Rebecca Goings's Blog, page 3

You Loved a Viper and a Scarab, Can You Love a Falcon?

THE FALCON PRINCE, Desert Princes of Jikkar, Book III, is now available at Carnal Passions!

http://www.carnalpassions.com/store/product.php?id_product=68

Book III of the Desert Princes of Jikkar

He'll teach her exactly how to please a man.

Zara Nedal is blind, yet through her magic, she can make stunning pieces of jewelry. In order to sell them, she must travel to Suridesh, but only a caravan prince can take her. And only one caravan prince will do–the Falcon.

Khalil Dehriq has had his eye on Zara for three cycles. It's been a long time since he's taken a lover, but she cannot see the horrible scars that mar his body. Khalil isn't sure if that's a blessing–or a curse.

As they ride the dunes, their passion heats the night and ignites their hearts. But the witch called Mother has different plans, and vows to kill Khalil at any cost. The only hope to save his throne is to conceive an heir, and now the Falcon must decide if Zara's love is enough to heal his tortured soul.

HAPPY RELEASE DAY TO MEEEEE!!!

http://www.carnalpassions.com/store/product.php?id_product=68

~~Becka

RENEGADE Has Finally Found a Home!

I posted this news everywhere but my website. DUH, Becka, geez. LOL But my western romance, RENEGADE, has been bought by Champagne Books! This is one of my favorite westerns, even if it was passed over by a few other publishers first. This book has been looking for a home for almost a year and a half. And now it's found it.

RENEGADE will be released in August of 2011. Sounds like a long way off, but don't forget, you still have my Desert Princes to look forward to!

Here is the logline and the blurb for RENEGADE:

For the love of an outlaw, she'd risk her life to prove his innocence…

Ever since Olivia Hughes' husband demanded a divorce, her father, Judge Hardison Black, disowned her. She now lives above the laundry shop and supports herself. Despite the disapproving looks from the townsfolk, a new start is what Livie desperately needs.

Thomas Langston is an outlaw, wanted for a murder he didn't commit. He's convinced Judge Black took a bribe to send him to the gallows and he won't rest until he learns the truth. He kidnaps Livie to force the judge's hand, unaware her father could care less. Now Thomas is on the run with a woman and no idea how to clear his name.

Livie is Thomas's one hope for redemption. Before long, their mutual attraction flares into an all-consuming passion. But when Thomas gets caught, he's at the end of his rope. Can Livie set the record straight before he swings at the end of a hangman's noose?

~*~*~

Also, I'm working on another project currently entitled HEART OF A SCOUNDREL.  It's the sequel to IN YOUR ARMS, and the book I've been threatening to write for years for Lissa's shrewish younger sister, Shirley Bloom.  It's currently about halfway finished at 22K, and it's so. Much. Fun!!  I love writing sexy banter, and this one has it is spades.  It should be finished in no time!  I'll be sending this one off to Champagne's sister company, Carnal Passions, since it's erotic.  >:D

~~Becka

Zelda Fixed It!

This blog is clean!

Bone Scan Results – It's Good Bad News

Good bad news?  What is that?!  Well, the short version: Doc didn't find anything wrong.  Good news because nothing is wrong — bad news because nothing is wrong.  There is nothing further my doctor can do for me.

He suggested I go see a rheumatologist.  In his experience, patients who present with "phantom" pain are often diagnosed a year or two down the road with a condition that gives hindsight to the pain, such as rheumatoid arthritis.  Even though the bone scan showed no inflammation (I don't understand how that's possible), it is still in my best interest to get checked out.  There is no cure for RA, however, early treatment can work wonders, apparently.

The doc did give me a blood test back in May that came up negative for RA, however, he mentioned it's not as detailed as a blood test a rheumatologist would give me.  And since my mother has it, there is a chance I could get it too.

I just think it's so odd that nothing showed up.  A bone scan can see inflammation, hairline fractures, ligament tears, infections…  There was nothing.  It looked exactly the same as my "healthy" side.  Couple that with my doctor mentioning the cortisone shot I had didn't do anything for me, he just has no idea what's wrong with me.

I'd thought maybe my doc had missed something on the MRI, but you'd think whatever they missed would have shown on the bone scan.  I just don't understand it.  I do have other aches and pains in many of my other joints.  My ankles and knees are stiff a lot.  My shoulders ache sometimes.  But I'm overweight.  I don't have the best diet.  I do chores throughout the day.  I have five kids.  A normal person is bound to have aches and pains, right?

