Daniel 3:17-18

Daniel 3:17-18 "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Done and Dusted

I have been following four cancer blogs since just after my own diagnosis.

Fiona's blog, Onwards and Upwards, is the only one of those that was not about colorectal cancer. She was diagnosed with liver cancer.

She was also diagnosed with hepatitis and cirrhosis. Her poor liver took a triple hit.

The real conundrum is how did she get hepatitis and how did it go undiscovered and untreated for some 25 years, especially considering her consistently heathy and active lifestyle.

It took cancer to expose the hepatitis and the years of liver damage left in its wake.

Like me, Fiona is on the other side of her cancer treatment. We both go in for quarterly checkups.


Fiona also monitors her hepatitis on a regular basis. She just posted her January clinic results.



Now I am not a nurse like she is, and I don't even try to write the type of technical posts she churns out. But it doesn't take a heppy doc (her affectionate term for hepatitis doctor) to realize that she just got some pretty descent news.

So this post is for you, Fiona.

Well done, my done and dusted friend!
Posted by Steve Chamberlin at 4:20 AM

6 comments:

  1. FionaFebruary 2, 2012 at 5:40 AM

    Thanks Steve. Yes all ok at the moment. I'm not a nurse either! I've just taken the time to educate myself about what's going on with my liver. Just to keep heppy doc on his toes really, lol!

    When I was first told I had something wrong (about 33 years ago now), there was no treament anyway. And no Wikipedia, nor even the internet, to look things up.
    Now the blood tests etc have become so sophisticated, that the virus which has (for 33 years) been diagnosed as 'dormant' can be re-tested by machines that can find copies of the active virus down to the most minute particle. So now heppy doc can tell me that actually I have 123 units (copies) of the little critters in a millilitre of blood at the moment, whereas a few years ago the machines couldnt measure that low, so I was described as 'undetected'.
    Not sure which is better really!!

    Its a bit like the difference between having an ultrasound which isnt sophisticated enough to spot the beginnings of a small cancer tumour versus a PET scan which can identify 'hot spots' before they become significant.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Steve ChamberlinFebruary 2, 2012 at 8:52 AM

      This is my story and I say you are a nurse.

      1) You are a mother. That makes you a nurse.
      2) You are trained to take care of sick and infirm elderly people in their home. That makes you a nurse.
      2a) You get paid for assisting these patients. That makes you a professional nurse.
      3) Some of your blog posts read like medical pamphlets. That could lead people named Steve to perceive you as a nurse.
      3a) You reviewed a medical pamphlet at the request of medical experts. Guilty by association!
      4) You share information and support across the cancer community. That makes you a nurse by proxy.
      5) You dispense hugs whenever and wherever needed. Did I miss anything?

      Now let's talk about our little math discrepancy. At 4 in the morning when I wrote this post I estimated your liver problems started about 25 years ago. That was without the benefit of rereading your entire blog to get the exact number. Nor did I think to call you and ask. So... I erred on the side of youth.

      If you want to say it started 33 years ago and add 8 years to your age, that is entirely your prerogative.

      Here I am, trying to celebrate a friend's good news and I get a few of the details wrong.

      I was only trying to give you a hug!

      Delete
  2. FionaFebruary 2, 2012 at 11:01 AM

    Aww, didnt mean to upset you Steve. I'm very grateful!

    Hugs back ((o))

    ReplyDelete
  3. FionaFebruary 3, 2012 at 3:28 AM

    Hi Steve and apologies for sounding ungrateful. You and Carla have been such a support to me and others, and for that I am very grateful.

    I guess I didnt want your readers to think I was pretending to be something I'm not. Nor did I want people to think I had been undiagnosed for 25+ years, casually infecting others with a nasty virus. I was diagnosed 25+ years ago, just not properly monitored or treated until recently.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carla ChamberlinFebruary 3, 2012 at 8:40 AM

      Hi Fiona,
      That has got to be frustrating for you and your family to know that the doctors dropped the ball for so long with treating you!
      Steve was only teasing you when he responded to your comment. You and Carole were such a huge support system for him when he was going through treatment. You nursed him emotionally, from a distance, at time when he really needed it. He was just trying to express how very much you do for others whether you realize it or not. We sure love you gals on the other side of the world from us and have come to treasure your friendship.
      Steve has tossed the shovel he was using to dig himself into his current hole:) and appreciates your willingness to help haul him out of it. (He asked me if I would respond, since his recent attempts haven't gone so well:) Let's just say this has been a particularly crazy week for him between work and home and I wasn't available for him to bounce off his entries like he usually likes to do.
      Have an amazing weekend...you deserve it!
      XOXOX... Carla

      Delete
  4. FionaFebruary 3, 2012 at 9:11 AM

    "tossed the shovel he was using to dig himself into his current hole" - I LOVE that expression, must remember it. I was having a crappy day myself - had a tooth crowned recently and it was giving me a foul headache. But that's no excuse for me being grumpy! Oneards and upwards. ((o))

    ReplyDelete

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