Diagnosis Confirmed

Elkmont, Alabama

Weather: low 56 degrees, high 63 degrees, heavy rain, thunder, lightning, wind, hail, tornado watches.......

What a weather day this was! At it's heaviest, the rain resembled some of the torrential downpours we came to associate with Texas. Add in the wind, thunder, lightning, hail, and tornado watches, and it made for a rather interesting day. This is the type of weather that Carolyn can't stand, so it was not a good day for her. Fortunately, tomorrow should be much better. Cooler, but no bad weather in the forecast.

My brother Keith and his boys left this morning, bound for parts unknown. That means when they left, they had not decided where they would go from here. I talked to him in the afternoon, and they had decided to go to Florida to visit family down there. I gave him some directions on a shorter route to where they want to go, so hopefully it will help save them a few miles of driving.

I had a lab appointment this morning to take care of. Carolyn was busy cleaning after the weekend, so she stayed at home. While I was at the hospital giving my blood samples, I decided to go by my doctor's office to see if they had the results of the biopsy that was performed on me last Thursday. The results were in, and were as we expected. In other words, the biopsy confirmed what my doctor said he was 99% certain was what I have that's making me so sick. The news is not good, but we don't know the full ramifications of what all this means to us at this time. I should be able to find that out when I go to see a specialist at the University of Alabama in Birmingham on Wednesday.

Repeating what I said in a previous post, the disease affects about 2,000 people in this country each year. Basically, it is a disease of the bone marrow, where too much of a protein is produced by the bone marrow. Normally, the excess protein is absorbed by the body, but with so much being produced, the body is overwhelmed, and the excess protein begins attacking different organs in the body. In my case, we know that the excess protein has attacked my heart, and may have attacked other organs. All that is still to be determined. Because the disease is rare, there's not a lot of research that's been performed in an effort to conquer it because the resources are being spent on diseases that offer a higher payback. That's unfortunate, but the way it is. Some treatment options are available, and you can bet that I will be doing everything I can to get the best treatment possible. I have people who love me and need me around, so I have no plans to check out any time soon.

Regardless of the treatment options we choose, we know that at least the near future will be devoted to finding the right doctors and the right treatment plans to give me the best chance possible in this fight. That probably means no RVing for at least the near future. Longer term, we don't know what it means, but at this time, it's important to get treatment started in an aggressive manner.

I have not listed what the disease is that I was diagnosed with for the purpose of maintaining some semblance of privacy over the Internet. I think we all know what I mean, with kooks and spammers out there that are looking for any way to get in to our systems. If anyone might be having similar medical problems and would like to know more that might help them, leave me a comment on the blog and I will respond to your personal e-mail address or telephone number. If you ask, your comment will not be published, and under no circumstances will I publish e-mail addresses or telephone numbers.

What does all this mean for the blog? At this time, I intend to continue writing the blog every day. I realize there may be times that I don't feel like it, or may not have access to a computer, but I get a lot of pleasure out of the blog. It has developed in to a little diary for us that we can use to go back and see what was happening in our lives. Like, 14 months ago, we were in Big Bend National park, enjoying the majestic beauty of a place that we never dreamed could exist in Texas.

On a better note, I ate better today than I have in several weeks. For some reason, all the experimenting to find food that tastes half-way palatable paid off today, and I feel fairly decent tonight. Now, to keep building on that little success.....

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Cincinnati, Ohio: Porkolopis

Not all who wander are lost.