To the old CMLveterans

[Guest guest]

To Bobby, , and Vicki,

You all bring something to the table in this discussion. Bobby reminds us

of how many members of our family we have lost to cancer. I have CML and my

brother just died last year of kidney cancer, so 1/2 or our siblings had cancer.

I didn't abuse my body and took supplements for 40 years, so I didn't think it

would happen to me. Bobby's own family has lost a lot of members to various

cancers. Vicki, you make a strong point when you signed off " in solidarity " , we

need to be strong and to stick together for the sake of everyone. We could take

our treatment and go off into the sunset and never say a word to anyone by

sharing our experiences. I don't mean to blab it to everyone we know, everyone

doesn't have a need to know, but to admit our problems to each other and how we

overcame them. Hints for Heloise serve a purpose and so do our own reflections.

By Vicki and I speaking of our encounters with c-difficile, we are warning you

of the dangers out there. I seem to recall there was someone else who wrote and

said she also had an encounter with C-difficile. I can't take Vancomycicin,

but I did take Avelox and Flagyl and soon even those will not be suitable for

the super bugs. We need to raise an awareness that we are especially vunerable

with our low immune systems. It is a violent toxic reaction to an antibiotic,

especially a strong one like Cipro, which was my doctor's drug of choice. I no

longer take it, but I can still develop a super bug on one of the others. It

stayed in my system for a long time because I was sick for a year with nausea

and in terrible pain on a daily basis. I ate boxes of yougurt and took capsules

every day, to no avail. It may have helped me in the long run, but I didn't

feel any success from them at the time.

Thank you all for sharing your own experiences with the rest of us, they are

similiar but treated differently, but it is a warning to the rest, nevertheless.

In the back of my mind, it seems I do remember that you, Bobby did have uterine

cancer before CML, so she is yet another example of the statistics marking

secondary cancers. Glad you all made it ladies. When I spent the entire

Christmas holidays in the hospital, your calls, cards and emails kept my morale

up 100%. The office mentioned that I was the first person they ever had to

deliver emails to, another example of how you all used your presence of mind; I

wouldn't have thought of it. Some just had my first name, but they found their

way up to me. I'm glad my buddies came to my rescue, it was a lifeline.

Hands and hearts to all,

Lottie Duthu