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Caroline
MemberEve.
My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family during this time. I am very sorry about the loss of your Dad.
Blessings.
Caroline
MemberHi Wendy.
My Dad gets down in the dumps sometimes too. He takes on an ‘I don’t care’ attitude. We find that when he is alone at home with Mom for days at a time, he eats less and less, goes out less and generally lays down alot. Mom does everything she can to get him interested in eating and doing things but she has little luck. So, my family drops in sporadically alot…usually at mealtime. Sometimes all 5 of us storm in. Sometimes only 1 or 2 of us. It varies. I know that it is a bit of a pain in the neck for them to get company at mealtime or coffee break time but it never fails… when one of us is there at the table with Dad, he goes back for seconds…and sometimes even thirds. My husband pointed it out to him once and Dad said that since he is busy talking about new things with us, he feels hungrier and doesn’t concentrate so much on the full tummy that the disease has given him since he got sick 4 years ago.
He goes for frequent walks and we live a few blocks away from him. Quite often he stops by here to sit and rest a bit before he heads back down the hill. I always have things that he enjoys eating baked and put in the freezer. As soon as he drops by, I take something out and put it in the microwave and make coffee. He always leaves here very jovial and ready to fight some more. In our case, Dad loves the extra company while eating to break up his monotony.
We also got him to go back to his bowling league. He bowls once a week and comes home so tired that he has to spend the rest of the day laying down. But, it builds up his morale and he gets to see familiar faces and talk to people.
We tried to get him to join Tai-Chi at the Senior’s Centre but he drew the line there. So, Mom and I go instead and give him a lesson when we get home. I am 20 years younger than the youngest person in our class but it is fun. He has fun making fun of us.
Right now we are looking to sell both houses and buy a small farm. That’ll keep him busy helping us out with light chores. We can keep him busy and he’ll always have company. I’m sure if he knows how much we NEED his help, he will continue trying to fight.
Hope this helps.
Blessings,
Caroline
MemberHi Eve.
You and your Dad are always included in my prayers….moreso today.
Blessings,
CarolineMemberWoops.
I opened it.
Caroline
MemberHi Worried Daughter.
My Dad used Eprex for about 4 months. It kept his Hemoglobin steady at 99-102. We were very happy with how well he responded and how much better he looked and felt while having Eprex shots. He is 80 years old and has CMML. He also has chronic kidney failure. His Nephrologist took him off Eprex and put him on Aranesp instead. Aranesp has kept Dad’s Hemoglobin between 125 and 145. With Aranesp we only give Dad 1 needle per month. We were giving him 1 shot of Eprex every week.
Best Wishes,
CarolineMemberLoretta.
You are a brave lady. My prayers are with you.
Blessings,
CarolineMemberOh Sandy,
I am very sorry. My prayers are with you and your family.
Caroline
MemberZoe.
Great news !!! You must feel relieved.
Caroline
MemberTerri,
I am happy to hear that the doctor is pleased with Bob.
Have a wonderful Christmas with your little guys.Suzanne,
You are an inspiration. I wish for many more healthy years for you.
Zoe,
My prayers are with you. Good Luck.
Merry Christmas,
Caroline
MemberFran,
I’ll pray along with you that Jim will be in remission.
Best of luck with your knee surgery. My Dad has had it done.
Merry Christmas,
Caroline
MemberSandy,
Check in when you can and keep us posted. In the meantime, our thoughts and prayers will include you and Mike.
Blessings,
CarolineMemberButch,
My prayers are with you and Ashley. I hope that Ashley has been spared.
I didn’t know that they use benzene in horse spray !!! I thought it was illegal to use benzene anymore. My Dad had MDS and now has CMML. My daughters have horses and have used fly spray for many years. One of the girls is barn manager at a 30-horse show barn. She goes through gallons of spray monthly from spring to fall. I will follow your posts closely. Thanks for the information.
Blessings,
CarolineMemberI am sorry to hear that Jeff lost his fight. My prayers go to his family.