Maybe this is a good thing.  Maybe this is all a symptom of something that has nothing to do with my TFCC.  But if the rheumatologist can't find RA, I'm back to square one.   I suppose I could get a second opinion since all the various tests have been done, just to have another set of eyes on my films.  I don't know.  I kind of feel defeated.  I feel like the RA thing is a red herring.  But I'll do it, just to be able to say, "I did that, it's not that."

When/if that point comes, will I just have to live with this?  That…kinda sucks. 

~~Becka

In the Mood for a Christmas Romance?

I just so happen to have two Christmas novellas!

The first is my latest release, UNDERNEATH THE MISTLETOE.  It's a light-hearted contemporary romp about a scrooge heroine and her hero who is determined to have himself a merry little Christmas.  LOL  It's available now from Champagne Books.

http://champagnebooks.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=363

~*~*~

I also have an erotic historical novella from Cobblestone Press entitled HEAVEN SENT.  This one involves a lonely widower and the angel God gives him as a gift.

It's also available now.

http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/heavensent.htm

If you've been looking for some short, fun Christmas reads, I hope you pick up mine.  Let me know how you like 'em!  I might put your quote up on my website. 

~~Becka

My Bone Scan Adventure

Wednesday was the day of my scheduled bone scan.  If you're not familiar with a bone scan, it's like the opposite of an x-ray.  Where x-rays send radiation into your body, a bone scan reads the radiation from your body.  How does it do this?  With a radioactive tracer they put in your body, of course!

Yes, I said radioactive.

I'm assuming it's "safe" or else they wouldn't do it, right?  Or at least that's what I thought before I got the injection.  When it came to be time, I was given an IV into a vein in my elbow.  Then the nurse grabs a lead box.  Nestled inside was a yellow syringe, made of special leaded glass, he tells me.  It looks all awesome and old-timey.  Exactly what you'd expect something would look like that held radioactive goo.

"You won't feel any different," the nurse says to me.  "Perfectly safe."  I was more fascinated than scared, to tell you the truth.  He says most people get freaked by the lead box.  Well, I did feel different.  I got a buzzed feeling and it stayed with me all day.  Not too buzzed to drive, maybe more like a foggy feeling.  I couldn't concentrate, and it was kind of hard to think for awhile.  But the amazing thing was they put your arms on the scanner — it scans you from above and below.  Right after he injected me, I instantly saw dots of radiation on the monitor.

I told him I was surprised it spread so fast and he said, "Yes, once it gets in your blood stream it's everywhere very quickly — your heart beats 60 times a minute."

I had pictures taken right then after the injection, of my wrists, my elbows and my shoulders.  My doc had ordered a bilateral upper extremities scan, to compare and contrast the ouchy side from the healthy side, but to also see if there was anything else going on in there.  I had to come back 4 hours later after the radiation had been absorbed into my bones for more pictures of the same. (I know, folks, I don't like typing that anymore than you probably like reading it. lol)

Anyway, even though I could see the images on the monitor, the nurse explained that I wouldn't be able to see the finished films that day.  Apparently, they just look like a bunch of dots on a black background until the scans are sent through a special imaging program to read them properly.  He explained it should only take a couple of days to get the results and that I should be hearing from my doctor in two days (that would be today).  I haven't heard anything yet, but Fridays are my doctor's surgery days, so I don't know if I'll actually hear anything.  He did say he'd call me personally though, so I've got my fingers crossed.

And hopefully, I'll be able to see these scans at some point.  I'm fascinated by it all.  I'm actually praying they DID find something of interest in there, because if not, my doc said there's not much more he can do for me since the MRI I got didn't show any other tissue anomalies, and my x-rays were clear, and if this bone scan is clear, then… Not much more he can do.

That's going to suck if he says that to me.  I don't have serious pain, I have full range of motion, but it's stiff in there, and if I press on my hamate bone, that's when it starts to hurt.  If I do too many strenuous things, it hurts.  And sometimes it just hurts for no reason.  That's why I wonder if I fractured my hook of hamate — that non-union fracture can't be seen on normal x-ray films and it seems to have the very same symptoms I'm having.  Treatment is extraction of the hook via surgery.  Of course I won't know until later today if that's what's going on if/when the doctor calls.  So I'll let you know what he says after I talk with him.

~~Becka

I Finished THE JACKAL PRINCE!

Book V of my Desert Princes series is now finished!  I just unveiled the blurb on my Desert Princes blog, so if you want to have a gander, hop on over there.    This book has been submitted to Carnal Passions and I'll let you know the release date.  But I'm banking on April of 2011.  It seems like a long way off, but don't worry, you still have two other princes to read before you get to Siraj!    The Falcon is releasing in December, and the Spider is coming in February.

