early Jolabokaflod

Small Beer Press is having a sale until Monday: http://smallbeerpress.com/shopping/remainders/#

Authors get full royalties. I bought

The River Bank Kij Johnson
The Chemical Wedding by Christian Rosencreutz John Crowley
The Winged Histories Sofia Samatar
Emma Tupper’s Diary Peter Dickinson
Horse of a Different Color Howard Waldrop
Spider in a Tree Susan Stinson

I also sent books to the nieces. Nixie went to their house for Thanksgiving, and told me Younger Niece is very interested in physics, so I sent her Randall Munroe's What If?, with a note that I hoped she would enjoy this book of applied science. I picked Max Gladstone's Three Parts Dead for Elder Niece. I hate having to wait until after Christmas to find out what they thought of them.

For Mungo's birthday I gave him

Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions, by Christian and Griffiths
Autonomous, by Annalee Newitz
The Complete Roderick, by John Sladek

visual migraine that doesn't go away

Last night, while she was waiting to catch the train back to Portland, Nixie texted me about experiencing bright-light afterimages that weren't going away. I said it sounds like a visual migraine, I used to get those, I'm glad you're not driving, it'll probably be gone by morning.

This morning they were still there. Eventually she went to the emergency room, where, eventually, they decided she needed a CAT scan. The CAT scan was fine so now they want to do an MRI.

How scared should I be?

MS resources wanted

The MRI showed lesions in the ocular region of Nixie's brain. The doctor at that hospital said he thinks it's MS. I don't know whether they have to run more tests to be sure? I don't know much at this point.

They transferred her to another hospital with a neurologist on staff. She'll stay there for three days of steroid treatment. We're trying to decide whether Mungo or I or both of us should go be with her. I'm better at emotional support, but he's pretty good, and also not afraid of driving an unfamiliar car in an unfamiliar city. Also he's a nurse, so better at getting information from medical people.

Tell me what you know about MS. Good resources about living with chronic illness in general also appreciated.