joyce's Cancer Blog

Dear Joyce; what fabulous news, you must feel so relieved and hopefully on the mend. Isn’t it always the way when one is out in public that these little tests come along at the most inappropriate time. I’m sure no one was looking but you must of felt self conscious. You are such a trooper, keep up the great work on yourself and the gift to others. Weeze

Posted on April 6, 2008 at 9:01:15 PM by weezie

Dear Joyce,
What wonderful news you have received. Please accept my apology for just thanking you for your wonderful and caring responce to me last month. I have had much going on. After the fractured ribs from the CT they said that the walls of my esophagus had widened so I had to get an endoscopy which I was terribly concerned about for they had told me that my med for osteoporosis had caused this so they d/c it that day which of course was a major conern because of the numerous fractures. But, I had the endoscopy and thankfully it was perferctly normal. But, while I was in the hospital for the fx. ribs I had to get transfusions and they also d/c the Gleevec which is my med for the leukemia, so they have delayed the BMB due to not being on my regular dosage for he feared a less than great outcome of the results. In an exam he found a thickening in the side of my neck there seems which I have to go weekly to be examined. He told me not to worry for he doesn’t want to jump to conclusions but he certainly does want to watch it closly. I have an amazing oncologist which him and his wife are partners in their group and their daughter recently graduated from Harvard and is now in medical school with the plans of joining her parents in their practice. The pic of myself and the guy in the white coat is of course Dr. Peter Weiss. He spend at least one full hour sometimes more depending upon what needs to be discussed, etc in a normal office visit. When I am in the hospital he is usally there 2 times a day and when I was in ICU he was there several times and if he was there early evening he made sure to call and have the nurse tell me to,” Keep my chin up”. When he would leave my room with his last words his big thing that he always does is to put is hand under his own chin and lift it up, meaning for me to always keep my chin up. When I was diagnosed since I worked at Washington University in St. Louis it was a no brainer as to whom I was going to have treat me for I knew his reputation, not only with his patients but with the staffm for I never heard a single nurse, tech, or any employee say a single word against only words of praise. Though, I didn’t realize it at the time, when I was diagnosed we were the exact same age. This is something I didn’t know until a few years ago. He is not only my oncologist, but he is truly my friend and I feel so very blessed to have him as my oncologist. Not only does he talk to me about my illness but my social situation for that is something that has a very big impact on my care. If one or two of my children do not come for a visit or a BMB, he will always ask how things are with them.
I will end this by saying that I attended my daughter’s graduation from Missouri Baptist University, Summa Cum Laude with a writing certificate in English Literature, and a Bacehlor of Science in Education, with the highest honors. I was so very thankful that I was able to see her graduate college for she only graduated HS 4 years ago. I feel so very blessed for she was a young 8 years old when I was diagnosed. She is an amazing and determined young lady that I am extremely proud to call her my daughter. She is truly a Rock for me throughout these procedures, though I have not shared the latest news about the lump in my neck for I pray that it is nothing to be concerned about and she has had so many papers and her portfolio due to her professors in addition her student teaching and also working 4 nights a week at a high end restaurant in ST. Louis, I didn’t want to add to her non-stop obligations.
You have such a wonderful family. You had a very difficult time losing your husband and yoou dog in the very same month. Some people do not understand just how devastating it is to lose a pet. Though, I had adopted a wonderful dog from the APA when I moved into my home after I got a divorce in 1986 andd since I was working and had just started going back to school I was hoping to get a dog that was about a year old and hoping to be house trained. When we first went to the APA there was many new puppies and of course my children immediately went to them though I spotted this beautiful white dog peeking around the caretaker and when I asked about her she told be that she had be terribly abused and the vet had only recently cleared her for adoption for she had several fx ribs that some monster had took out their frustations on this poor anaimal so I called her and the volunteer gave me a treat to give her in hope she would come to me and though she hesitated she did come to me and I thought to myself,” This is my dog”, though I said nothing. We actually stayed until they closed and I asked if we could come back the next night for to me this was a big decision and I wanted to be sure this would be good for me and my children but also a very innocent dog that had some terrible baggage with her. So, as planned we were there the next evening and she immediately walked over to me so Icalled my children over and of course she enjoyed their attention but still very guarded. I did all of the necessary papers to offically adopt her and we immediatley named her Muffy. She went to California with us, several trips to Florida and Indiana, and she was part of our family. The lady had told me that she did not like men and I told her that was not going to be a problem and she just laughed. She became my shadow, thugh the kids loved her dearly but when my boys became teenagers she seemed to shy away from them a bit. I truly thoughtwith TLC I could make her forget what this person had done to her but it is very sad, that truly does stay with them. They never forget. Muffy was with us 19 years. And, it was one the saddest days of our lives when we lost her. The vet told me that she had truly outlived her life expectancy, though at the time there really were no words that could comfort me. She was like a child. And, it was at the same time that my children were moving on with their young adult lives. So, I was really alone. I have thought and looked at many dogs since, though I can’t make that decision. To me, she was one of the once in a lifetime dogs.
I didn’t mean to go into a entire chapter Joyce, but after looking at allof your wonderful pictures I felt like you were truly a friend.
Love & Hugs,
Patty

Posted on April 30, 2008 at 9:37:14 AM by ibpatti32