Another Dark Little Corner


moon phases
 

Started this before change to "New Blogger", as backup in case of trouble with digiphoto blog "In a Small Dark Room", or rants & links blog "Hello Cruel World" . Useful - at one stage Dark Room was there, but like the astrophysical Dark Matter, we could't see it ... better now, but kept Just In Case.


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There is nothing. There is no God and no universe, there is only empty space, and in it a lost and homeless and wandering and companionless and indestructible Thought. And I am that thought. And God, and the Universe, and Time, and Life, and Death, and Joy and Sorrow and Pain only a grotesque and brutal dream, evolved from the frantic imagination of that same Thought.
Mark Twain (letter to Joseph Twichell after his wife's death)
[me, on a bad day]


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2006-04-27
 
Pathology (Warning: Skip pic if you're sensitive)  

Anatomical Pathology — Surgical Pathology Report

(Warning: Skip pic if you're sensitive) Collected April 2006, 12:27
Clinical Data
L breast cancer

Nature of Specimen
L modified radical mastectomy

Macroscopic
Labelled "L modified radical mastectomy", the specimen consists of the left breast, 210mm from medial to lateral, 130mm from superior to inferior and 70mm from superficial to deep bearing an ellipse of skin 200x75-4mm with an unremarkable nipple. There is an attached axillary dissection 90x60x20mm. The superficial superior margin is inked blue, the superficial inferior margin green and the deep margin black. The specimen is bi-valved, hinged medially, into superficial and deep halves to reveal a firm irregular grey-white scirrous lesion 45x30x32mm in the 2 o'clock position, 50mm from the nipple in the upper outer quadrant.

The tumour extends to within 18mm of the deep margin (inked black), 8mm of the superficial superior margin (inked blue) in the superficial half and is well clear of the superficial inferior margin. It lies 8mm below the skin. In the deep half of the breast 25mm inferior and deep to the main tumour a second separate firm poorly defined grey tumour 23x15x15mm, is identified on parasaggital sectioning (lesion B), abutting the deep margin and extending to within 30mm of the superficial inferior margin.

Three lymph nodes are involved by tumour, including the most lateral node in the axillary dissection.
... [detailed list of samples & sections ("Blocks") 1A to 1AS ] ... Please see accompanying photograph.

Microscopic
Sections show inflitrating ductal carcinoma (Grade 3). 48x33mm with perineural (Block 1J) and vascular (Block 1I, 1R) invasion. The carcinoma invades to 7mm of the dermis. The skin and nipple are not involved. the second tumour deposit invades skeletal muscle on the deep surface of the specimen and reaches to 3mm from the soft tissue margin

(Blocks 1K, 1M, 1N) and shows vascular invasion. The carcinoma is diffusely strongly positive in the oestrogen receptor positive, and in the cytokeratin 7, focally weakly positive in the progesterone receptor and equivocal (2+) in the HER2. FISH for HER2 has been ordered.

There is focal high grade intraduct carcinoma (Block 1Y).

Metastatic carcinoma is seen in three of eighteen lymph nodes.

Conclusion:
Infiltrating ductal carcinoma (Grade 3): 48x33mm, vascular and perineural invasion, outlying invading skeletal muscle; metastases to three of eighteen lymph nodes.

mastectomy

Left mastectomy and axillary clearance.

Addenum


Clinical Details
Breast ca. with modal metastases. HER-2 IHC 2+. HER-2 FISH testing at request of Dr A Field.

Results
HER-2 FISH result (PathVysion HER-2 DNA probe kit): NEGATIVE (Non amplified)

Mean HER-2 copy number per cell: 2.15

HER-2/chr17 ratio: 1.02
(3925) T-04000 M-85003 M-85002


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2006-04-26
 
Museum of Pathology  
Museum of Pathology: SCIRRHOUS CARCINOMA OF THE BREAST
Clinical History
A 48 year old woman presented with a painless lump in the breast. Radical mastectomy was performed.
Pathology (image)
Slice through a female breast showing a large, rounded, poorly demarcated yellowish lesion of approximately 5 x 7 cm.


