Morphine. Part two.

Howdy. This is my second post of the day.

About half an hour ago I took my first extended release Morphine tablet. My new pain medication arrived from the hospice pharmacy by special messenger — in the dark! — about an hour after I finished my egg foo young. I’m still monitoring my reaction (or lack of reaction) to Morphine. I have no idea if there are any side effects coming or not, so I thought I’d try a “live blog” for the next couple of hours. I’m glad you’re along for the ride!

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Tonight’s featured movie at Howdygram headquarters is Trumbo (2015) starring Bryan Cranston, Helen Mirren and Diane Lane, the story of Hollywood’s premier screenwriter Dalton Trumbo and how he was blacklisted and sent to prison for being a Communist sympathizer in 1947. During the blacklist period Trumbo wrote two Academy Award-winning screenplays — Roman Holiday (1953) starring Audrey Hepburn and The Brave One (1956) — even though his work was represented by a “front” writer and under a pseudonym, respectively.

Blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo.

When the blacklist eventually weakened, and with the support of director Otto Preminger, Trumbo was credited for his screenplay for the 1960 film Exodus, which he adapted from the novel of the same name by Leon Uris. And shortly thereafter, actor Kirk Douglas announced that Trumbo had written the screenplay for Stanley Kubrick’s film Spartacus. With these actions, Preminger and Douglas helped end the power of the blacklist, and Trumbo was fully reinstated into the Writers Guild of America. It’s an important story that needs to be remembered, people. There are a LOT of important stories that need to be remembered!

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MORPHINE UPDATE. I’m 90 minutes into my first dose of extended release Morphine and I’m still feeling just fine. No noticeable side effects! And that’s excellent news, because I’ll be taking 15mg of Morphine twice a day for a level of chronic pain that I sincerely hope none of you ever has to experience. And I still get to add Hydrocodone whenever I need it!

I’m so happy I could cry. I haven’t been able to walk or move without agonizing pain for an awfully long time, guys. Years, to tell you the truth.

In case you’re wondering about the point of all this, it’s about STAYING ALIVE. My goal this week is to walk to the study under my own steam and get back to what I love the most: designing mugs and greeting cards for The Howdygram Store. I’ve got all kinds of adorable ideas and brainstorms zooming around in my poor head, trying like hell to get out, and that can only be accomplished if and when I’m parked at my desk in study with my giant iMac and my fancy-ass Adobe Creative Cloud software. And I hope to God I can do it tomorrow. Please keep your fingers crossed for me!

Many thanks for stopping by tonight. Go ahead and remember the damn Alamo if you want to. Me, I just want a bag of Pepperidge Farm pizza goldfish.