Today I finished the first phase of immunotherapy intended to stymie the cancer on my kidney and in my lungs. According to the oncologist, Kaiser will call me and set up another CT scan soon in an attempt to see if the very pricey drugs they have been giving me have had the intended effect. According to the statements furnished by my health plan, it costs some entity more than $100K every time I walk in the door to the hospital. I’m glad I have good insurance.

Our family seems to have flopped out of the pan and directly into the fire this month. My wife and kids have been bending over backwards to make the aging father comfortable after my hospital and immunotherapy fun when the miseries of pandemic swept the globe. After a family meeting filled with hopes but devoid of reliable information, we chose to self-isolate from the rest of the possibly infectious and asymptomatic humans, at least to the greatest extent possible.

Our not popularly elected idiot leader, Donald Trump, says that we have nothing to worry about and the U.S.A. is adequately prepared, properly supplied and has all the personnel capabilities necessary to combat a worldwide pandemic. We will soon see. Hint: Trump has put his slithering daughter and nincompoop son-in-law into pandemic response leadership roles, a truly inauspicious beginning.