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2006-04-24
 
Beauty and Sadness in Memory  
Ryuto-e
( ceremony of floating lit paper lanterns ). Every year, at the night of August 6, people float lit paper lanterns on the Motoyasu River flowing beside the "Atomic Dome." This is one of the ceremonies to mourn for the souls of the atomic victims.


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2006-04-22
 
The Infertile Soul  
The Infertile Soul: "The honest, ugly truth about infertility.
I know what its like to find out others feel the same things I do. To know you are not alone with something - especially something negative like feeling sad when you hear of a friends baby news, or feeling angry that everyone else is pregnant, or mad at people for being fertile... That for me was really exciting. It was a huge relief to find I was not alone in feeling such ugly, totally not politically correct type feelings.I feel someone, somewhere along the way, needs to be honest about the ugliness of infertility. That it can produce feelings that are unfair, that are offensive, that make us feel guilty and bad. But they exist, and they are real ...
Similarly, those who are lucky enough not to have to deal with these feelings need to understand they exist and are valid. I want this site to be a place where people can comment anonymously, in response to this post, and free their dark, ugly, horrible but honest feelings about coping with infertility. Lighten your soul, set it free.


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Separated by a common language  
The date April 20th, 4/20 in US style dating, has a special meaning in the USA, and certain sub-cultures (see Wikipedia entry). Another odd thing I've learned thru' Making Light.
The first thing it means to me is the birthdate of Adolf Hitler (1889), which I've always remembered as the first of a strange trilogy - not quite consecutive. QEII (aka Betty Windsor) is getting all the publicity this year for her 80th. William Shakespeare being the (attributed) third, on 23/4/1564 (UK dating).
I think that birthday was mentioned as a reason for the date of the Columbine school shooting - an event that rather spoiled the memory of several nice things of that name, as well as tainting the date further.


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2006-04-21
 
One Memory Triggers Another  
from Alma Alexander's (nom de plume) blog on her website (www.almahromic.com)
Alma A. Hromic:
Monday, February 27 2006 - Octavia Butler: memory
www.almahromic.com/ 2006/02/ 27_octavia_butler_memory.php
Death triggers memory, it is inevitable, and I found myself trying to think back on the details of my one and only - and now all the more treasured - encounter with Octavia Butler. I really was hoping that someday I'd have another chance to talk to her, because my memory of her is so full of warmth and light.
...
I can't remember phone numbers, or how to derive theorems from first principles, or the accurate structurure of DNA at the chemical level - but I can remember what I wore on my 16th birthday, how I felt when my first story was published, how it felt to have my heart broken, words of love, words of hurt, the laughter of family long dead, the dialogue from dozens of movies, the exact swells and quietudes of pieces of classical music which I can't identify by name or composer I only know I know them, remember them.
Memory can be that specific. It can be just a concept, too, and morph into other things - into regret, or nostalgia, or a grudge, or a dream...
There's another piece I like about the seven sins and seven virtues as applied to writers — April 9 2006 - Write about it all (www.almahromic.com/ 2006/04/ 09_write_about_it_all.php)


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2006-04-16
 
Hmmm  
Lunar Embassy: THE WORLDS FIRST EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTERNET (secure.registrysystems.net/lunar)
The Galactic Government and ICANN Accredited Registrar and Registry Operator Aim High!, Inc. have started to issue domain names in the extraterrestrial internet, to form the worlds first off-Earth name space.


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Naming Rights — or Wrongs  
Photos: Worst tech of 2006 (so far):
Worst name for a product that's supposed to go in your living room: Biohazard Media Center Xpress This rack-style Biohazard multimedia PC will look great next to your LeadPaint-brand A/V receiver, Asbestos-brand speakers, and Steaming Pile of Human Waste-brand HDTV! Hazmat suit sold separately."


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How to be creative, by Hugh Macleod  
How to be creative, by Hugh Macleod
gapingvoid: how to be creative (long version)
www.gapingvoid.com/ Moveable_Type/ archives/ 000932.html
"So you want to be more creative, in art, in business, whatever. Here are some tips that have worked for me over the years:" ... — Hugh Macleod (a Global MicroBrand)


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2006-04-01
 
Cyclone Safety Gear?  
Is this what was needed in major-league bulk supply in the banana plantations before Cyclone Larry hit?

From http://www.bananabunker.com

I am making no other comment at all. Whatsoever. Not even about the date.


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