 31 years now. So do the math. Let’s say on average he raises $25K per year for 31 years. That’s over Three Quarter of a Million dollars ($750,000) raised by one man who rides his bike for one weekend a year across the state of Massachusetts for 100 miles each day for 2 days. It’s call the Pan Mass Challenge. Even YOU can donate in MIKE HASTINGS name.PMC | Pan-Mass ChallengeRegister to Ride The PMC is a fully supported bike-a-thon to benefit Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Routes from 25 to…www.pmc.org
Here’s Allen. I talk about him a lot because well he’s around a lot and he takes care of literally everything I need him to. He butt dialed me this morning and he was toodling around his kitchen whistling. But wouldn’t answer the phone. So I called him back and he told me a story about a Vonneget book he read a long time go. Allen made me dinner last night. He fixes my plumbing, tunes up the leaf blower, shows up with a chain saw when one of my pine trees falls down. He’s done alot for me over the years. I’ve told you what a good guitarist he has become. Great guy and my best friend. He’s loyal but silly to a fault. Not deep and intense like me — just goes with the flow – a very giving man who likes to laugh alot and always has a new girlfriend. Allen is who told Mike Hastings I had cancer. We’re part of that Kay Redmond Ski Group, remember?
Just got the BEST email from Louisa at the Refugee Ministry at All Saints. Here it is…”Hi Ned,
Hope you are feeling ok today. Yunus is such a sweet boy. I spoke with him on Monday evening and let him know that you had received a cancer diagnosis but still wanted to work with him, and he was quite upset about it. He wanted some time to take it in so I told him I would get back in touch with him. I have offered him whatever support he needs, talking on zoom, going to Clarkston… whatever he needs.
I spoke with him today and asked if he wanted to meet with you at 3pm and his main concern was fear that you wouldn’t feel well or working with him would make you sicker. He told me what a nice man you are, what good advice you give him and how much he enjoys working with you. I assured him that if you didn’t feel up to it, you would just let me know and wouldn’t do the session.
I asked Yunus if he wanted to work with another tutor for the times you might not feel up to it and he said no. He only wants you.
Sue, if you want to check in with Yunus at some point that would be awesome.
Thank you so much, Ned, for your love and care and if you need anything, please let me know.
Louisa”
I wrote back….”I am so happy. I will tell Yunus that this makes me feel better not sicker. I am fine. Very strong right now. Losing my hair but doing really well. So I will join the Zoom as normal at 3 PM and go to IXL and get something ready for us to work on. It will be great for me to see him again after school break. And who knows, maybe he’ll take his math just a little more seriously.
Thanks so much.
Ned
Just Being “Not Racist” is Not Good Enough Anymore”
So I am back on tutoring Yunus in Math at 3 PM. Makes me so happy. Gotta go eat some of those steel cuts oats I made last night with pecans, banana and cinnamon. Then go call Sirus XM and see if I can work a deal to keep it on my phone but not in the car. They should go for it. Their expenses for the satellite have long been recovered. They just have maintenance and operation costs and they are raking in the revenue. So they really lose nothing by making me a good deal. It’s all just upside for them.
CIM Lesson 12 — I am upset because I see a meaningless world.
1 PM — All good. Breakfast was great. Made a batch of oats last night that will last several days. Cut a deal with Sirius XM and so now I have the Grateful Dead channel blaring in the living room. It’s a concert from 1976 in San Francisco when they first added Micky Hart, the second drummer to the band. I think this concert is the first one with 2 drummers which they have had ever since. So I have XM in both the car and the house for $72 for the next year. Marked my calendar for Jan 13, 2022 to renegotiate with them. So with Apple music and Sirius XM, I won’t need to fool around with Spotify. And if I WANT to tune in to CNN or MSNBC I can on the radio. And of course there are so many podcasts out there. I really do not need TV at all. Want to finish Wonder Woman 1984 and then I’ll cancel HBO Max. Will likely keep Netflix for a little while longer. I want to watch Beowulf again soon. So my entertainment needs are looking good. Just need a little coaching on classical music. Wish Ramon was still here. He’d know some things to pull up on search.
2 PM — Horlick’s won’t work with hummus. I’m drinking a cup of it and it’s good but won’t work with hummus. I’ll try something else.
