Skip to main content

Life is way too fleeting!

I just got an email from an MCL buddy in Italy, who I was hoping to meet up with during our trip there next month.

I had written him about a month ago, informing him of our trip to Italy, but I had not heard from him since then. I was a little concerned, but felt he was probably just on vacation, and was having too good a time to respond. So the other day I wrote again, and he quickly responded.

As it turns out I was right to be concerned, after 38 months in remission, the MCL (we call it the beast) came back, and he wasn't doing well. He was having trouble breating because of a mass of lymphnodes pressing against his lungs, the largest one being about 7 cm, and he was experiencing pain in his heart.

So the reason he couldn't write, is he had to go to Torino (apparently a very nice place, as it is home to many of the top hematologists) for treatment, and didn't have his computer available until just the other day.

Unfortunately Torino is also a little out of the way for our trip, so I am not sure if I will get to see him. Hopefully he will be done with treatment by then and be back home, where we can visit.

What really got me though, was how he ended his email

Even though I have relapsed Marc for the first time after 38 months of complete remission, I really was enjoying life. I think I am going to give [the beast] a battle. I just hope that my heart will hold up.


How quickly things can change. 38 months in remission and the beast acts up again. Did he accomplish everything he wanted in that time? I doubt it! I've already had 52+ months without treatment, and I haven't accomplished everything I want.

But then again, I'm going to live forever, right?

Get well Sam!!!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fatigue! Part II - Maybe it is real?

Or it's actually Motivational Deficiency Disorder, MoDeD (pronounced Mo-Dee-Dee) for short. In a report this week by Roy Moynihan who reports for the British Medical Journal Austrailian scientists may have come across the reason for extreme laziness . The condition is claimed to affect up to one in five Australians and is characterised by overwhelming and debilitating apathy. Neuroscientists at the University of Newcastle in Australia say that in severe cases motivational deficiency disorder can be fatal, because the condition reduces the motivation to breathe. Neurologist Leth Argos is part of the team that has identified the disorder, which can be diagnosed using a combination of positron emission tomography and low scores on a motivation rating scale, previously validated in elite athletes. "This disorder is poorly understood," Professor Argos told the BMJ. "It is underdiagnosed and undertreated." Who knew? Maybe I have MoDeD, from my attempts to become a...
Post a Comment
Read more

History IS repeating itself

I didn't grow up during the rise and fall of Hitler and Nazi Germany, so for me to claim it feels like those are the times we are living in now, must be taken with a grain of salt. But I have seen enough movies, and read enough history to know, if the times we're living in now are not akin to the rise of a Nazism and Facism in Europe in the 1930's and 1940's, then we're not far off. If you can't see the parallels with Nazi Germany, then you must be living in a different country than me. Republicans and other right wing extremists will stop at nothing to subvert the will of the majority, forcing their beliefs, that they are the superior race and have been appointed by God, to impose their will on America, while they blame all our problems on immigrants, blacks and Jews. As I speak, Mitch McConnell, and his minions are raising roadblocks to all legislation designed to help average Americans under the guise of fiscal responsibility. They condone violent and verba...
Post a Comment
Read more

My concerns reaffirmed today

When I was first diagnosed with MCL, I pretty much read just about everything I could get my hands on, I attended various conferences, and I talked to anyone who would listen. One of the most important lessons I learned, and which I've mentioned numerous times before was No one cares more about you than you. But in addition to that, I learned to fear the drug Doxorubicin , AKA Adriamycin, Doxil, Hydroxydoxorubicin, or more affectionately the Red Devil. Besides being a deadly chemical, as is the case with most chemotherapy drugs, it is one of the few chemotherapy drugs known to cause permanent heart damage. I even heard Dr. Sandra Horning , a noted Stanford lymphoma specialist, state at the first lymphoma conference I attended in LA, there was no evidence Doxorubicin provided any added benefit to chemotherapy protocols. This was music to my ears, since Doxorubicin is very common in most lymphoma treatment protocols. And even though Dr. Horning has since changed her tune [which my sk...
Post a Comment
Read more