The Big C – Take 2 (by sarah)

Mum's biopsy results came back yesturday and the lump was cancerous so now she has to go under the knife for a third time and this time they are removing the lymph nodes (as I thought they should have done last time). There will a third partial mastectimy followed by another lot of radiotherapy.

This is almost a year after her treatment started last time and she has only just started to get her life back in order. Now we are worse than back to square one and the thing that makes me the angriest is that it was there when they where treating the first lot. So they have left her with a cancerous lump for year which could have become malignant and decided to send little baby cancers through her body - I presume we wont know if thats the case until they look at the lymph nodes. Then there is the trumer of operations and the knock on effects of anestitics.

What exactly do they think they are doing?

And so we are back to minuse square one.

She goes in for her operation on her's and dads thirtieth wedding anniversary - we had been hoping to do something joint for that and her sixtieth birthday but I think we might have to see how things go 🙁

Blue is the Colour (by sarah)

As some of you might have noticed a new catagory of links has appeared in our blog roll. The Fictional Friends - this contains the Wiggly Pets Blog which needs alot of updating and the Blue Monster Blog.

Blue Monster is a Gurgitation Monster and is a very useful person to know if your embarking on a writing career. I have also been playing with CSS to get him looking like he does though I did us an existing template. He would like lots of visitors please and also linkage if he is suitable for your blog roll please add him so he feels wanted.

Poor Ticket Inspectors (by sarah)

Last nights train was the last one I could get and the ticket inspector realising we were going to be late into Swindon where I needed to change to get to Stroud said he'd be phoning though to hold the train for us. We were as always stuck behind a fret train and going at ssssssssnnnnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiilllllllllllllllllllllssssssssssssss pace.

He even told me which plateform I would need to go to which was very helpful as I didn't have a clue and was actually very worried about missing the connecting train.

However, though we left the fret train behind us we got stuck at Didcot Parkway for quiet along time. The reason? The guy behind me had his ticket stolen by another passanger, fortunatly the ticket inspector saw him plus the theif had been trying to steal other things off of other passangers for the entire journey. The victum who had gourgously pink hair stayed remarkably carm but the theif did not. He insisted it was his ticket, refused to get off the train, locked himself in the toliet and shouted lots!

He then attacked the poor trian staff. So obviously police where involved. No one appeared seriously injuried fortunatly but I was a bit worried and shaken and also fretful about the train I thought I was missing. A phone call to Al whilst the guy opposite went to see if things actually where ok, had me relax in the knowledge that the company had to get me to Stroud. I was however worried about the poor train staff. From the reactions of other passengers I take it this happens quiet alot? I mean I've seen stuff like it whilst waiting on Barking Stations plateforms but that like East London and I sort of expect it there and there are always high levels of staff.

I also wondered what would have happened if the ticket inspector had not seen the theift take place would the pink hair victum been believed. This is only something I am wondering due to the response of some of my Scouts perants on hearing I was dying my hair pink for Charity (more on this later) they were worried that I was going to do it perminant as people would think I'm one of those weird people. This made me sad becuase they were trying to protect me but it shows that the world is still judging books by covers and not even with the correct assossiations to the covers.

Other people seem to be more concerned about this insident and me travelling late than I was leading me to wonder if I should be more concerned. Hopefully we will soon have our lives sorted so that I only have to make one such late journey a week. Also I wonder what the actual crime stats are - am I more at risk traveling at night?

Pink is the Colour of October (by sarah)

Ok as some of you know I am going to be dyeing my hair pink - yes pink. And I expect you all to pay for this miracoulnesses of hair transmogrification!

I was going to hold a Pink part for Breast Cancer Campaing but with everything thats happened I didn't get organised and don't have the energy so instead I am hoping you are all going to sponser me to dye my - waist length hair pink!

