Skip to main content

Happy birthday to me

Well if you haven't figured it out by the title, today is my birthday, and I'm 59 years old.

WOW! It's almost hard to believe, considering just over 5 years ago, I was having doubts that I would ever get to be 55, let alone 59.

Back then, I said if I could get 5 good years, I would be happy, but now that I got those 5 good years, I'm not at all happy. Nothing has changed. I still have MCL, and I now I want another 5 good years.

It's just so hard, knowing you have a terminal illness, and trying to live life as though you didn't. It's so hard to get up every morning, put on that happy face, go to work, play golf, ride my bike, or do any other myriad of things, as if nothing was wrong, all the time knowing the disease could hit me anytime.

But it's also hard not knowing when it seems everything is more difficult to accomplish, or you have to take a nap after doing all those things you love, whether it's the disease that is gathering strength, depression from dealing with the constant cloud over you, or, as this day reminds me, I'm just getting older.

It's plenty hard enough just dealing with my MCL, I sure don't need no stinkin' birthday to remind I'm getting older.

Of course gifts can go a long way to relieving some of those anxieties. :)

Comments

Mike Foxworth said…
Marc,

Happy birthday from a fellow gemini who arrived at the "magical" 59 a couple of weeks ago.

Don't give up counting or expecting more years added to your longevity. What science, medicine, faith and hope can bring, we never know, but the prospects are better than they ever have been for you and me and our fellow MCL voyagers.
Becky said…
Happy birthday and cheer up you cranky old fart.
John Wagner said…
Happy Belated Birthday wishes to you.

"But it̢۪s also hard not knowing..." This paragraph expressed my thoughts and feelings exactly. I still wonder which it is.

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...

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...

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...