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Good plan. Will do.

Have gotten better as the day progressed.

I really need to be playing out instead of working. My natural clock would have me up until 2 AM and sleeping until noon.

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What'd the doctor say?

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I think I figured out the headache before I hit the doctor's. At any rate he's not worried about it. I think the head problem is actually the neck. That started up today and it all made sense. I'm scheduled for the chiropractor Friday. I'll see if I can move that up.

Meanwhile, the bone marrow is stable which is better than being unstable but still not what it should be. The game plan now is a series of infusion chemo as opposed to chemo pills. This one is specifically made to target what I've got. even at that it's a 50-50 shot but if it doesn't work there are other things to try. Nature of the beast.

So starting next week I go into the doctor's at 8 every morning for 7 work days in a row and get this stuff in a vein for 15 minutes a day.. Then I'm off for 21 days and we do it again. if it's going to work I'll need fewer transfusions within 4 - 6 months. Overall I'm more optimistic about this. The stuff is called vidaza. we will see.

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OK, Pam... If you happen to check in I will be in Hartford tomorrow night. On our way to New Hampshire and I put a stop in there to keep the little ones entertained. There's a duck pin alley in Hartford.... I forget how far you are from there...

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awwwwwwwww!!! I wish I could!!! I'm still recovering from a sprained back and am in the middle or graduation stuff!! Sorry to miss you coming through.

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Dang, Fezo, I'd join you if I could. I'll be at my college in West Hartford--meetings all day. I didn't know Hartford had a duckpin alley still. I used to do my bowling just on the other side of the river, at the Holiday Lanes in Manchester.

Good luck with all you're going through; we'll say another prayer.

Best,
DQ

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Appreciated, folks. I go through the area every year at this time and sometimes another trip at one point. I have friends in southern New Hampshire and a brother in Portland, ME.

I don't know why Connecticut but they have like a dozen duck pin lanes there. HArdly any states come even near that number.

Dang! I have a cousin in Manchester. He's an emergency room doctor. I can see it now - "Hey, Rocky! Drop your scalpel. There's duck pins to be played."....

Maybe when I get up to New Hampshire I'll at least get some candlepins in. Been a long time.

According to http://www.robinsweb.com/duckpin/duckpin-locations.html there are lanes at The Alley 860-233-5855 572-1/2 Farmington Avenue Hartford, CT.

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Well, i passed through Connecticut twice on the weekend but didn't get in the duck pins. Didn't get to candlepins either. Bummer.

Was actually pretty zonked the whole weekend. today's blood test explained why - hemoglobin at 7.3. It's amazing I'm still standing. Tomorrow I'll be in the hospital getting more blood. Thursday the chemo starts and maybe we start getting around all of this.

They will give me an anti-nausea drug with the chemo. Wouldn't you know it. All those years when I could get my own anti-nausea medication and now i don't know a single dealer.... I'll be fine. Word is this chemo has few side effects and it takes 15 minutes to do. Worst part is a round trip of 50 miles a day for a week and change every month to get to the doctor.

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Hi Fezo, I haven't been here for awhile. It sounds like you are on quite a roller coaster ride lately.
I am still remembering you in my prayers. I hope they get your health stabilized soon.
Watch out for those bugs! That's the last thing that you need to deal with on top of everything else you have going on.
Good luck with the chemo treatments.

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Oooo, Pam...a sprained back? That sounds painful! Hope you get well soon.

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Doh! I just realized i forgot to pick up a gallon of maple syrup while in New Hampshire! Maybe August....

Second day of chemo. So far so good. Yesterday at teh end they just bandaged up the arm with the catheter still in there rather than start a new line this morning. That worked. Two days in and no side effects. It will take a while to see if any desired effects but it's a load more hopeful than the last treatment.

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sounds promising..take it easy...
i just opened my bottle of nova scotia maple syrup the other day..mm mmm good!

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Last year I just found out that my uncle still has some good maple syrup in his basement that my dad made, and he has been away for 17 years now! My sister says that my uncle said I'm supposed to ask him for some, (she got some), but I forgot last time I was there. I helped my dad make syrup one year, ('75). Nice memory, walking around in snowshoes, collecting the sap and pouring it in a big rectangle pan.

