I'm back from my trip, & glad there was no bad news awaiting me except for what is ongoing.

Posh, I'm so happy that you & your family are having these last days together periodically. You will look back on them with good memories.

I just spent several days with four long-time friends, & I came home feeling very fortunate. My health problems are less than some, & financially I'm okay (at least until the pols get done with us).

I keep reminding myself to count my blessings, & this reunion reinforced that in spades. Friends, family, all our loved ones--that's what really counts,

As I write, we are getting heavy snow, some flakes as big as a half-dollar. But I made it home before it began, so aside from having no TV (& probably no electricity soon), we are safe & sound.

I have missed you this week birdmom. I am spending every day with Dad now. He has grown very weak the last 2 weeks. He told me this evening that he will be going Home really soon.
I am so glad you got to spend time with old friends. I recently reconnected with some of the girls from elementary school and loving every minute of it. We are all truely blessed here. Finding new friends is pretty awesome!

Some good news from this end. Had the Bone marrow biopsy last Monday and learned Thursday the blasts had dropped from 23% down to 16%. Still MDS but no longer in the leukimia range for now. WBC were at 2 and plts at 70. While those don't sound all that great, for me they are also better. Of course after last week of chemo they will all be down again LOL.

Other than the week and a half of fatigue, my worst problem is severe clogging of the lower pipes (couldn't think of a nicer way to put it he he). I think next time he is going to try some preventative measures. Hope so.

Posh I'm again glad your getting the time your getting and the knowledge of where the home he will go to is.

Birdmom.....glad to have you back and in realative good shape LOL.

God Bless everyone and have a good week.
Mike

I haven't posted in a long time, but I do keep up with all the posts. My father is doing well. He is currently receiving 2 units of blood every 2 weeks and it is keeping his #s stable (for him). He suffers from extreme fatigue and pretty much stays at home. He does try to get to Rotary and church every week with the help of my mom.

Posh, I think about you often and keep you and your father in my prayers. My heart goes out to you.

Mike- my father had the same issues with his "pipes" when he was going through chemo. If I remember correctly, you mentioned before that you live or get treated in Dallas? We live in the area.

ja thank you for the prayers. they are so appreciated! I am spending every day with Dad now. should have all along but he knows how much I love him. hang in there with your Dad. my Dad hates missing church so much.

Hi everyone!
So, I was getting my taxes done and I happened to pick up a health magazine. I open it up and the first story the magazine opens to is a story on sodium benzoate(BENZENE). Apparently this nasty little chemical is found in many places...wait, I know this is silly because we are all experts on our disease but just in case someone missed this or forgot this piece of info, benzene is the number one cause of MDS, alright, back on track, this chemical is found in gas, cleaning products, the air we breathe, ciggarettes, and this part I did not know-the foods we eat! It is used as a preservative in foods such as pickles, salad dressings, olives, barbecue sauce, and in soda. The list is huge with foods that add benzene to it. It comes under many names, usually the benz- begins it. It can also be under the number and letters E210, E211, E212. I almost fell over when I read this. Hs anyone else heard this?

oh wow! now that is scarey stuff! I live on soda's and cigs. I know all bad stuff! I really should quit it all. what magazine was it in? I would love to get it.

Jeanine, thanks for the info. My bro-in-law died of leukemia within the last year. From diagnosis to death was about 1 month. My sis is fairly sure that it was caused by benzene in the KC IRS building in which he worked, as there's a class action suit in progress.

Posh, google "benzene and mds" & you will get tons of good info on the connection. For myself, I don't think everyday exposure is a biggie, it's extra exposure like in cleaning fluids that could be so harmful. Practically everything is harmful to us, the air we breathe, the water we drink. Waste of time to worry too much, especially when most of us already have it, lol!

Uh, Jeanine, would you fix your photo? You need to resize it so you don't look like aliens.

Sorry Birdmom, that's my picture! We took it with a MAC on the effects app! hahaha!
I agree with you Birdmom, about danger being everywhere from the air that we breathe to the water that we drink, but,regardless of whether or not we already have MDS or worse, maybe those of us who are still drinking soda or eating foods with benzene or using products with benzene, stop doing it, we may help ourselves to become a bit healthier. It is never too late to improve our health. Even more importantly, if we can help our loved ones-my daughter is only 13 and all of a sudden loves Diet Coke and Dr. Pepper, then we should. I am only 37, I should not have this type of disease but I do and I am going to make sure that I do everything in my power to not let it progress and so far, thank God, this attitude and some changes in my daily life,have been working for me.
There is a watchdog group called Environmental Working Group who is on top of the Benzene use. They are trying to get the FDA to own up to the fact that they have not been too diligent in the monitoring of benzene in products.
I guess now is the best time to go organic-from the pesticides used in farming, hormones in milk and benzene as a preservative, we are______ well, you know (insert any word you would like, mine began with F!) lol

I worked in the dry cleaning industry for a few years! perc was the main chemical we used and that one is a biggie for the benzene. I guess at this point it is what it is.

Dad is growing very weak now. more confused as the dr said would happen. much love to you all!

Sorry, Jeanine, for my comment on your pic. It appears to be squeezed is what I meant, so I wondered about the dimensions.

I went to Wikipedia to check out benzene in soft drinks. Apparently it would take several gallons a day to equal what you breathe in city air. (Fortunately, I live in the country.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzene_in_soft_drinks

Yes, Posh, dry cleaning solvents are known to be very hazardous.

I think back to my step-grandmother, who died of cancer in her 60s. She lived all her life as a farm wife with unprocessed foods, clean air, etc, so why? Her husband lived into his 90s. Go figure.

yeah strange huh? fortunately for me they took the benzene out of diet coke and that is what I drink :)

Everyone must be doing great, because no one is posting. Or perhaps spring has sprung for most of us and we're out in the sunshine?

My count this week was up slightly, so I'm hanging in there.

Wellllllll LOL compared to what some on the list are going through...

I had a blood transfusion Tuesday. Went on a Patriot Guard Escort, and all dayer, on Wed. Halfway through the second flag line got really sick, not nauseaus but just sick like heat problems. So backed off the line and worked my way back to the car. By the time I got home fever was at 102.8 (second week after chemo so WBC has to be way down). Called doc (we have arrangement where I call when fever goes up to avoid the last fiasco I went through). He told me to start the emergency antibiotic horse pills. Each night since been having crazy night sweats but day fever has been dropping. Temps right before bed were down to 100.5 last night. Slept for most of 2 days but got out for a bit today.

Other than that I"m doing just right and hope everyone else is too. I missed two more escorts this week, one was Jeremy Smith, the KIA from friendly fire, but guess I"m better getting well. LOL LOL Just for sharing conversation doc says could have been reaction from Blood transfusion, something I picked up in hospital or somewhere else, a spike due to low WBC counts but didn't think it was the heat or stress of the sun stuff.

So there's my whine for the time LOL LOL

Hope you all are having a good weekend.

Mike

good to see everyone doing ok. Dad is still with us for now. I expect him not to be here by the weekend though. he is very weak and not eating much. not talking much either but lies in his bed mostly looking at us. Tuesday will be 2 weeks since his last plts infusion and last thursday was 2 weeks since last blood. His mind has gotten really bad and thinks he is still getting the blood. He has lost alot of weight lately. poor thing is nothing but skin and bones. keep us in your prayers please.