Enjoy the blurb!

http://desertprinces.blogspot.com/p/jackal-prince.html

~~Becka

Bone Scan Scheduled

Finally got my bone scan scheduled at the hospital — after my doctor's office called me to tell me my insurance told them that a bone scan doesn't need an approval.  I could have scheduled it last week!  ARGH!!

It's scheduled for Wednesday, November 17th.  They're doing a bilateral upper extremities scan, meaning, they inject both of my wrists to compare and contrast my healthy wrist to my not-so-healthy wrist.  They inject me with the radioactive goo at 9am, and I go back in to get scanned at 1:30pm, to give the radioactive goo time to be absorbed into my bones.

A bone scan was explained to me like the opposite of an x-ray.  Where an x-ray shoots radiation into you, a bone scan reads the radiation coming off of you.  It's a nuclear test.

I gotta say, that's kind of scary…    Not that I'm going to be blowing any light bulbs or growing a third eye, but I wonder what a Geiger Counter would do while I'm shot up with that stuff?  It's supposed to leave your system within 24 hours.  Anyway, my doc said he'll personally call me right away to discuss the results.  I'm hoping I can see my own scans before I leave the hospital.  I mean, are bone scans as fricken' secretive as MRI's?  Dang, trying to see MY OWN MRI was like I'd asked to hold audience with President Obama.

They showed it to me, but it was under duress, and I never saw it again, after that brief 20 seconds of the radiologist scrolling through pics I couldn't discern.  I mean, I get it, the radiologist cannot discuss findings with me right after the pictures come out.  But I just want to see the darn things.  Why can't I examine them?  I'm curious.  I've never seen an MRI film before.  So what's with the dang secrecy?  I can see my x-rays right away.  Heck, I even saw my father's CT scan after his stroke — his doc wasn't douchy and let my sister and I see it.

So WHAT's with the MRI??  Is it some secret technology they don't want to fall into the hands of Zee Germans?  SRSLY, radiologists, can anyone explain that to me?!?!  LOL

~~Becka

Went to the Hand Surgeon and Submission News

Today was my appointment with my hand surgeon, to inform him that my wrist still hurts, no longer at the TFCC, but on the outside of my wrist.  He'd originally thought I had Extensor Carpi Ulnaris Tenosynovitis, however, my symptoms weren't matching with it.  I can feel pain when actually pressing on my bones in there, on the top and on the bottom of what I believe to be my hamate bone.

He explained to me the MRI I had done in March showed no other tissue abnormalities other than my TFCC tear.  The only thing left to do is a bone scan.  A bone scan is a nuclear test, where they inject you with radioactive dye that seeps into your bones.  According to the doctor, they inject you, take a picture, then wait a few hours and take another picture.  They'll be injecting both of my wrists for this procedure, so they can compare and contrast my healthy wrist with my ouchy one.

The doctor explained this scan is more sensitive than an x-ray.  It can detect arthritis, inflammation, and even hairline fractures an x-ray might have missed.

This is also the "last step" to find out what's wrong with me.  After this test, there will be nothing more he can do medically to treat my wrist symptoms.  Without a "roadmap" of sorts to figure out what's wrong, there's nothing surgically he can do.  And sometimes, people end up living with their phantom pain.  He says he hates telling people that, but in the end, there's not much more he'll be able to do for me, unless the scan turns up something.

From what I understand, different issues light up differently on the scan.  It can either show up as a white splotch or a black splotch, depending on what the malady is.  A bone scan can also detect bone cancer.

Of course, it has to be approved by my insurance, so I'm waiting on them to yea or nay it.  Good news is I can have it done at my local hospital just up the road.

So that's the latest on my wrist saga.

~*~*~

And now, on to submission news.  I finally heard back from Samhain on RENEGADE, my latest western historical — they rejected it.  The story didn't work for my editor, despite the revisions I made to the manuscript.  But that's okay.  Different books were made for different publishers, otherwise there wouldn't be any rejections in this world.

So, I picked myself up by the bootstraps (again) and sent my submission on to Champagne Books.  We'll see if after more than a year of traveling to various publishing houses, if this little book can find a home at the Canadian publishing house I've been with since they opened their doors. 

~~Becka

Cursed Hearts Contest Winner – FEDORA!

Calling Fedora!  Don't lose out on your prize!  I announced you as the winner on the thread for the Cursed Hearts contest, but you never responded.  Therefore, I am announcing your win in a thread of it's own.  Perhaps you'll see this one!  You didn't leave your email address.

If you don't respond by Friday, I'll have to pick another winner!  So email me with your snail mail address at rebeccagoings@gmail.com!

~~Becka