Update on Mary

Both of you are in my prayers, Don.

It took one of my parents, and almost got the other. :(

I hope you both have your boots ready, and don't need them for a good while. JR Dweller in the cellar

D> I have friends here that care, other readers please ignore.

"Don Foreman" I have friends here that care, other readers please ignore.

Sorry to hear. :>(( phil

Don Foreman wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Past posts suggest that Mary is a tough old bird. Yesterday's incurable is today's tricky bit of modern medicine. I have a buddy that had stage

4 kidney cancer who is now pretty much fully cured. if he'd come down with it two years earlier, he'd be 6 feet under.

Hang tough, both of you, and good luck.

Doug White

There are very few places in the US that are the equal of Mayo for overall knowledge and services.

RWL

Serenity Prayer for the Stressed (Blueyes424)

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I cannot accept, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had to kill today because they pissed me off.

And also, help me to be careful of the toes I step on today, because they may be connected to the ass I have to kiss tomorrow.

Help me to always give 100% at work: 12% on Monday, 23% on Tuesday,

40% on Wednesday, 20% on Thursday, and 5% on Friday.

And help me to remember when I am having a REALLY bad day, and it seems that people are trying to piss me off, that it takes 42 muscles to frown and only 4 to extend my middle finger and tell them to bite me.

Amen

-- Experience is a good teacher, but she send in terrific bills. -- Minna Thomas Antrim

Wow! I knew I had a few friends here, but wow. Thanks for all the good thoughts and wishes.

I didn't mean to imply gloom and doom. The disease is incurable and can have eventually fatal effect on vital organs, but we really don't have a prognosis yet and all indications are that it's early stages. We're both expecting that she will get better with a treatment protocol now starting, devised by the small team on her case at Mayo to optimize quality of life by managing effects of the disease while minimizing or arresting its progress as much as possible.

We think that's exactly the right focus, and we're optimistic for the time being. We know we won't live forever. We've always said we'd like to check out same day with a nickel left, both grinning and flipping the bird at the grim reaper. We think there may well be a few more good years for us.

My ex-wife and my high school sweetheart that I was going to marry and live happily ever after with (but didn't) died within a day of each other in autumn of 2007, both of aggressive cancers. Spookey.

I was circling the drain in May of '08 but was saved by a good surgeon and a bit of attitude. Gettin' old is not for sissies.

I don't fear death, and I don't think Mary does. We're both experienced with death of others and grief for them. We do what we can to avoid it and forestall it for ourselves, but we accept that it's inevitable.

Best we can do is enjoy our lives and each other for as long as we last until our chits expire. Quality life is job 1 every day.

Very well said Steve.

=A0 -- Minna Thomas Antrim- Hide quoted text -

I hadn't seen that version. It must be from one of those funny spin- off denominations.

Hang in there. Just keep hangin' in there. Our thoughts are with you.

Oh -- like that universal disease called 'life', then.

(Not to make light of your predicament -- I'm still wishing you the best of luck on this)

Yup.

BIG SNIP

Hey Don and Mary,

Well, you both just remember that all of us "out here", while we're either pushing or pulling at any given moment, for sure that means we're beside you.

Brian Lawson

Sorry to hear about Mary, Don. Our hearts, thoughts and prayers are with you _both_.

Bob rgentry at oz dot net

Ouch!

What does the 1% doubt cover? Something possibly better?

[ ... ]

That I can certainly understand and sympathize with.

Does "incurable" also eliminate a possibility of stabilizing it at the current stage, if not causing remission?

[ ... ]

That is good!

A friend at work had lukemia, and was posting regular updates on his status and treatment -- including significant technical details. That was his way of dealing with it.

Best of luck, DoN.

Not really. It concerns the detail of which particular variant of the disease.

No. We're hopeful that chemotherapy will do that.

Don, Best wishes and good luck from me as well. Ken

Myeloma sucks, that said it can be controlled with treatment in many cases.

The drug bortezomib (Velcade) is working wonders, as are multiple combinations of chemotherapy agents -revlimid, velcade, melphalan, decadron, etc.

Google up the International Myeloma Foundation and read their pages or request a free information pack.

Don't freak out on older statistics of prognosis/mortality as the numbers have not caught up with new treatments.