Skip to main content

A wake up email

I just received an email from a fellow MCL'er this evening, who is being prepped for a Stem Cell Transplant (SCT). He didn't mention what type of SCT, i.e. autologous, non-myeloablative (mini-allo) or myeloablative (full-allo), but I am guessing he is going for the non-myeloablative, since he is 70 years old. The other two require very high dose chemotherapy, which is difficult for even the youngest and fittest individuals among us to endure.

While I never enjoy hearing about the troubles others are having, I certainly appreciate it when someone writes to me commenting on my blog, and telling me what a "great" attitude I have. (Oh, if only the latter were true more of the time.)

Sometimes it just takes a jolt from some fan (so to speak), or a poster to one of the several lymphoma/leukemia message boards, which I hesitate to visit so frequently anymore, talking about their problems, to make me realize just how lucky I am.

But why does it take an email from someone, in worse condition than me, to make me realize just how good I do have it?
Labels:

Comments

Becky said…
Apprarently we're not hard wired to think along those terms. We don't get up out of bed thinking how great it is to be alive.

This morning I woke pissed because the dog woke me (he was barking at a stranger)on my day off. What nerve!

I went to see Jim yesterday who had two lobes removed from his lung and he is having a hard time breathing. And I left amazed with breathing of all things!

You never miss the water 'til the well runs dry.

Maybe we should all read Walt Whitman.
3:31 AM
Becky said…
I went to see Jim today and he is having surgery again today at four. I guess they put some temporary bars in his that they are going to now remove. I brought him a Christmaz Kazoo so he can practice his breathign techniques.

Don't forget I won't be in until Wednesday.
7:55 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The green tea phenomenon

Despite being a heavy drinker of green tea since my diagnosis, mainly for its cancer prevention, and hopefully cancer curing qualities, I recently have developed a new found enthusiasm for green tea. Now whether it has been the green tea I have been drinking for the past 6+ years, my heavy exercise routine, or just pure chance that has kept my MCL stable, or at least [very] slow progressing, for the past 7+ years is certainly open to debate, but based on past research, I have chosen to believe green tea has at least helped to some degree. So what has given me this new found enthusiasm? Well, a friend of mine, and cycling buddy, was recently diagnosed with bladder cancer, and knowing my daily regimen called to ask my advice on green tea. He had already done a lot of research on the subject, so when I told him my obsession with green tea consisted principally of drinking the least expensive, decaffeinated green tea available (Trader Joe's brand of 18 tea bags for $3, and more recentl...
10 comments
Read more

Alternative treatment blowback

I received some interesting criticism the other day for my stance on alternative therapies. I ......... cannot for the life of me understand why you would not use supplementation and then use an over the counter poisonous liquid which has proven liver toxicity. Especially while taking a statin. She was referring to the use of an over the counter cough medication, I have been taking to help ease the symptoms of my upper respiratory infection. I did this once and vow to never use it again! I have gotten off Lipitor by using Nicotinic Acid and getting much better results but still use COQ10 to protect Liver as you must do while taking Statins. If you are not using CoQ10, I urge you to research this issue. MCL reduces your D3 and should be taken everyday! I use 5000mgs a day. I was sorta taken aback. She was partially correct. I'm against taking supplements, but when necessary I don't have a problem taking over the counter medication, when my ailments finally get the better of me. ...
7 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