7:30 PM Shepherd’s Pie is in the oven. I don’t know. Never made it before and didn’t have all the ingredients so I had to substitute a lot. We’ll see. I’m giving half to Allen after it’s done and rests. It’s been a great day. Really great. Listened to the Brahm German Requiem all day. It’s my favorite. Here’s Denn Alles Fleisch — movement 2. go ahead and take 14 minutes out of your day and listen to this. There are very tender places and very powerful places. There are better recording of it but this one on YouTube is OK.
This is my favorite Requiem. I never miss a chance to sing it. You can find the whole thing and listen to it on your own. It is magnificent.
So for those interested in the medical stuff the link to that 2020 update on lymphoma treatments conference yesterday came out today. Here it is:On-demand contentEdit descriptionbeacon360.content.online
And here’s what I wrote to my oncologist about it.
Dr. Allen:
I attended conference yesterday at LRF about 2020 advances in Lymphoma treatments. The on demand link to the conference came out today. Here it is:
Timeline for conference is as follows and you can skip as needed.
0:00 Introductions
4:15 — B-cell lymphoma advances
7:00 Signaling inhibitors for slow growth lymphoma
11:00 begin discussion about cellular therapy for DLBCL — CAR-T.
14:00 R-CHOP PROS AND CONS
14:50 NEW TRIAL RESULTS (I know I am not double hit and have an IPI of 3)
16:17 Key question: How should we treat patients with DLBCL in the future? Should Car-T be used if PET scan shows no progress with R-CHOP after 2 treatments?
16:40 the conference moves on to slow growth, T-cell and Q & A.
So that is my question to you Dr. Allen. I do not want a quick response to this but want to discuss the Key question when next we meet.
Thank you.
Edmund Henry
So for the nerds you can listen to as much or as little or nothing at all about the advances in treatment for Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) (what I have) and all lymphoma advances made in 2020 in this one hour conference.
Shepherd’s Pie is out of the oven and resting. Time to eat in 15 minutes. I told Allen to come and get it. Hope it’s OK. Have not done anything yet with his bland hummus. Did NOT get to laundry today. Allen in the car so and it’s cold out there so I am going to go fix him a plate and go eat dinner.
9 PM — Let me go find some music. I put a playlist on I’ve started called Drowning. Only 5 songs in it so far.
So the Shepherd’s Pie turned out good. Allen liked it and so did I. I used some ready made mashed potatoes from Debbie so all I had to do was throw a few things together. I used what I could from this recipe. Had to make some substitutions but it turned out good. Here’s the recipe just cuz I’m sharing shit these days. You can just skip it if you want. The recipe does not say what temp to cook it at so I did 350 for about 40 minutes and then some 5 minutes or so under the broiler to brown the top.
Shepherd’s Pie
Ingredients
Meat Filling:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion
- 1 lb. 90% lean ground beef -or ground lamb
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley leaves
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 garlic cloves -minced
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 cup frozen mixed peas & carrots*
- 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels
Potato Topping:
- 1 1/2–2 lb. russet potatoes -about 2 large potatoes peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter -1 stick
- 1/3 cup half & half
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
Instructions
Make the Meat Filling.
- Add the oil to a large skillet and place it over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Add the onions. Cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the ground beef (or ground lamb) to the skillet and break it apart with a wooden spoon. Add the parsley, rosemary, thyme, salt, and and pepper. Stir well. Cook for 6–8 minutes, until the meat is browned, stirring occasionally.
- Add the Worcestershire sauce and garlic. Stir to combine. Cook for 1 minute.
- Add the flour and tomato paste. Stir until well incorporated and no clumps of tomato paste remain.
- Add the broth, frozen peas and carrots, and frozen corn. Bring the liquid to a boil then reduce to simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Set the meat mixture aside. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Make the potato topping.
- Place the potatoes in a large pot. Cover the potatoes with water. Bring the water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Cook until potatoes are fork tender, 10–15 minutes.
- Drain the potatoes in a colander. Return the potatoes to the hot pot. Let the potatoes rest in the hot pot for 1 minute to evaporate any remaining liquid.
- Add butter, half & half, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Mash the potatoes and stir until all the ingredients are mixed together.
