Never say never -- Another health report for 9/30/04.

Still mentioning you in my prayers, Bill.

You are a tough act to follow. :) :) :)
 
munk said:
Bill, if hanging on avoiding the Whipple becomes as painful and problematic as recovery from Whipple- do the procedure.

It's all kind of a crap shoot- sometimes when you wait to see what happens it is now too late to do anything. Other times, you avoid the procedure, things improve.
Whatever you do will be prayed for full steam ahead.



munk
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This is exactly where we are headed. In a way it would be easier if I discovered that I was not a candidate for the Whipple. Say the heart is not strong enough to support surgery -- a definite possibility. Then there are only two options left then -- 1)alternate treatment, 2)hospice.

Weighing the return on investments regarding the Whipple will be a tough job. Which is better? Going slowly downhill for a year, perhaps trying a couple of alternates which may or may not slow down the cancer, finally entering hospice and end it all without undue pain and suffering and the misery incurred by the Whipple. Or, do the Whipple and get 1.5 to 2 years? That's about average, I think. Remembering that recovery in hospital will be very difficult and recovery at home will not be easy and most likely will eat up 6 months or so. So, you get a year with or without the Whipple. Do you gamble on the remote possibility that you might get 4 or 5 years out of the Whipple or do you take what you have in your hand and run with it?

If anybody out there has the answers for this one I'd sure like to hear them.
 
If anybody out there has the answers for this one I'd sure like to hear them.
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That sure is a tall order to fill. I don't think I can offer an useful advice at this point beyond trying not to dwell on it until you speak with the surgeon. At least he should be able to give you a narrowed choice of options. Until then keep up the good fight. I stand in awe of your tenacity and attitude. It seems that those two things add more to your chances than anything else.
 
Bill Martino said:
If anybody out there has the answers for this one I'd sure like to hear them.
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Since you believe in -a- death-day (unless I misunderstood something)
then I'd think that what you'd choose really wouldn't matter.
Although, in that view I suppose quality of life / function
has nothing to do with the death day itself.
So your choices do matter.
.................Just thinking out loud.

No expert can guarantee -any- outcome in any best or worst situation,
except that every body eventually fails somehow.
You can play the odds; or not.
What do you want to do? Where do you want to be?
Tomorrow?, the next........?
Your shoes, your path, your pebble, your karma.
Be well, if not in body then otherwise.

"Strive" is the only answer that comes to mind.

Prayers for all.

With respect.

~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
<>call me 'Dean' :)-FYI-FWIW-IIRC-JMO-M2C-YMMV-TIA-YW-GL-HH-HBD-IBSCUTWS-TWotBGUaDUaDUaD
<> Tips <> Baha'i Prayers Links--A--T--H--D
 
Bill Martino said:
Do you gamble on the remote possibility that you might get 4 or 5 years out of the Whipple or do you take what you have in your hand and run with it?

If anybody out there has the answers for this one I'd sure like to hear them.
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UB Your retorical question stands. None of us have an answer.

I think it is better to try and fail, then to not try and regret.
 
Bill Martino said:
...Do you gamble on the remote possibility that you might get 4 or 5 years out of the Whipple or do you take what you have in your hand and run with it?...
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Well, if you only have a nickle, do you keep it and buy what you can with five cents, or do you put it in the nickle slot machine and hope to hit the jackpot?
 
Nobody has the answer to this one.

The more research I do the less I like my odds with the Whipple and the more I hate the procedure. But, I'll wait until I talk to the butcher and the onco man. The butcher comes highly recommended. He did a Whipple 17 years ago on a gal who is still alive and kicking -- she takes 3 enzyme pills a day and leads a normal life. Now, if he could only give me a written guarantee!!!!
 
I think I'd talk to two butchers. Your particular disease area was not real large, if I recall, and may have a better whipple prognosis. The Docs will tell you. They also can tell you how much time and what it is going to be like without whipple.


I thought it was, "what, me worry?"


munk
 
For me process of learning something new seems to always involve relearning something old from a new perspective. You already have the answer inside you but you don't yet see or realize or understand it yet it.

it's like climbing a spiral staircase where each floor's landing has a window across from it. And it has no floor numbers to tell you where you came in on or how high you've come. The door to each floor is locked so you can't get out except by reaching the top or the bottom, and the perspective out the window changes only a bit on each landing.

But every time you climb a floor, the exact same 12 steps ( or however many ) are there that you had to climb to get up from the previous floor.

Did I mention the feeling that you suspect you are either in the Empire State Building or something else taller? There's something that tells you you might not make the top in this lifetime. Just peachy keen, huh? Oh yes - if you stick your head out in the center you can hear and talk to other folks ahead and behind you. So you can encourage each other. And every ten or twenty floors you climb you realize a big change in your view out the window.

So trust in yourself and those you love who encourage you. Love both heals and mitigates the pain of loss. You and Yvsa and other brothers have taken me almost 50 years to find in this life. I expect both of you to be there WAITING to recieve me when the ferry has conveyed me over the river Styx.

Love doesn't forget during a minor thing like death.
 
I'll hope for the best - a chance for all of us to be present and fully alive in the next moment. And it will be enough. After that, the path unfolds where it will. May the road be full of wonders, and peace at the end.

Uncle, be well in mind and bring the body along as best you can.

e
 
Rusty said:
So trust in yourself and those you love who encourage you. Love both heals and mitigates the pain of loss. You and Yvsa and other brothers have taken me almost 50 years to find in this life. I expect both of you to be there WAITING to recieve me when the ferry has conveyed me over the river Styx.

Love doesn't forget during a minor thing like death.
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Little Bro you're assuming way too much.;) I hate to say it but you could be the one meeting us on the other side but prayerfully not.:(
Remember there are no guarantees on our lives, or the length of them.
 
"I hate to say it but you could be the one meeting us on the other side but prayerfully not."

Ain't it the truth.
 
Don't make no difference. We all know there'll be someone waiting to greet us.
 
I don't know that. I just hope it, pray for it.

There's a handful of great folks I'd sure like to see again.

There's probably a double handful of great folks you didn't appreciate while living. All things will be revealed.

But I don't believe it in the same way I know I own an index finger on my right hand.

The hardest, bottemest, ( you like that word?) and softest part of me yearns for that day.

That and praying I can get through this life is about it.

I don't pray for good weather.


munk
 
Bill Martino said:
Nobody has the answer to this one.

The more research I do the less I like my odds with the Whipple and the more I hate the procedure. But, I'll wait until I talk to the butcher and the onco man. The butcher comes highly recommended. He did a Whipple 17 years ago on a gal who is still alive and kicking -- she takes 3 enzyme pills a day and leads a normal life. Now, if he could only give me a written guarantee!!!!
Click to expand...

Wow! 17 years is a long time in medical technology, too.
 
Munk, just remember that if I get there first, I really hate sitting and waiting around for someone to show up.
:p :p ;) :D
 
Great, even in the afterlife my dear friends will be annoyed with me.



munk
 
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