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This Is NOT The Obituary I Needed Or Wanted 😫

Rest in Power, my Queen.

From USA Today:

Dolly Parton, the groundbreaking country music icon, has died. She was 80.

Parton’s death was confirmed by her family on Tuesday, Aug 25. The iconic “Jolene” singer had been facing health issues in the last year of her life and had recently missed a planned public appearance.

“My family and I have shared a lifetime of beautiful memories with Dolly, but so have you,” Bryan Seaver, Parton’s nephew, said in a video announcing her death on Aug. 25. The video was posted on the singer’s official social media pages.

“She has always been on your television, your record player, your CD, and on your phone playlist, becoming an extended part of your family, whether you liked it or not,” Seaver said.

Here’s what we know.

Dolly Parton health update, cause of death: How did the country music icon die?

A cause of death for Parton has not been released, but the singer had been open about her health struggles since 2025. In October, Parton spoke candidly in a video message that was released after her sister raised concerns by publicly asking fans to pray for the singer.

At the time, Parton said she was doing “OK” but had “some problems” to deal with and was undergoing “a few treatments.”

“Back when my husband, Carl, was very sick, that was for a long time, and then when he passed, I didn’t take care of myself,” Parton said. “So I let a lot of things go that I should have been taking care of. So anyway, when I got around to it, the doctor said, ‘We need to take care of this. We need to take care of that.'”

Parton added at the time the she had to “cancel some things” as she underwent “a few treatments.”

In May, Parton shared a health update as she canceled all of her Las Vegas shows. In a five-minute video, she told fans she was “responding really well to meds and treatments” and “improving every day,” though she said it would take “a little while before I’m up to stage performance level” because her medications and treatments “make me a little bit swimmy headed.”

“I’ve always had problems with my kidney stones,” she said. “…My immune system and my digestive system got all out of whack over the past three years, and [doctors] are working real hard on rebuilding and strengthening those.”

“I have great doctors, and I’m doing really well, and they assure me that everything I have is treatable, so I’m going with that,” Parton added.

[more]

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Three Weeks Later

25 August 2026
4 August 2026

As you can see, there’s been a very noticeable improvement. The combination of the prednisone and a weekly (vs. biweekly) dose of Duplixent has definitely turned the tides.

My upper body looks even better, and while there are a few small blisters still forming overnight (usually on sites that are already healing) it’s nothing like the dozens of new ones that I used to wake up to every morning.

When I saw my dermatologist last week, she said it may take up to six months of Duplixent to totally knock this out. Okay, other than the cost, I’m fine with that. My only concern is what happens when I’m weaned from the prednisone. We agreed that I may need to stay on a much-reduced dose for the duration when this round of treatment wraps up. That’s one of those wait-and-see things.

Being on a high dose of prednisone for an extended period is not without its own set of side effects, the most recent being fluid retention in my lower legs. I could barely get my shoes on yesterday, but before I flew into a panic (my thoughts went to very dark, cardiac-related places even though my heart is in great shape), I thought I’d google “prednisone and fluid retention” and sure enough—to my profound relief—the swelling ankles and calves is a definite side effect. I spoke to my nurse friend and she advised to up my water intake significantly. Also—since I’m now officially an old man—I got several pairs of compression socks which have really helped. (It’s not like I’m going to be one of those guys who wears them with shorts.) It’s only been one day on both those therapies, so again, we’ll see how it goes, but so far, so good.

And did I mention the fungal outbreak on my palms and soles? Another side effect. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. Lamisil is my friend these days.

The wheels on the bus go round and...oops.

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Mellow House Morning

David Visan – Buddha Bar V (2003)

This is an interesting series. All of them are different, but Disk 1 always has a kind of a mellow, laid-back, coffee-in-the-morning vibe, while Disk 2 is 80 minutes of hard core dance.

This one in particular has a decidedly middle-eastern flavor.

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The Wheels On The Bus Go Round And Round

And sometimes they fall off completely.

I dream about cars a lot. Sooner or later, every car I’ve ever owned pops up in one. I remember one time I was driving my old red Eclipse—skimming like a hovercraft into a sunrise above the treetops of an immense forest.

The very first car I ever bought new, a white ’84 Corolla SR5 still makes an appearance now and then, having never sold it and miraculously having been in storage all these years yet still running perfectly.

This morning I woke from a dream where I’d been tooling around (in the rain, no less) in a white Mazda Miata. I’ve never owned a Mazda Miata of any color, but it had been on my “most wanted” list for many years. I don’t remember many details except that I was on the freeway and then pulling into the parking lot at work. I was surprised to see a coveted parking spot right by the main entrance (closer than even the handicapped spots) was empty.

I had some trouble turning into it, feeling like I was either too close to the curb on the driver’s side or the stripe on the passenger side, but got out and saw that I was perfectly centered. (Notice my choice of words there.)

And then I saw that the rear passenger wheel was missing. Yep. Gone. Vanished. Fell off somewhere and I never ever realized it until I saw it and how it explained my difficulty turning into the parking spot.

“Damn, that’s going to cost a lot to replace,” was my only thought upon seeing it as I walked away, but realized I didn’t really need to worry about it because I knew I had enough credit available to cover whatever it was going to cost. Everything would all work out in the end. And at that moment I woke up.

The car-as-body/life metaphor all but slapped me in the face and surprisingly, I came away from it all with a very positive vibe. The missing wheel was a—pardon the pun—just a bump in the road, not an end to the journey.

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