- Add the parmesan cheese to the potatoes. Stir until well combined.
Assemble the casserole.
- Pour the meat mixture into a 9×9 (or 7×11) inch baking dish. Spread it out into an even layer. Spoon the mashed potatoes on top of the meat. Carefully spread into an even layer.
- If the baking dish looks very full, place it on a rimmed baking sheet so that the filling doesn’t bubble over into your oven. Bake uncovered for 25–30 minutes.** Cool for 15 minutes before serving.
Watched the first 25 minutes of PBS Newshour. Good to catch up without being caught up in it. This just came on. This is bootleg video but you can find the movie video in Netflix. They opened the movie with this performance. The last song The Band ever played together.
Gonna play a Cream playlist on Apple music. so the tutoring session with Yunus. What a great kid. 14 years old and he was scared for me. I assured him I was fine and that I feel strong and I wanted ot keep working together if he did. He said he did. So we talked for a while and got caught up. He told me he wanted a career in real estate. Then he told me about a “side hustle” he heard about where he could make $1,000 for walking around the neighborhood and finding old broken down houses and telling someone about them. So we started with a long talk. I told him that a career is real estate is a great thing but it would take him another 10 years or so of learning to get good enough at it to make real money. And that this was a scam. Someone trying to take advantage of him. He’s had a hard life — I won’t go into details but refugee camps and family problems and all kinds of stuff this kid has had to deal with in his young life. I told him there was no such thing as an easy $1,000 and that this would just make his life that much harder than it already was because he would never get the $1,000 and they would make him keep doing stuff. I think he got it. So after 10 minutes or so of going over this he told me he got 100% on a test. I said in MATH? and he said no…in American Government. I was overjoyed. I told him how proud I was of him and that in the news these days we see what happens when the American government does not work as it was designed to work but that if he could understand the right way for it to work, then he could see that it is a good system of government and better than in a lot of places in the world. We talked about this for a little while. I asked him when he had to go pray and he said at 3:45. We began the call at 3 PM so now we only had 20 -25 minutes left so I said let’s do some math. I picked a spot to start earlier in the day. Since we can’t do high school Algebra — either him or me — we are working through 5th grade math to get him caught up on some basic things. I picked addition of fractions with unlike denominators. So the first problem came up.IXL | Add fractions with unlike denominators | 5th grade mathImprove your math knowledge with free questions in “Add fractions with unlike denominators” and thousands of other math…www.ixl.com
You can check it out. I have a login so I can stay on as long as we need to — you might not be able to. So the first problem comes up — 7/10 + 1/5 = what?
I ask him if he knows. Told him it was OK if he didn’t that I would show him. He didn’t. So I wrote on the screen about how to find a common denominator — that 1/5 was exactly the same number as 2/10. So 7/10 plus 2/10 equals 9/10. Plugged in the answer and it came back “Terrific.” I’m sharing my screen with him so he can see what I’m doing. So we go one. These are not in order. The questions you see are the next ones we would have done. nbd. So 1/12 + 2/3 = what? Well we go over finding the common denominator of 12. 2/3 is the same number as 8/12. So 1/12 plus 8/12 is 9/12. Now we talk about how to reduce that to the lowest common denominator. Is there a number that we can divide into both 9 and 12? He says 3. I say exactly. So if we divide 9 by 3 we get 3 and if we divide 12 by 3 we get 4. so… 9/12 is the same number as 3/4 just stated a different way and that 3/4 was a more common way to express that number. You get the idea. He had to go pray so we decided to go from 12 to 1 from now on on Wednesdays so we could have a full hour. I told him again I was OK but that my hair would be falling out and that did not mean I was getting sicker but that the medicine was working. I told him I was proud of him and asked that if in muslim prayers you can pray for someone else then he could pray for me if he wanted. We signed off and we’ll meet again next week. He was really worried about me and afraid that it would make me sicker to keep helping him so it took some reassurance for me to convince him that tutoring him was helping me get better not hurting me. Great kid but at 14 in a country he does not know very well and with so many questions about the future. I am just glad I can be there for him one hour a week.
Sunshine of your love is playing… Is10 PM and I’m gonna go take a hit and sip some cognac. May come back or may just send this before I go to bed.
High and watching Beowulf. Out.