Blessings,
CarolineMemberJ.claire
They are all serious types. If you have been brought here with your health concerns and you need answers, and you are afraid, then you bet….it is serious. You will always find someone on this forum who will be more than willing to share their experiences with you.
Best wishes,
CarolineMemberI don’t post often and when I do, I usually say too much. Forgive me for being verbose but I want to say my token piece.
Marla,
Would you please send Cheri condolences from Peter and myself? Tell her that we were looking forward to having lunch with her and John the next time they passed through town on their way to the theatre at the Stratford Festival. John emailed me several times and hoped that we could meet him and the love of his life in person. Then he stopped writing and I assumed that they got busy. I never expected that he was so sick. Patti, if you had known that I was talking to John, you could have told me that he was so sick but you didn’t know.
Now…..I am going to throw my 2 cents’ worth in here. I will apologize now if anyone gets annoyed with what I have to say. I don’t know what John’s circumstances were. In one of his emails before he met Dr. Kou, John told me that he was going to throw it all to the wind and let God plan his course for him. That was the last time I spoke with him. John was an educated man and he was also very strong in his faith. He liked some approaches and he disliked others. He did not shy away from voicing his opinions.
One year ago when we learned that my Dad was terminally ill, I entered into a nightmare that I still have not awakened from. Some days/weeks are better and some are worse. I think that we all feel this way. That foot is always ready to drop no matter how well we or our sick loved one seems to be doing in this disease. I am glad that I am a good typist because my eyes are squeezed tightly shut as I type this next part…..We are ALL going to die. There is NO magic bullet. HOW we die is about the only thing we can control and in many cases we can’t even do that. Some of us use conventional medicine, some alternative, some complementary. Some combine them and some do nothing at all. It was decided the day that we were conceived just when and how we would die. All we can do is learn as much as we can and do what feels right for us. Nobody can tell us that we have made good or bad decisions. BUT… we can and we should share what we have learned. I am so thankful for all of the different pieces of advice that I have received over the past year…you have no idea. Some of it helped Dad, some of it did not help him and some of it was not what he wanted to try. Dad is still chugging along. He has better days and worse days. Sometimes they load him up with medicines and other times he is on nothing but a good multi-vitamin and good home cooking. Scientifically, Dad should have been dead by this time last year. He was out raking his wet leaves today….nice Ontario weather eh Jodi?….if you are a duck. It really needs to turn to snow.
When I first found this site, I was terrified. After reading for a few nights, I felt a comfort from all of you…alot of people who became friends are dead and gone now. I felt welcome and I also felt like I could say anything without being chastised. Once a person told me that I talk too much but that wasn’t new news to me. All I did was stop posting so often. Anyhow, I did not hesitate to ask questions or to give my own personal advice based on what we were doing with my Dad.
I have to wonder how new people feel when they find this site now and start desperately searching for that piece of advice that will save their lives? People who are in the same position that we were in at one time…scared, unsure, feeling like they just had the rug ripped out from under them. As they read post after post, do they feel welcome and secure the way that we did when we first came? Do they hesitate to join and ask their questions or give their opinions for fear they they will be admonished? I think I would probably read but not post if I were new. Some of this bickering is pretty heavy business. We are beginning to allow our feelings to dominate. Shouldn’t it remain more clinical? If Patti wants to share alternative therapies….then share. If someone else gets relief from taking Tylenol, then share. Whoever reads the advices given MUST weigh everything that they read out and then make decisions that they think will benefit them. I understand that some of us get on each other’s nerves. I’m sure that some of you are thinking that you wish I would shut-up right now. But, there are others who are getting something out of what I have to say. I think that we should all continue to say our pieces and be allowed to say them. We can disagree nicely and clinically but maybe we can think of the New Guys who are reading this before we say things that may make them feel even more insecure. We are here to help each other….not to chase people away.
Again, I don’t want to stir the pot and make anybody angry. I just want us all to realize that like it or not…we are in this together and we will all benefit from agreeing to disagree instead of making it personal.
I am finished now….
Blessings,
Caroline -
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