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“The difference between reality and fiction? Fiction has to make sense.” – Tom Clancy

Hey! There’s a new kid on the block! Angie Murray, a Myeloma caregiver I was privileged to meet in Little Rock last year, along with her husband who had just finished up his tandem transplants, has decided to start a blog on her journey as a caregiver, mother, wife, friend, etc. She is a delightful and insightful person and I have enjoyed our personal dialogs since we met.

If you get a chance, go on over and say hello.

http://murraymadness.wordpress.com/

 

“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” – Buddha

When I wrestled with the idea of starting a public blog, vs. the Caring Bridge site I had written on for 18 months, I tried to define why. Why would I spend the time writing about what most would consider a rather depressing subject? What could I offer? Would anyone find it helpful? Would it be good for me (and Dave)? I’m not a ‘writer’. Would I offend? All these questions I asked myself as the idea percolated.

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Geraldine Ferraro

Geraldine Ferraro was a pioneer in many areas, just one of them was Multiple Myeloma.

A couple of weeks ago there was a story in the news on Ms. Ferraro and I wondered at the time how she was doing with her Myeloma. It would seem now, that it was a bit of a forewarning that she wasn’t doing well.

This can be unnerving for us who are fighting this disease when we read about someone who by all accounts is a Myeloma Hero in that she had soundly beat the odds, succumbs to this disease.

This is when we have a choice in how we view it and how we allow it to affect us.

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Bring Me Sunshine

“To a journalist, good news is often not news at all.” – Phil Donahue

Do you ever find yourself getting blue, depressed, annoyed for no apparent reason? Generally when I’m feeling this way, its the NEWS. The 24 hour cable news cycle, repeating ad nauseum the disasters, political infighting, and other such bad stuff with scant new real details, but adding more and more speculation, stating they “don’t want to speculate, but…”

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Life’s Milestones

Mom, Col Powell, Marlene, Dad, Col Boggess, Jackie, Click to Enlarge

Always in my heart…

 

I can’t believe this week I’m coming up on 40 years since my father died in a T-38 accident at Beale AFB. I can’t say that it seems like yesterday anymore, though I could for many years. But I can say, it sure doesn’t seem like 40 years! It will be 10 years this year my mother passed away. Dave and I will be married 30 years this June and my youngest will graduate from college.

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“This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever.” – Sigmund Freud (speaking about the Irish)

… And we LIKE it that way!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day my friends, a day enjoyed around the world where we all get to be Irish for a day!

Here are some great sayings:

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Hopeful Messages

“Anyone can give up, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that’s true strength.” – Unknown

Pat Killingsworth has a nice post today at Living With Multiple Myeloma talking about his recent presentation in Atlanta and then the subsequent myeloma doc’s presentation. Venture over to have a look.

 

 

“I have the New York Daily News to thank for the jeans controversy.” – Calvin Klein

As I have been “blogging” for awhile now, I have taken some time here and there to read up on it. It has become its own industry for generating income, ideas, etc. You’ve probably even noticed in some of your searches you get directed to a site that has nothing helpful really, just ads. So annoying.

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“Good science is all about following the data as it shows up, and letting yourself be proven wrong, and letting everything change while you are working on it…” – Rebecca Skloot, Author

My friend Allison sent this to me today. She works at NIH and had the privilege of hearing the author talk there about Henrietta’s life and contribution to science.

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“Every man dies – Not every man really lives.” – William Ross Wallace

As we have all watched and heard about the disaster in Japan of such proportion its hard to get my mind around just how devastating this disaster has been in its size and scope. Intellectually I think I get it, but I find myself thinking a lot about what it must be like for those living it.

One news story told of a survivor on a piece of rooftop floating out in the ocean 10 miles from the shoreline. Amazing.

