I woke up this morning feeling pretty good about things. I had my usual cocktail of 20 pills with my breakfast. I happened to tune in to NBC's "Today" Show. The hosts were interviewing a woman named Jennifer Rothschild.
Jennifer went totally blind at the age of 15. That meant she suffered a loss beyond comprehension. To be born blind is bad enough, but to have her vision taken away must have been devastating. To be able to see, and then be unable to see was like dealing with a thief in the night. But this lady isn't allowing her blindness define her. She's authored eleven books in the years since, and she's a motivational speaker who is showing the world that the human spirit can overcome nearly any obstacle.
I wish I had the talent to be a motivational speaker. I would shout to the world that cancer doesn't have to be a death sentence. Nor does it have to be something that defines you. I was quite fortunate to meet up with all the right doctors at all the right times. We took a big chance with the clinical trial that I was a part of. We basically threw the atom bomb at the cancer, and so far, so good.
The treatment didn't come without cost. I'm stuck with peripheral neuropathy. Or as some call it, Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. It's like standing in a pile of hot coals. But I still consider it a small price to pay for the life I'm leading. I have my wife, my kids, my family, and my cherished friends all supporting me. So I grin and bear it.
I think of the day that I was given the prognosis: 2, 2 1/2 years at best. That was August 2012. The funny thing was, I was diagnosed on July 13th, 2012. It was a Friday the 13th! But here it is, 2016, and I'm still here. It has to be the love and support, plus the positive attitude I was able to maintain thanks to the medical support, the family support and the love and encouragement from my friends.
Looking ahead, I'm holding out hope for a long remission. There's no cure for this cancer (Multiple Myeloma) and the blog I write it titled 62 Months because that was the prognosis for the typical Myeloma patient, according to the American Cancer Society database.
I want to do something to help others who've been diagnosed with cancer. As I said, I'm not much of a public speaker, but I'd love to hear any suggestions you might have if you happen to read this.
Love you all.
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Monday, February 29, 2016
Doing the Crawl
I wish I could start this post with a happy tone. But...life goes on, and it's been difficult. I've learned to enjoy the happy moments with extra vigor because they've been so few and far between.
My son is still having difficulty recovering from his shotgun wounds. Our last hope is to get him what they call a "nerve block", which is an epidural, I believe. I'm keeping my fingers crossed because they're aren't too many options left. For some reason, the doctors have all elected to leave two of the hunks of shrapnel in there. We were to five doctors, including a general surgeon, and none of them would even consider the removal.
Another lovely surprise related to his shooting is that he's in school in Florida, where it happened. My ignorance was brought to light when we discovered that my health insurance, doesn't cover the injuries. So here come the bills for that. It did cover a small amount of the emergency room charges, but that was a drop in the bucket.
While we struggle to cover the flood of medical bills, for my oldest daughter, my son, and my own bills, I'm definitely crawling. The utilities bills don't go away, the cell phone, cable tv all became too expensive luxuries.My kids sacrifice so much and don't complain. The three of them are in school, hopefully learning how to build successful careers so they don't ever have to do the crawl. My income has become so minimal because my cancer cleaned us out, and now I'm disabled and on Social Security. Anyone who receives that kind of money knows how hard "fixed income" living is.
I've gotten some help from some kind friends who've donated to my fundraiser. It's like Christmas morning when I get notification of a donation received. It makes the load just a little lighter. I can crawl a little further. Payment arrangements with these companies is really only a temporary fix, it just means you'll have a balance that will take longer to pay off. It'd be awesome if the balance were eliminated altogether.
I'm gonna keep crawling until I learn to walk again. I'm hesitant to post these sort of pity parties, but I want to have something to look back on when I've made life good again.
I leave a link to my fundraiser on the sidebar, just in case someone wants to help out. I look forward to the day I remove that.
Like I said, you have to crawl before you walk. I'll get there.
My son is still having difficulty recovering from his shotgun wounds. Our last hope is to get him what they call a "nerve block", which is an epidural, I believe. I'm keeping my fingers crossed because they're aren't too many options left. For some reason, the doctors have all elected to leave two of the hunks of shrapnel in there. We were to five doctors, including a general surgeon, and none of them would even consider the removal.
Another lovely surprise related to his shooting is that he's in school in Florida, where it happened. My ignorance was brought to light when we discovered that my health insurance, doesn't cover the injuries. So here come the bills for that. It did cover a small amount of the emergency room charges, but that was a drop in the bucket.
While we struggle to cover the flood of medical bills, for my oldest daughter, my son, and my own bills, I'm definitely crawling. The utilities bills don't go away, the cell phone, cable tv all became too expensive luxuries.My kids sacrifice so much and don't complain. The three of them are in school, hopefully learning how to build successful careers so they don't ever have to do the crawl. My income has become so minimal because my cancer cleaned us out, and now I'm disabled and on Social Security. Anyone who receives that kind of money knows how hard "fixed income" living is.
I've gotten some help from some kind friends who've donated to my fundraiser. It's like Christmas morning when I get notification of a donation received. It makes the load just a little lighter. I can crawl a little further. Payment arrangements with these companies is really only a temporary fix, it just means you'll have a balance that will take longer to pay off. It'd be awesome if the balance were eliminated altogether.
I'm gonna keep crawling until I learn to walk again. I'm hesitant to post these sort of pity parties, but I want to have something to look back on when I've made life good again.
I leave a link to my fundraiser on the sidebar, just in case someone wants to help out. I look forward to the day I remove that.
Like I said, you have to crawl before you walk. I'll get there.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)