How often do you have to get chemo? How many days in a row?

Oh, I forgot to tell you, once a few years ago, I was reading The Pelican Brief and then the movie came on while I was reading it, then I didn't finish it. lol I know I don't read half as much as you do. I have The Testament here, should I read it? :)

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Oh, I'd read the Testament. I liked it.

I get chemo, which is only a 20 minute or so operation, 7 actual work days (they skip weekends and Wednesdays) and then get three weeks off. In theory we should see results in 4 - 6 months. I still hold that one thing or another will work. I intend to be around a long time yet.

At least we can get maple syrup here. I used to pick up a big jug in Ontario every year but I haven't been there in a couple. Maybe next year. I love that you remember making it. That's beyond me...

Hey! In theory I should be in Nova Scotia next year! There's a shot... We'll hit 25 years next year. We honeymooned in Nova Scotia.

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JOIN the registry for FREE June 8 - 22,...

http://www.marrow.org/HELP/Events/Ma...009/index.html

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Hey. thanks for posting that! I'm still hoping to not need it but it's such an important thing.

A couple more sessions with the chemo drug and it's off for a couple of weeks. Have to go in on Saturday of all days to get more blood.

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.

Just posting the link again on this page.

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Back with more blood.

The nurses in the lab like the ones at the doctor's office speak very highly of the new medication. They say give it a couple of months for results. I'm pretty optimistic.

Meanwhile....

Woodstock Translation

Finally, after 40 years, someone has opened the vault and revealed the
answer to a question that has clawed at our brains since the 1969 Woodstock
album was released:

What the hell were the lyrics to Joe Cocker's version of 'A Little Help
From My Friends'?

He was so wigged-out, no one has been
able to understand his garbled, mush-mouth version.

....until now!

Click link below for the lyrics .. FINALLY IT'S CRYSTAL CLEAR!

....... <http://www.elwp.com/Joe%20Cocker.html>

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Scary....I understood Joe back in '69. Now things ain't so clear... Peace!

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That is a great thing you did Patti.
A lot of lives are saved with bone marrow and peripheral stem cell transplants. For many people it is a last chance for a cure for blood cancers. and of course so many lives are saved every day with blood trasnfusitons. Thanks for doing that.
Our prayers are with you and your family Fez!
Bill

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Many thanks!

It looks better and better that I won't be doing the bone marrow transplant but if nothing else the one thing that this MDS has done for me is to make me keenly aware of that. Get yourself checked and if someone needs the bone marrow go for it! I can tell you as the veteran of a few marrow draws that the pain is short and less than you think. What you can do for another person is immeasurable!

Last day of chemo for the first cycle Tuesday morning. Second cycle starts probably end of the month. Maybe by August the transfusions will slow down. That's the idea anyway.

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They will send me a kit in about a week. All you do is swab the inside of your cheek and send it back in the postage paid envelope. I would love to be able to help someone.

Hey, thanks, Bill. :)

Hi Fezo, I have 4 chapters left to go in that Grisham book, The Testament. It's good! I like the name of Troy Phelan Sr.'s attorney. :biggrin: Rings a bell. I'll have to read some more of his. Thanks!

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Yeah, I like that one.

Yes indeed - the test is absolutely nothing and the procedure if they do need your marrow isn't so bad.

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Good combination of things yesterday. 1st thing in the morning was the last chemo of the month. Now we let it work and keep hopes up.

In the evening it was Elvis Cistello and the Sugarcanes. he's doing a kind of American these days. This was the opening night of the tour and was really good. Acoustic. Way cool.

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Yeah that was a good book. I had it on the shelf for so long,... like some others. I asked my mom if she had any John Grisham books. She didn't but she is going to help me look for some.

Wow, you had something good to do yesterday. Good way to start your time off. Sounds like that was a great show.

