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

The results are in

And I am iron deficient, big time. [Which would account for my low hemoglobin] Test Result Ref Range IRON 30 59-158 mcg/dL TOTAL IRON BINDING CAPACITY 231 250-420 mcg/dL IRON SAT 13 20-50 % My Ferritin levels were good, but that could be because Ferritin is also an "acute phase reactant", that is sometimes increased with acute or chronic disease. Folate and B12 levels were also within the normal range. The only problem now is determining what is causing the iron deficiency, which in the case of men, is [very] rare. My oncologist has given me a Globin Fecal test to perform, and has scheduled me for a consultation with a colorectal surgeon to discuss performing a colonoscopy, which could be problematic because of my large spleen. In the mean time, I've decided to start taking an iron supplement, it's only the quantity that is causing me some consternation. I've been told by a very knowledgeable person that to overcome an iron deficiency, I need to be taking 300 mg o...
5 comments
Read more

This is just one of those days

It's one of those days you just want to sit around the house and do absolutely nothing, or watch some movies you have recorded. It might even be a good day to read a book, if you were so inclined, which I am not. As you should be able to see from the view out my bedroom window, it is raining outside. The rain started last night, and hasn't let up since. I can't complain too much though, as this is the rainy season, and we do need the rain. Plus Monday's are typically my day off from exercise, so I will surprise everyone, and not complain. I just feel sorry for anyone who might be visiting from, say Argentina, like a friend of mine (fellow MCLer), who happens to be in Cambria today. He might be a little disappointed. Fortunately the rest of the week, when he will be in LA, will be nice, and the real intent of his trip was to visit his son in Tahoe, who works at one of the ski resorts, and ski, so I know he's not complaining too much either. This weather will actually...
6 comments
Read more

When is enough, enough?

Today I learned, Lance Armstrong, the most drug tested athlete in the history of sport, is being accused of doping, again . This time by the US Anti Doping Agency (USADA), who claim they have collected blood samples from him in 2009 and 2010 that were “fully consistent with blood manipulation including EPO use and/or blood transfusions.” Really! What took them so long? The French have been trying to make allegations of drug doping stick for years, ever since he won his first Tour d'France, but to no avail. And now the USADA claims to have evidence to support that claim, and they've waited almost 3 years before releasing this evidence. Needless to say, I am skeptical. Then there's this from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO): Increasing the federal excise tax on cigarettes by 50 cents per pack eventually would increase Medicare and Social Security spending, slightly. Eventually? What is the CBO suggesting here? That we should encourage smoking, because if we don't, in...
11 comments
Read more