Re: Dealing with loss/ response to Marge

[Guest guest]

Marge,

What a brave soul you are! You are an inspiration to us all! Keep a

positive attitude!

My Mom was diagnosed with a degenerative lung disease a year ago after

suffering for over two years with misdiagnosis after misdiagnosis. She has

declined rapidly and is now on oxygen almost 100% of the time. But inspite

of the decline in physical health and her inability to even take care of

herself any longer, much less housework, or manage an apartment complex

(which my Dad has taken over), she maintains a positive outlook most of the

time. She wants to see her children and grandchildren and

great-grandchildren. She wants to stay involved in family life and church

life. She is limited, but still connected. I admire that. It's a much

happier response than giving up and giving in.

Let me encourage all of you to take a lesson from Marge and my Mom...stay

connected to life...hold on to your family and friends. Don't isolate

yourself from everyone. Get involved and stay involved somehow, someway,

even if its only on the internet.

Ray in Virginia

Thanks for the welcome!

>

>

>Hi,

>

>I have just finished reading my mail and I had some letters from the list,

>after reading them I think I should tell a little more about myself. I

live

>in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. As

of

>last April I'm 54 yrs young , married to a fantastic man, who from the get

>go said, that I wasn't in this alone, he would be right beside me every

step

>of the way, and he has been. We have been married 32 yrs and have 3 grown

>sons, all are married; the oldest has 3 boys of his own ages 4, 2, and 9

>months. Our middle son has no children yet and the youngest has a 23 month

>little girl.... the first girl in my husband's family for 5 generations.

> and her parents live in Alberta our neighboring province so we see

her

>on average 3 times a yr, but the visits are nice long ones - 3 to 4 wks.

>The 3 grandsons are a 15 minute drive away so we see them all the time.

>

>Ken, I had a good laugh over your shopping channel story, that's what I

have

>been spending my nights doing, there should be more good programs on for us

>insomniacs at 3 and 4 in the morning so we don't have to resort to the SC.

>Unlike you however, I have yet to succumb to their requests that I pick up

>the phone and order right away while it's still available so I won't spend

>the rest of my live regretting my indecision )).

>

>Some of you may be wondering why I didn't have bypass surgery as is done

>with heart patients. I was seen by a cardiovascular surgeon who after he

>had looked at my scan said I was going to require bypass surgery, then

after

>he did a lateral angiogram he told Ren (husband) and I he was sorry but

>there was nothing he could do that my body hadn't already done in an

attempt

>to repair itself. You see the vasculitis (inflammation of the walls of the

>blood vessels) not only destroyed my celiac artery but also seriously

>impaired the mesentery. The celiac supplies the blood to the mesentery (a

>membrane) which covers the stomach, spleen, small intestine, pancreas,

>liver, and supplies them with blood and oxygen. Nothing like a chronic

>illness to turn you into a walking medical encyclopedia.

>

>Ken, mentioned some people on the list have patches, and I would really

like

>to hear the pros and cons to using them. He also brought up the subject

of

>methadone, which made me smile as my GP runs a Methadone Clinic every

>Wednesday after office hrs for narcotic addicts, but like Ken says we can't

>get it. It may seem unfortunate that I have to wait for approval for the

>patch, but it's not really, I very fortunate. The British Columbia

>government has under their Provincial Health Care Plan a Special Products

>Division and since " there is no other means to sustain the life of the

>patient " I am covered by this umbrella. The cost of my formula alone is

>$80.00 a day, then there is the syringes, feeding bags, and Pedialyte for a

>total of $2400.00 a month. The pumps, I have 2, because for safety reasons

>I need a backup should one fail cost $1400.00 each. All this is provided

>for me; when my supplies run low I call Special Products telling them what

I

>need, generally I order a 3 month supply at a time and 2 days later it

>arrives at my door by courier. Pharmacare covers 80% of my drugs after a

>yearly deductible of $800.00, the deductible and the remaining 20% I can

>claim on our extended health plan.

>

>When I first became ill I swore I wasn't going to let it defeat me and

>although I had to one by one relinquish many of the things I loved doing I

>still try to maintain that attitude. I have always been an optimist so

that

>helps a lot. Right now my GP is away and I have a locum, the first time

she

>saw me she remarked that I seemed so happy. I told her I was happy, the

>smile was a part of me, who I am. I have my down times and Ren has held me

>many a night while I cried, for me though life still has so much to offer.

>When someone tells me they couldn't live like this ( and they do, people

can

>be very cruel) I tell them I'm sorry they look at it that way; if I had

>thrown in the towel (committed suicide) I would not have been here to see

my

>last two sons marry, known my daughter-in-laws or my grandchildren. What a

>waste that would have been.

>

>My pump will be sounding an alarm in a few minutes letting me know I'm out

>of formula so will get this sent off before I tend to it.

>

>Marg )

>

>

>----==== Please Support our Advertisers Because They Support Us ====----

>The folks at LAUNCH have taken everything you look for in a music

>magazine, dumped it into a virtual city, and packed it all onto a CD-ROM.

>Get Your FREE Trial Issue Now!!! http://www.onelist.com/ad.cgi?launch1

>