Free Help For Cancer

I found out this week that a boy who underwent a bone marrow transplant died from an infection shortly after receiving his transplant. This was very sad news.

It has been a point if great travail as to whether or not I should publish what I have found regarding transplants. I do not know what I will do in this area but I can tell you that the promotional information regarding these transplants makes it seem as if it is a sure cure as well as something that the patient can get through. This is so far from the truth it is absolutely shocking. The two patients that I knew personally went through very heavy chemo AND full body radiation. As a result their bodies looked terrible, like they were close to death.

When you think about it, the cellular factory of the body is the bone marrow. The first step of bone marrow transplants is to kill this factory, I mean wipe it out completely. This is such a high risk procedure as told to me by a nurse with the National Cancer Hot Line. Once the marrow is dead, by chemo and or full body radiation, or both, then the patient is given an infusion of new cells to rebuild the bone marrow. No one talks about how painful it is for this new marrow to grow. One girl was on Oxycontin for months while this was happening. There are also so many possible complications that could end the life of the patient they have to stay in complete isolation for months.

Maybe someday this whole process will be fine tuned so that survival rates are increased as well as toxicities being lowered, thereby lessening complications.

Unfortunately this is a new technology with many kinks that still need to be worked out.

I have not been able to find any published information on survival rates for this procedure. Maybe it is better that these are not known so that the person has hope. Don’t get me wrong, there are survivors. I just was stunned when I saw how arduous this procedure is on the patient and family. It is also l-o-n-g!

On the other hand, I met a lady who has survived FOUR bone marrow transplants. Can you imagine? Four transplants – she must have the constitution of an elephant.

Okay, now for some levity. I work on the Oprah competition a lot of the time. I will be flying into Atlanta on the 25 of June so that I can line up at the location early on the 26th.  I have worked out all of the details like a folding chair that would fit into my suitcase. This is for the many hours that I may have to wait in line, in the heat. An umbrella that folds up small but opens into a large canopy was also found. In the rules it states that people will be seen rain or shine. This is why I had to be prepared for anything. My clothes are picked out, which was agonizing as I want to look professional while sustaining very hot, humid weather for many hours. This whole thing is making me completely nuts. Now I am worried about every wrinkle and problem with my body. This is something that is very unusual for me. Yes, I care about my appearance but it is not really an issue. Plus, this whole thing makes me crazy because I think that American TV is very fixated upon “beautiful people” and “barbie dolls”. If this was not the case then why do so many women go under the knife? Oprah is the only one that I have seen to really break the mold in so many areas. I admire her greatly for this and many other things that she has done. It is only because of this that I decided to try and go for it by  competing. Maybe, even though I am almost 50 years old, my looks will not be an issue and instead content will take the cake. This is what I am hoping for because I know that my content is unique.  Here is the link to my audition tape, per the competition rules this can be promoted on social networks.  SO GO FOR IT IF YOU FEEL INCLINED TO HELP! http://myown.oprah.com/audition/index.html?request=video_details&response_id=4826&promo_id=1 Any help that you would like to do for this competition would be greatly appreciated! Yes, I know, I am being pushy – what else would you expect!  The vote button is on the bottom left of the video.

Well there you have my latest adventure.

Kayla is doing fantastic. Her strength is seemingly normal now. She works hard in school/summer camp. It seems as if she is coming out of a long fog. Poor baby has been used to having all attention on her and now she is being forced to put her attention on others. This is a big but welcome change for all of us. Me, I am relishing the pleasure of not having to have everything on a tight schedule that was mandated by chemo. I love that I no longer have to use the spread sheet. One does not realize the stress of this until it is gone. My refusal is to think about relapse or any other consequences of treatment. All of those dark thoughts are in a huge bank vault with the giant steel metal door that is twenty inches thick and the door has the big round locking wheel on it. The bad thoughts are there and not allowed to come out.

So there you go. Even though our house is still in foreclosure and money is tighter than it has ever been, while confidence is being rattled everyday by the media, I am relishing life and all that it has to offer!