Half my ancestry comes from Sweden and the other half is split between Wales (one-quarter) and Native American (only by conjecture because no one in the family claims to know what happened to the picture of the woman who is my great-great-grandmother; I saw it once and if she wasn’t Native American, then she was certainly doing everything she could to look like one), England, and Germany; in other words, a lot of Northern European fair skinned immigrants and that other person no one is willing to claim.

My mother, from the non-Swedish side, was raised in north-central Washington where there is lots of sun most of the year due to the rain shadow effect of the Cascade Mountains. She was a sun worshipper and I, by default, was, too. Every year, as soon as it stopped raining in Seattle, I would be out in a t-shirt and shorts turning my lily-white skin to the obligatory tan favored by Hollywood stars of old. Unfortunately, being fair skinned meant that I always had to endure the mandatory blistering sunburn to get the skin ready to turn brown.

Today, I went to a dermatologist to get a full body scan. I had one some twenty-odd years ago and they found a precancerous growth that had to be excised. So I thought it was time for another one. The result of today’s scan was the freezing of a precancerous growth on my forehead and the biopsy of a black mole on my arm.

So, if you’re thinking of getting a bit of sun this coming summer, please use some sunscreen. That stuff wasn’t available back when I was getting burnt to a burnished red and now I have another thing to worry about. Is that just a mole or should I have it checked? Is that flaky thing on my ear the same as the flaky thing on my forehead? In that case, the one on my ear is just a by-product of aging, but the one on my forehead could’ve turned into something deadly.

Nana is doing great. Took her into the vet on Saturday for her 9-week checkup and vaccine. She now weighs just over 14 pounds. She gained 6 pounds in two weeks! We’ve got to get the potty training in high gear because pretty soon she’s going to be too heavy to carry outside. As it is now, if we try to walk her out, she’ll potty on the floor. Just have to trick her little mind into picking up on the idea that we GO OUTSIDE to potty. After all, German shepherds rank number 3 on the dog intelligence scale. I’ve almost got her to stop biting my ankles when I take her outside, so I have to keep up the positive attitude.

I’m almost weaned off the Risperidone and will start the preliminary dosage course of Quetiapine (Seroquel) tomorrow night. I take 50 mg for 3 nights to start, then 100 mg for 3 nights, then 200 mg for 3 nights, and then go to 300 mg for the remainder of the test period. As with any medication, I’ll be looking for desired benefit vs. undesired side effects. Unfortunately for Quetiapine, death is one of the side effects and since you take it at night, I might not notice I’m having a life threatening stroke or heart attack while asleep. Peachy!

Also, I’ve read Quetiapine can induce something called Zombie-ism, which causes you to function at the mental capability of a piece of soft fruit.

But, it’s all maybe and might. You never know until you try it. You go in with your eyes open and you see how things go. Plus, I have to deal with the VA. Risperidone is the first medication of choice to treat the psychotic side of Type I Bipolar Disorder. If that doesn’t work, then you move to Quetiapine. Each has its own set of pluses and minuses. From what I’ve read, Quetiapine just might be what I’m looking for. All I have to do is hope the side effects don’t affect me too much.