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Son-in-law walks with one of the twins down to clear the
drainage pipe at the end of their field. |
When I first started posting on this blog, it was because someone near and dear to me had been diagnosed with
Multiple Myeloma (MM).
It is wonderfully remarkable that after close to a decade of dealing with the disease (and two auto stem cell transplants and the final and best allogenic one) this dear fellow can celebrate another birthday, perhaps after he finishes mowing the big field or clearing the drainage pipe.
But I have other folks in my virtual life who are not faring so well with the disease. They both live in the UK and they both have recently attempted to arrest the disease with stem cell transplants.
And why, on my birthday, do I have the remembrances of bad news days? When I think I'm getting a call to wish me well for over decades of living, I instead get one that announces tragic stuff.
I want to see, after more than a decade of even identifying MM, that great strides are being achieved toward remission or even a cure.
Tom Brokaw announced a couple of years ago that he was living with his diagnosis and he has the benefit of being in the higher echelons of income and status, so he quite likely has a better chance at life extension. And as more people who have public identities help to raise awareness and funds, perhaps this will come. But it is too damn slow for some.
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The magenta spinnaker flies full before the
wind in Sequim Bay, Washington. |
One hopeful aspect of dealing with the process of transplanting cells is overcoming the sepsis (
poisoning of the system because of infection) following the 'cleaning' and replacing stem cells. The body is neutropenic (
without resistance to illness and infection) having no white blood cells to work with and many folks succumb before their new cells can get working.
Dr. Paul Marik, affiliated with Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk, VA, has started using a combination of Vitamin C, hydrocortisone and thiamine to combat sepsis with some good results. (
See www.pilotonline to read the story.)
As Marik pointed out in the story, it is difficult to get funding to promote a solution that does not provide a profit. This is all too familiar in all aspects of medical treatments, not just Myeloma. Any solution to ease pain and discomfort that doesn't use Big Pharma products doesn't get much mention or much credibility.
The deep magenta color in the magnolias reminds me of the 'color' of Myeloma funding... like the color of the blood cells that are needed to overcome it.
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| Magnolias in springtime; a time of hope. |
Go here
www.myeloma.org.uk to learn more about the disease and if you care to donate, I know that friends of Mike and Emma will appreciate that although it may not benefit them, it might help others.
I will mention again that using sublingual Vitamin B12 for relief from restless leg or nerve pain in the extremities has been proven, at least in my case, to have significant and cumulative benefits. While I do not have MM, I do what I can to follow resources and post what I find here.