Yes pink and yes I know I need to lighten it first before you all start panicking. So contact me if you want to sponser me. 🙂

My Scouts will also be doing a Keep It Pink party which the boys all seemed rather excited about - I am sad I'm going to be missing it now what with my MRes and all 🙂

Low and Very Low Grade Metamorphism (by sarah)

Well.....

I found this lecture interesting but not engaging like Monday's even though it probably got more potential for producing useful stuff. The actual title of the talk was - From mud wrestling to metamorphism.

I think the issue is that I don't really have any interest in met rocks unless they are shock met or contain galuconite. However what the lecture did show me was that I need to go back and look at Big Picture geology ie how compressional and extentional basins fit in with plate tectonics. Since Monday I have been boning up on my mineralogy which with out samples or microscope mainly involves looking at the mineral atlas's.

Being a chicken I have picked up the smallest thinest of the volumes called A Colour Atlas of Rocks and Minerals in Thin Section and am only about a third of the way through it but it does feel like its bump starting my brian - however it is also showing me just how much stuff I have unfortunatly forgotten.

Oh I lie I love Diagenises but that is generally considered mets poor relation by hard rock petrologists (ie those that look at the mineralogy in Ig and met rocks.) The Big D as diagenises is known is a major problem for things like paleo analysis and I think it can muck up the chemical resivours for dating samples but don't quote me on that!

Anyway yesturdays lecture was mainly coming from the stand point of mud which ment I did have a slight interest in it which unfortunatly wasn't really covered because as Steve said some people in the room knew more about it than he did - the interactions of mud and life - I comemeted on the concept that early life may have got its self-replicating molecules such as DNA from the similar property of clays - clays are self replicating mineral and there are a few theories doing the rounds about them acting as catilysts for organic reaction and then being split by tidal processes leading to lots of replication - hmm thats not a good explanation I'll probably do a better one at some point I think I probably explained it on my website The Origins of Complex Hydrocarbons and Early Life though I am starting to cringe at that site that I did as a small part of my undergraduate and may have to update soonish.

Since I did the site I have been to several seminars at the Natural History Museum and went to the EANA confrence in Milton Kenyes just before the pregnancy stuff. So I probably did know more including all the extremophile stuff - though again I haven't read any new litrature on the subject for about three and bit years - this is not becuase there hasn't been any but becuase I haven't been in a position to get at the info.

One of the things I did find interesting and I'm sure I've seen the image before was the concept that even in high grade rocks that have like proper mineral crystals and shouldn't have any pore space or water in them for solid state reactions to occure - there are at the Armstrong level (this is a unit that is like minute) there are tiny spaces and these could harbour fluids and then the even smaller gaps between the grains/crystals could act like conduets. I had suggested capillary action before I realised how small the scale was we were dealing with but I think that what ever the mechanism is it's going to be working in a similar way. Water as a substance has a high surface tensition and so does tend to creep even upwards against gravinty if constrained. I was woundering weather other fluid would have higher surface tensions and what sort of temperatures and pressures they would be able to survive.

I assume acids tend to be solutions in water but is the presance of H20 actually nessacery for an acid to exist and what what sort of conditions are needed to maintain them? Remember we are dealing with met rocks here - this means they will have been heated, they will have been squashed and probably multiple times.

And here I detect the danger to my success in this course - I am actually interested in everything and I am having to fight myself not to become side tracked - again on Weds I sat in Carina's office - I was going to do some reading but instead found I was far to interested in the talk she was having with one of her colleges on disastor and risk management - we're talking volcanoes and Tsunarmis here - I was supposed to be reading but ended up listening avidly and then even offering my opinion which I probably shouldn't have done.

It is vitally important that I do not become side tract as I have my first essay due on the 3rd of Nov and it can not be late - at all (unless I get a drs note they hastily added whilst looking at me - I can't think why). Word limit is 3000 words which I feel is going to be hard to stay within. I still have no libary access but found I had some papers on the topics I want to write about anyway which is cool. To say I am panicking is probably an under statement but I am also enjoying this - my brain is being stretched and I like it 🙂

Sorry about the incoherent bable!