Monday-a serious day

We were scheduled into the clinic for  a 10 am shifting-later-in-the-week to 11am. This puts us into 'rush hour traffic' in the clinic environment. We've asked our nurses to set the infusion pumps so we gain time each day. We went in at 7:45 this morning and were seated in an almost empty facility within 10 minutes. As the nurses and patients began arriving I noticed nurses whispering among themselves which normally is bad news. It was. This weekend we lost two classmates in this battle.

One of  the emotional challenges Deb and I face are that we have always been relatively healthy and younger looking than we actually are. As you may know, we recently and jointly celebrated our 120th birthday. Before the cancer thing, Deb's dark hair was completely natural. No coloring or fancy stuff. Just beautiful natural thick hair. Of course, right now I wear the hair for the family. It's the least I can do until Deb's blooms again!

Most of our classmate peers are older in looks and in fact. There are exceptions, like the 40 year old Austrian lady and I saw a dear teenage girl here all week leaning against the strong supporting shoulders of her protective older brother who seemed to be about seventeen. But, except for these exceptions, we look to be in better shape than many others.  Having one's peer group averaging 10-15 years older is an adjustment when we are whippersnappers! It's a shock to me particularly since I passed an astronaut intensity physical years ago and do the aviation health thing. I've had to deal with the shocking (to me) question of 'what am I doing here with all these sick old folks?'

Today as our four-person cluster with one nurse filled up, two of the seats were filled with talkative but very sick patients. One man is an IBM super computer engineer from Austin, Tx. The other is a federal official with the FDA married to a lady from Singapore that I think is a PhD or equivalent.  They, along with Deb, all suffer from high-risk multiple myeloma. Deb is responding well to the treatments and is in remission. They are not. In fact, one has been here since last Nov and lives in the Markham House with us. The Texas man has been here since Dec 24th, 2009. When they have been home for about a week each and off chemo, their myeloma came back with a vengence. Tex said his marrow showed a 94% involvement when he got back. So, they can't leave without hurting their health. Deb, on the other hand, was able to go home for a few weeks without treatment and come back free of a cancer attack. We are ever so grateful!!!

In the latest book we've read, Multiple Myeloma is still called incurable. It states there is still a 100% risk of it returning after a person has been in remission. We have met several classmates coming back for checkups that have returned to a normal pre-cancer lifestyle. One has been in remission 19 years. Others, like those who shared the cluster with us today are having to endure very harsh painful experimental drugs and chemo. Both were treated elsewhere for myeloma before coming here. It truly is amazing what a difference it makes when we talk to classmates treated elsewhere.

I keep wondering how this principle applies to other diseases and at this point my opinion is that if a person has a very common cancer or disease, they are probably OK staying local for treatment if their medical team is using current protocols. However, if a person has a rare or unusual case, they better get to a top clinic! This opinion may change, but it's based on seeing a lot of pitiful-looking people suffer.

I titled this 'a serious day.' It was. Deb left emotionally drained and with some tears as the cluster-talk of these two very serious cases left us reeling. It's hard to fight for us when we seem to be getting good results. Imagine the fight for their lives these others are in.

You will probably never have this rare cancer called multiple myeloma, but you will probably suffer from some malady someday. Enjoy the good days you have now! Enjoy your friends and families!

Blessings all!