Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Why yes, I am blogging a little earlier than usual. Thanks for noticing. It turns out, unsurprisingly, that the evil dex had exactly the same effect this time around that it had last time: it kept me up all night.

And today I get to take some more! The first infusion is a two-day affair, so I’ll be off at the infusion center all day again. Yesterday everyone was pleased that I had no negative reaction to the Darzalex, even though I did have a reaction to the Darzalex. About an hour after the IV started, my throat got scratchy, I started coughing, and my nose started to drip. The dripping went away after a couple of hours; the coughing went away after three or four hours; and the scratchy throat isn’t quite totally gone even now. Also, my stomach is slightly upset. Apparently this is what counts as “no reaction.” This must mean that it really hits some people hard.

But in truth it really isn’t much of a reaction. I can probably control the allergic symptoms with the Zyrtec they told me to get, and there are plenty of options for my stomach. Probably Pepcid, which is what they gave me last time. So things should go more smoothly next week.

Anyway, this will last eight weeks, then it goes to every other week for eight weeks, and then to once a month for some undetermined length of time. I suppose the effects will accumulate over time, but probably not too much since they seem fairly modest. We’ll see.

Anyway, that’s why you’re getting early morning posts. Whether you get any late morning posts depends on how I feel after today’s second round of fine pharmaceutical products. I can’t wait.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate