Trisomy 8, is easily googled, but does not tell you anything on how it affects MDS. Asked my consultant Vampire this am, and he sayd it is just a matter of the Chromosones being out of order. Hem: OK 9.9, WBC not OK at 23.7, platelets a joke at 19. Increased my Chemo pills to 1 every day, from 5 every 7 days. They are just keeping me reasonably on an even keel.
Had a good laugh yesterday. On TV. The President of the United States of America, pardoning a White Turkey, and commuting its death sentence, whilst all its family are waiting in kitchens to be roast today. Strange idea.! Anyway to all you across the Atlantic hope you have a good Thanksgiving Day, and do not eat too much. You never know, there may be a connection between Gluttony and MDS.!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We enjoyed a great dinner with friends....but we need to cook our own bird...so we can enjy the leftovers. Lou thinks leftovers are the best part of Thanksgiving.

Lou & Gayle Najera
Bend, Oregon

I meant to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving (even our Brit) yesterday. So I'm a day late. And probably 3 pounds heavier!

Happy Thanksgiving to all. I am with Lou. I like to cook my own turkey too. Sandwiches are great, then homemade vegtable soup with the bones of the turkey is the best I have ever had. Chris, I think the turkey saved by the white house is just a stupid idea. I like the egg roll on Easter but honestly. Turkeys are suppose to be eaten. I did not eat turkey yesterday, the other dishes are all my favorites and I really enjoyed them all.
Best to all of you.
Mary in Alabama

Hello folks,
Its the last day of November 2009. Tomorrow the first day of December we set off from London to Atlanta, and then on to Bogota. Well stocked up with all my pills and potions, letters from the Vampires here to a Vampire in Bogota, and 4 suitcases packed.

I am full of trepidation, but I will survive!
This afternoon we are to be worked on by our Ciropractors, which may give us a better or at least less horrific flight.

Will be in touch from Bogota from time to time. Love to all!
Chris.

I'll be in touch from Bogota

Chris,
Please let us know how you are doing and how you made your trip. You brighten my day when I read your posts. You are a brave soul to take on such an endevour traveling so far with this evil disease we have. We leave for Houston, Tx. from Illinois for my appt. at MD Anderson. We are driving this time as my daughter and 3 grandkids are going with us. We are doing some traveling while in Tx. and will get home right before Christmas. I have a lot to do before we leave in two weeks as I have not started shopping yet. I enjoy all the posts on here and seeing how you all are doing.

I too miss our Christopher, but hope all is going well on his trip.

So far this week, my husband & I have spent four days in hospital & one in Dr office. The four days were for his heart problems, the Dr visit was for my bronchitis. I hardly notice I have MDS with all that!

Susan, combining your Anderson apptmt with family sounds like it will be much more fun. Hope the weather is good to you. My daughter in Dallas said it snowed a couple days ago.

Birdmom...I heard where it snowed in Dallas and is quite cool in Houston too. I think I might feel worse because of the CMML (leukemia) but not sure. It could be from the chemo or because i average between 8.5 and 9.5 hemoglobin count. What a bummer with your hospital visits. I think this getting old just stinks but the options are not good...:).

Susan, your hemoglobin appears to be low enough to easily affect you (IMHO). At least it did me when mine dropped similarly. I hope you get some relief soon.

It is supposed to snow several inches here in the Coarsegold, CA, foothills, beginning in the wee hours tomorrow morning. So we did our errands & stocked up today. I dragged the patient with me. Thank the lord that I'm feeling strong enough for both of us!

Dear Friends et al,

Well we landed on December 1st and the trip was just boring and uncomfortable. I wore a very good and expensive face mask, so ate very little on the flights, and onlky whilst holding my breath. We landed in Atlanta, what a relief. They have smoking rooms in the Airport. However poor old Judith had to push me through the airport in a rather unglamourous wheel chair, as mthere just were not enough wheel chair pushers available.

Little boy on aeroplane " Why are you wearing that mask, Mister, are you a Doctor."
I replied, " No I am not a Doctor, but I do what my Doctor tells me, so I wear this face mask." I think he may need to learn it is not always wise to do what Doctors tell you, and what they tell is not always the troooooooooth.!

When first giiven the news of MDS, I was told I had 1.2 years to live. Thats 1 year, 10 weeks, 2 days 19 hours and 12 minutes. So I have achieved my first target, and this is the evidence I am still going.

Altitude in Bogota a tad difficult. Am getting very tired and sleeping very badly. Far to many social events, good fun in themselves, but tiring, and people do not belive I have anything wrong with me that a regular dose of Homeopathic something wont cure. If they only knew.

England was cold and frosty when we left. Here it is sunny and hot all day, but a bit chilly at night. Judith celebrated her birthday yesterday, and I gave her a pair of red boots at about 50% of the cost in UH.

