Ezra Pound wrote

Winter is icumen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm.
Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,
An ague hath my ham.
Freezeth river, turneth liver,
Damm you; Sing: Goddamm.
Goddamm, Goddamm, 'tis why I am, Goddamm,
So 'gainst the winter's balm.
Sing goddamm, damm, sing goddamm,
Sing goddamm, sing goddamm, DAMM.
And those are my sentiments exactly.  After two horrible winters, last year Topeka had virtually none at all.  But the first big snow storm of this season arrived here last night.  I woke up at 2:30 a.m. and looked out the window to see that the rain and sleet had changed to blowing snow.  We didn't really get that much snow--just a couple of inches--and it's ending, but the streets are icy, the winds are howling, and at 7 a.m. it's still pitch black outside.  Even our german shepherd has little interest in venturing into the outdoors. 

When I got up in the middle of the night, I did make a minor trip to the john, but one of the many ways in which my kidney cancer hasn't followed the normal pattern is that my kidneys seem to be working better than ever.  (Kenahoreh/m-sha'allah!)  I haven't had any blood in the urine, I always sleep through the night, and even if I feel as if I need to go, I just roll over and go back to sleep.  That's one reason I'm reluctant to have the cancerous kidney removed, though the more important ones are that doing so won't prolong my life and that there are several risks involved with the surgery.  We'll review that decision a month from now after the next full battery of tests at the Med Center.

I still haven't gotten the tincture of opium.  I was surprised that Walgreens carried it at all, but although it was in stock, the bottle had been opened, so they wanted to order a new bottle.  After that delay--it's been ten days since I submitted the prescription--the insurance company denied coverage.  The retail cost for a bottle is nearly $500.  Since I'm in the catastrophic phase of Medicare Part D (with the costs of my meds, I move very quickly into the last, catastrophic phase), with the insurance coverage I pay only 5% of the retail price.  I can appeal, though the automated message announcing the denial gave no reasons and listed so many steps that I'll let Dr. Vanveldhuizen do the appeal, as he has, I'm sure, lots of experience with insurance denials.  At first I was rather indifferent to switching from Imodium to the tincture, but once I read that it was the same as laudanum and graduate school memories of dipping into De Quincey's "Confessions of an Opium Eater" came to mind, I've become more impatient.  I'll have to wait, though, till the appeal is processed.  If it's successful, perhaps the blog will become more hallucinatory.