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“There are things I can’t force. I must adjust. There are times when the greatest change needed is a change of my viewpoint.” – Denis Diderot

You know I’m all about changing your point of view when faced with difficulties. It is really a miraculous ability to have and one I have worked on my whole life. When recently I had a unpleasant thing said to me by a friend, instead of getting angry I looked inward, “Why was I ALLOWING it to have any impact on me?” That remained my focus as I sorted through my “feeling bad”. It is not an easy thing to do, I admit. Most of us can be upset, and rightly so, about things that we feel are done to us or said to us that are not true or not appropriate. Having generosity of understanding and forgiveness for the failings of another is indeed a GIFT. I didn’t get it as a gift so I have had to work on it and I’m happy to say, I have gotten pretty good at it. It is a liberating experience and one I highly recommend.

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How Can Diet Help?

We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons.  ~Alfred E. Newman

When treating MM with all manner of drugs, each drug often treating not only the disease but the side effects of the other drugs. At some point we hit the wall of no more drugs to treat the side effects, yet we still have them. For instance Revlimid lowers platelet count and red blood cells. Can you do anything about this? I don’t know, but I do look to foods that can “assist”. You would be amazed, or maybe not, what you can find on the net these days to help you with these different issues.

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“The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” -Samuel Johnson

1. First Important Lesson – “Know The Cleaning Lady”

During my second month of college, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until I read the last one: “What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?”

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“Here in Hollywood you can actually get a marriage license printed on an Etch-A-Sketch.” – Dennis Miller

Pretty embarrassing that it has taken me so long to get around to be “legal” in the State of California to drive! Early on, I just couldn’t deal with it. Emotionally or physically. I was just too buried in caring for Dave, the move, the kids, etc. Then I would forget about it for long segments of time and it would suddenly hit me, “Crap Lori! You need to get your license!” Continue Reading »

Hat Tip: Pat at Living with Multiple Myeloma

This is a great, brief, explanation of what Multiple Myeloma is. For those of us who have wanted to share a simple, straight forward explanation with our family and friends, this will do the trick.

Click Here and then click on the audio button.

Thanks Pat, you always manage to find the coolest stuff!

 

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” – Scott Adams

It’s been another busy week of exploring things. Sometimes I feel like I’ve gotten a lot done and other times I feel like there is just so much to do.

I did four scarfs (one didn’t make it all the way as the warp thread broke), all with the same yarn and they all looked different because of the color, density and number of threads I used to warp the loom. Each scarf was lovely in its own right, but not until the last one did it even come close to approximating what I had envisioned.

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Recycling, Repository, Redistribution of unused drugs

I get this question a lot. What can I do with my unused shots or medications that are unopened?

I put the question to the MMListServ:

Evidently you can work with your doctor on this. Some doctors will probably accept this for their less fortunate patients and other doctors may not. But it is not illegal.

Check what the rules are for your state:

State Prescription Drug Return, Reuse and Recycling Laws

Please feel free to share in the Comment Section of this post, what you may have learned about how we can do this more. Many of us don’t take kindly to throwing out shots that cost $2K each! Especially when we know there are folks out there who don’t have good healthcare coverage. I suspect that it is not an easy thing, but I think we should do what we can to persist and find a way if we can. Not always possible when we are scrambling for our loved one, but worth a discussion anyway.

In terms of disposal, I believe your pharmacist or doctor’s office can manage throwing out old drugs. Everyone should know that you do not dump them in your toilet as they get into the water supply.

“Prescription for a long life: Work hard. Don’t retire early.” – Article

So my good Myeloma Buddy, Jim, sent me this article today. It will turn some viewpoints up on their ear.

BUT… as I read it I have to tell you that if you ONLY are looking at living longer – in terms of years, then fine, its a study.

IF however, you are also looking at the QUALITY of your life, then this article belongs in the trash heap.

Since the article wasn’t talking about your happiness in the life you have, however long you have it, I accepted it in a more forgiving way and intriguing way. Do you understand what I mean? Read the article and tell me if you agree with me on this, or what your particular take might be on this.

I’m continuing my PollyAnna life, short or long, I will continue to enjoy it as best I can. 🙂

USA Today Article

 

“It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

We caregivers are often asked and reminded about taking care of ourselves as we are running on high octane caring for our loved one in more dire straights than ourselves.

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