History

Gosh this rain is making me depressed!  When will it ever end, shame it can't fall on Australia and help put those raging fires out that are eating up the landscape taking homes and killing animals and vegetation.

 

Nine years ago Gary and I were in Dubai, I had just finished radiotherapy and we were getting used to the idea that I may be dead by the next summer.  Remember Alimta still wasn't given out then.

 

We returned to Dubai the following October, and this is from then, how healthy I looked, a year on from radiotherapy and 6 months after chemo.

I wish I was that same weight right now, could do with the meat on my bones that's for sure.

 

I had an email yesterday from a lady in South Africa who has mesothelioma.  I have never thought of South Africa as a country to be affected by this terrible cancer but how wrong was I.  It seems many mines were opened in the Cape area.  I will have to start doing some research about SA as it took me by surprise to hear this.

 

We are all bonded together in a world fighting a killer cancer that governments insist is rare and will blow over.  I doubt mesothelioma will ever blow over until asbestos is removed and buried deep back where it came from, never to be unearthed again.

 

I recently judged a scholarship for Mesotheliomahelp.net.  Many of the essays were from students who had never heard of mesothelioma although several had heard of asbestos through lawyers advertising their services.

 

I hope that the new found knowledge they researched will help them avoid the substance and keep not only them but their families and friends safe.  I also noted only one lung doctor student submitted an essay, I was quite disappointed.  I was also saddened that many had copied websites word for word instead of learning about the disease themselves.  Oh well, as long as the word gets out that asbestos can cause lung disease it helps.

So many warriors seem to battle treatments over these winter months, two thoughts here, one is they will be healthy for summer, the other of course is winter is the darkest gloomiest months and does nothing to lift spirits, but to all those who are currently on treatment my heart goes out to you.  The battle is hard but the results are worth it.  Some of us may only be buying a short period of time as the effects of chemo the first time work the best and can last for years depending on when the cancer was caught, as we use more chemo the less effective it becomes.  This is why we need more treatments and a variety at that.  I hope that gene therapy will become the market leader in stopping those with the cancer and the vaccine can prevent the growth of cancer.  These are the miracles we are waiting for, please just happen soon.

On such a note I am going to close the blog as I need to drain.  I am also going back to see my physio today, hopefully he doesn't overwork my already aching back muscles! 

To my fellow bloggers thank you sharing your thoughts, dreams and journeys, between us all I think we give a rounded view of what mesothelioma is like to live with.