I listened to your CD, 'Taking The Moon For A Walk' 3 times yesterday. Also played my new Yusef CD, 'Roadsinger' once. It's really good. Nice pictures too. There is this blue and white volkswagon van he got looking really cool. I used to ride around in one like that a lot in the 70s listening to music. (but Cat's is painted up with some nice artwork) Way cool.

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Yeah, that's one of my favorite Grishams. i have to start another novel. I'm doing a little non-fiction right now and it's dragging. nothing like a good novel to kill time when getting blood....

Glad to hear you're still listening to that CD! I really have to put enough songs together for another. Between kids and various medical maladies it's tough to concentrate on such a thing.

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Hey Fezo, it sounds like you are doing well with your treatments. That's so great to read :) It's gotta be rough sometimes but you seem to be keeping your chin up through all of this. That's wonderful...it will help you get well.

Patti, I am so proud to be your friend :) You are such a special lady...hugs to you!

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There are so many Grisham novels. Glad I happened to have one of your favorite ones here. Took me long enough to get it off the shelf. Didn't know if I would like reading courtroom drama, but it was an excellent adventure in Brazil. If you don't mind, what's another one or two of your favorite Grishams? ... it must get to you sometimes having to get blood. God be with you.

Yeah, I do like that CD. You guys done good. I miss going out listening to music like that. Might start that up again someday. Just a couple days after you had mentioned that your mandolin player had moved away, someone happened to let me check out his new mandolin. I had never gotten to hold one before. It was really nice. I hope that if you have a good mandolin player living close by, that you meet him soon.

Nightingale, you are a wonderful friend. :) ... or you were.

Fezo, that Joe Cocker video with those goofy lyrics cracked me up.
Nice to have good friends. !!!

http://www.elwp.com/Joe%20Cocker.html

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OK, let me see.... The Broker is pretty cool. I liked The Firm. The Last juror is very good.

I liked Playing for Pizza a lot but you have to have the right head for it. No lawyers - well, there's a judge but that part isn't the main thing in the novel.

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Back for more blood tomorrow. Phooey! Oh, well. Expecting better things in the next couple of months.

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Thanks very much for the information on the books, Steve.

Hope all goes well tomorrow.

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Well, I'm back and all seems well. I still get all kinds of encouragement on the new medication so we will see. Tough to wait for things to kick in but att this point I'm used to it.

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Boy, that homeloan86 person seems to be everywhere.....

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fezo,

You are an excellent example for the rest of us to never give up. Thank you so very much for your positive attitude and your willingness to share. I have learned a lot from you. :) :) :)

DSR

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madam moderator is trying to get a tan in sarasota (2 weeks now) so there will be some spam that is not eliminated immediately.
while here i have deleted at least 20 to 30 posts per day before any one sees them and have even nabbed some spammers and banned them before they've even posted.
one week left of vacation...

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Hey, doing that much - go ahead and take an extra week vacation!

I could stand being in Sarasota...

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These books sound good, Fezo. I just heard about them on tv. You might like the last three.

http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/06...ain;contentAux

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Hi Steve, I hope you don't mind me 'recommending' books I haven't read, but I trust they are good ones since they were recommended by some alright people. The first one sounds like it was just for people that were into 'Sex In The City' or something like that. That title may have captured a large viewing audience, and it may have been a good show, but I wouldn't know. I dug around on some old shelves but didn't find any Grisham books, so I guess I will have to go to the library...maybe. There's a library basement I have been wanting to go to where they sell used books for 10 cents or so on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but it's an hour away. Today I have to see if the computer repair people show up.

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I'm always good to hear what someone recommends. sometimes i follow up and sometimes not largely because I get a ton of recommendations. Would that I had better eyes.

Just finished a recent Stephen King - Duma Key. It was OK. While not a far of the genre he writes well - particularly so before he got big. His first several books, other than Carrie, are great reads - The Stand, the Dead Zone and The Shining.

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Just got back from the library a little while ago. I checked out The Firm. Since it's one you liked, I think it must be good. I hope your eyes get better. You know, I got diagnosed with macular degeneration a couple of times, but they are fine now.