Jul 8 2014

Hey, I got a tattoo!

Rosemary

Actually… I got four tattoos!

Actually… I didn’t so much get them, as have them given to me, willy-nilly…

Yep, they are the tattooed reference marks that the radiation therapists will use to make sure I’m absolutely correctly aligned when they zap me with their rays.  So they hit only what they want to hit, and not nearby other things like, say, my lungs and my heart.

Nothing cool about them, alas.   Merely four tiny dots, distinguishable from freckles only by the fact that they are a bluish black.  Not in locations that I care to display, generally.

We’re still in the prep phase, with a dry run tomorrow.  I feel like a NASA mission — all these lovely techno-nerds collaborating to get me launched!  It’s kind of cool.

I may be less enthusiastic down the line when the side-effects have built up, and I get the skin irritation and the fatigue.   It’ll be six weeks of daily radiation.  I’m sure the novelty will wear off quickly.

In other news:  Readercon this weekend.  I have exactly one panel, on Friday.   Which is not a bad thing, as I find I still do get suddenly tired, if I have to be out and about.  Oh, and a Kaffeeklatsch on Sunday!  That should be fun.  Other than that, I plan to soak myself in the brilliance and erudition of others, on their various panels.   And schmooze.

In other other news: two freaking hours on the phone with AT&T while they tried to figure out why the heck my new and DEARLY PURCHASED iPhone 5s 32 gig has no service.   With no result.   And then they promised me a callback.  And did not call back. Because eventually it became 10PM, when all AT&T customer service reps say goodnight.