Relationships

[Fivelives]

Ehn, it comes back every few years. Metastatic melanoma is a right bitch. It's chemo-resistant, radio-resistant, and operations can't free you from it. If you catch melanoma before it metastisizes, you're generally in the clear (it's one of the more survivable cancers), but once it's started to spread you're on a countdown clock to your use-by date. Luckily, so far it keeps going back to my liver. This is the first time it's hit the lymph nodes, but I'm told that those are the two most common spots for melanoma to metastisize to. Luckily, the liver regenerates, so removing most of it every few years isn't hurting anything, and we've got far more lymph nodes than we need, so taking those out isn't much of a hassle.

I generally don't even bother noticing it, other than regular checkups to make sure I don't have tumors forming, and even those are easily snipped.

It's really nothing to worry about. Your prayers are appreciated, but unnecessary, I'm doing fine.

[Arnock]

Well, at least it's only the liver and lymph nodes then.

[Fivelives]

Yeah. When I start running out of lymph nodes is when I'll start worrying. Either that, or if it hits somewhere else that's less of a non-issue.

[Arnock]

I'm generally REALLY leery about any sort of "alternative medicine" but have you heard about hedge apples?

My Grandmother contracted a chemo-resistant colon cancer several years ago. The tumors had metastasized to her lymph nodes and liver, and the doctors only gave her about 6 months left to live after they found the tumors unaffected and still growing after a few rounds of chemo.

She refused another round of chemo because she didn't want to deal with the side effects for the rest of her life, but she started taking a spoonful of hedge apple several times a week on the recommendation of a friend.

Much to everyone's surprise, at her next exam the tumors had stopped growing, and over the next several scans they began to shrink, eventually disappearing after ~4 months.

I know that anecdotal experiences don't mean much, but it might be worth a try, for what it's worth.

[katraya]

Look at the hottie I was hanging out with 2 weeks ago:

[Levantine]

I never thought I'd be jealous of all you people living in the Americas, but here I am. Assholes.

[Nikachelle]

That's an awesome picture of us! Love it!

[Barathorn]

Look at the hottie I was hanging out with 2 weeks ago:

Really nice picture of you two.

[Sabindeus]

BALLMER!

I miss The Wire. :(

[Amirya]

So, my mother's surgery appears to be a success. We discovered she has the same loopy reaction to Percocet that I had back in the day, so she's been doing 1/4 tablet for the pain as needed. Some minor bleeding from the incision site, but that's about it.

However, they did find a cancerous polyp on the section of colon removed, so it appears that she's going to have to start 12 weeks of chemo. She'll confirm for sure next week, but that's where we appear to be standing.

It's had a hell of a toll on us, that's for sure. But she'll do fine. She's invincible, after all.

[Nikachelle]

Dumping a shameless self-promo plug here. I opened up a blog that's primarily about makeup (I can hear all the guys on here screaming in excitement) with some occasional fitness stuff. As with most things, it's a work in progress but if I waited till it was perfect before loading any content, I'd probably be another year down the road!

http://www.makeup-your-mind.net/

[cdan]

Two things immediately spring to mind.

- Somebody with more ovaries than I have will have to explain the whole smokey eye thing to me. It just looks like you're either having 80's flashbacks about your goth years or haven't slept since those goth years.
- The bit at the corner of your eye that looks like you didn't stop or just didn't know where your eye stopped. What's that about?

So I guess that means I have to visit the website to find these things out? Will I catch anything if I do? Girl-cooties or anything?

Edit: Just looked - you certainly look like you know your way around a liner pencil or two! Looks good and good luck with it

[Nikachelle]

Step aside folks, we're in my territory now!

Smokey eye: anything that has a darker colour near the eyelashes and then fades out. Usually, black, brown or pewter are the main colours used. Here's a decent example (not me):




Not the same as Goth eye, which tends to look more like this (this is me):



Although if I'm honest, they usually do it less precise than that and it usually looks like a godawful mess (which may be intentional).

Your second question is a bit up for debate. You'll either seen one of two things:

1. Super bright inner corner (supposed to make your eye pop)




2. Eyeliner drawn further down (towards the nose) to attempt an elaborate cat eye look.



Which one are you referring to?

Edit: Oh wait, maybe you mean the other corner?



If you mean the shot above, then that's just a trend. It makes your eyelashes look fatter and longer.

[cdan]

The bottom example is what I meant. It might look like you have bigger eyes from a distance, but from anywhere under 50 feet it looks like Michael J Fox was handed the eyeliner.

Although I must admit that you seem to be very proficient so maybe I have just seen some bad examples that have really stood out. I know from my mrs' chats with my daughter (who is just venturing into the world of makeup) that the idea is to enhance what is already there and not have people notice the makeup.

(Edit: Forgot to add - thanks for the lesson on smokey eyes. Makes sense now ).

[Nikachelle]

I personally like that look but it really does depend on how it's done (your Michael J Fox example can be pretty apt actually. hah). It's also pretty popular look right now so you may just be getting an overdose of it.

I'm personally not a huge fan of the natural look. I KNOW it looks more flattering on me, but it's also boring as hell so I don't tend to opt for it very often. So to that degree, I'm actually looking for people to notice my makeup. For me, it's like a new art project every morning before work.