Susan enjoy Texas, but dont believe them all there. Dont eat the grits, and remember they are the biggest set of bull sh one T mercants in the world.

Enough for now, I come to an Internet shop daily, so look forward to reading your news.
Love to all
Chris.

Hello everyone.....Finally able to get back. Birmom my husbands Dr. is Dr.Pascuz.....He is one of the newer ones to the group.He is very nice but isn't very forthcoming with information..but will answer questions when asked..but I just don't know if it isnt to discourage him..since his health is not good at all. With the Aranesp shots...did you start to feel better and have some energy? my husbands RBC was 12.6 so he was not eligible for a shot but his energy level has not increased at all. He will be going back to the lab on Thursday.
Glad to hear Chris made it fine.So great he can still travel!!
Valleygal98

It was great to hear from you Chris and everyone...:). I worry about everyone because I know what a roller coaster we are all on. Birdmom, I think you are sending your snow to Illinois. We are supposed to get 6 inches tomorrow afternoon and evening. Chris, I so agree with you about Texas. I have never seen people with such inflated ego's. We leave again on Monday for my appt. on Dec. 17th. Tell Judith Happy Belated Birthday!!!!

So good to hear from y'all. Valleygal, I realized last week that I misspoke about my cancer facility. It's Cancer Care Associates, not Cancer Care Center. I presume you're going to the latter, which is in the same general area?

12.6 is a decent count, so it must be something else. Yes, I definitely noticed improvement with the Aranesp shots. In fact, I feel rather normal (whatever that is, lol!) right now. My next shot is in a couple of weeks.

Susan, we used up part of the snow you're going to get. We still have some on the ground, altho more melted off today.

I don't know what kind of TX folks you guys are running into, but I've spent a lot of time in the state, & never thought of inflated egos. Of course, they brag a lot, but everyone knows they have to--they have so many miles of NOTHING!

And Chris, I'm so happy to hear from you. Whatever made you two decide to vacation in Bogota? Speaking of which, I add my greetings to your dear Judith for a happy BD.

Chris--smoking room in the airport? Bad Boy! Meet Birdmom, a Bad Girl who does the same. I think that's the least of our worries.

All is peaceful here for the moment. That's all we can ever ask for, isn't it?

Hi Everyone -

Ditto - Glad to hear you are doing well. Long trip to Bogota and once you're good and tired....it will be a very long trip back. Enjoy the vacation and live in the moment.

We visited the vampire today and after 4 weeks of receiving two Procrit shots each week of 40,000 units....Lou's numbers are once again going in the right direction (9.8 to 10.2).

Just found out today that we have to ask for pre-authorization before he can receive any more shots...hopefully it will be processed quickly. Apparently someone has to be convinced that the shots are helping - it's amazing that the doctor can't be tasked with that decision.

Insurance is both a pain and a benefit. We're hearing that ODS is offering lower monthly premiums and they have a $900 lower cap on out -of-pocket maximums than our current carrier (Clear One). We have until 12-31-09 to make a switch (during open enrollment).

Our weather is severly cold. Right now -1 degrees. We're hoping to hit 19 degrees tomorrow - bitter cold outside.

Gayle & Lou

Hello you loverly people,
Folks here in Bogota who I know very well, and have known for many years do not believe my Doctors prognosis, and tell me I will live for 10 more years. However, I just wish they could be correct, there is so much to do in this world of ours. Am enjoying a change of pace here. Why Bogota? Judith was born here in Colombia, and we met in Bogota some 23 years ago. Its a different life, though I find large collections of people and noise very tiring, so am having to ration myself, to a limited number of lunches, dinners, drinks dos etc, as I find I am getting very tired, but cannot sleep well. The hearing probem is pretty awful when there is too much background noise, so I am getting used to apologising and leaving early. Judith of course loves being with her family, she is frantically busy having every inch of her body checked out under her insurance policy by every Doctor and Specialist in Bogota.
So far Ive restricted myself to one visit to a Vampire, and am due another with a blood test on December 14th.

Weather is sunny, only rained twice for a very short time in the last 2 weeks. Bit chilly at night, but thankgoodness no snow or freezing days. Short sleeve shirt.

Since we never meet, and Christmas is coming how about having a bit of fun, and let each of us write what we would give each other if we could and did meet together for a Christmas Day present?

For Birdmom, just to start it off, I would buy a centrally heated, Cashmere lined, nest, with an artifical sun shining above for 12 hours per day, and a heated tunnel to a sandy beach in the sun.

Thats all for today. What about tomorrow, the 64,000 Dollar question that we all share. So be it, it has to be better than being bored to death. Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile.!
Love
Chris.