Any plan where you lose your hat

BLOOD TESTS NORMAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i still need to go in for an MRI, but that's not going to happen any time soon since my current insurance ends on the 31st. i'm just happy to hear that there's no cancer in my blood. i'm sure there's something else going on in there, but right now...we stand at normal...or some semblance of the same.

this year end is a bit different from others.

story #1:
my family has known Italo "poppa Al" Pasenti for so many years i can't even remember. we met him first in the CBer's club in the late 70's and he and my dad became good friends. recently, he went to the doctors because he wasn't feeling well and the tests came out positive for cancer. originally they thought it was just kidney cancer, but last night my mom said she got a call from him saying they found it on his lungs as well. he has 3-6 months to live unless he takes the oral medication. this medication costs $3,000 (yes three thousand dollars) PER PILL. even if he could afford it, there's no guarantee that he will live longer than a year or two, but that would be more time that we would have with him as our friend. he is going to make some phone calls to see if the cost can be cut back.

story #2:
my sister recently moved to saint roberts parish to teach computers at the school where we graduated. it's a great full circle story, but may have an unhappy ending. the pastor at the church (Father Bruce) recently found out that he has cancer (can't remember which one, but it's malignant). he also has 3-6 months to live unless he takes the oral medication. i wasn't told if it's the same medication as Al has to take. similarly, if Fr Bruce takes the medication it will extend his life. my sister looks up to Fr Bruce...as does my niece. it's been very difficult to explain this to her.


the resulting discussion:
last night when i got home, my mom sat me and my sister down and we talked about it. my sister said she tried to explain it to tisa. she explained that they were going through a similar fight that poppa pat went through (pat sullivan was a very close friend of the family who lived with cancer until his body gave out. he was a very strong man, and tisa was able to see his fight.). tisa's response was "but poppa pat died?" yeah...that's when i started crying. and then...my niece...with her creative imagination said "ya know if it was a baseball game and poppa pat was up to bat he'd be swinging and swinging and hitting the balls out of the park!" (you have to imagine her swinging a bat over and over again.) i love my niece. it's going to be very hard to see all of this happen. she's had a lot of death in her little life already. i just dont know how things are going to work out.


my request:
if you believe that prayer, lighting candles, chanting, sending energy, anything will help someone you dont even know...please send them to these two wonderful men. they need it so very much. none of us can understand how this happened or why it happened. is it better in the grand scheme of things? is there really a reason for anyone to have any disease to make them die in this way?

hug your family. hug your friends. send love to those who are far away and can't be with you tonight. raise a glass in toast to those who live with disease and fight the good fight. i'll post again once i know more.

all we need now is a call from the barerras telling us that poppa ruben isn't doing well. *knock wood*