Prayers, Good thoughts and wishes to Jon

[Mr.Ed]

"Thanks Carl. Going close to as well as can be expected, and focused on having some fun things to do every week as much as possible, while also working on getting the house ready for a sale, since her kids don't have experience with that kind of stuff. She's under 100lb now, even though she's 5'8", so it's a real battle trying to slow the weight loss. She's fairly comfortable most of the time, though- that's being managed fairly well.

~Jon"

I'm sorry Jon, I thought your time away was due to your work load. Sending prayers and support and strength from your extended family and friends here.
-Mr. Ed

[wkhanna]

as are we all...

[Alaric]

as are we all...

Very, very much so. My prayers and wishes as fast and far as I can send them. God bless.

[PMazz]

All the best Jon.

[JonMarsh]

I'm sorry Jon, I thought your time away was due to your work load. Sending prayers and support and strength from your extended family and friends here.
-Mr. Ed

It's due to both, really. There just isn't time for music and audio since December.

But thanks for the kind thoughts and wishes. They mean a lot!

~Jon

[bvbellomo]

You'll both be in my prayers

[Zvu]

Hang in there big fella. Stay strong for her.

[augerpro]

Your family is in my thoughts too Jon!

[JonMarsh]

Thanks guys. If her blood stats are back up enough, it will be chemo day tomorrow. Been a busy week all around, but making progress on a variety of things- just not any speakers! :W

[fish fingers]

All the best! Fresh ginger 'tea' helped alleviate my dads nausea and kept his appetite up.

[Horio]

My thoughts are prayers go out to the both of you.

[Moejoe]

All the best Jon and family!

[JonMarsh]

Thanks for the wishes, guys- hope every one is having a good first weekend in June!

[Johnloudb]

Sorry hear about this Jon. Wishing and praying for the best ...

[Hank]

Prayers for you both, Jon.

[JonMarsh]

I appreciate the well wishes and thoughts. Yesterday was Chemo day, an every two weeks (when things go well) event- two more sessions than the radiation treatments start, which will be once a day 5 days a week.

Different chemo treatments have some pretty weird side effects- one in this case is very much heightened cold sensitivity- imagine having to wear gloves and a baclava if you want to get something out of the fridge, and not get something that is like a superficial frostbite burn... 4 different drugs, including one in a pump that remains connected to her chemo port for several days (Wednesday through Friday).

We all read about this sort of stuff from time to time in magazine articles, or see TV shows; but it's quite a different thing to be living with it. Our next door neighbor to the left has colon cancer that came back in his lungs- he's on a heavy duty chemo program, too. We have some common interests, like old cars- GF has a 62 Porsche 356, Randy has several restored military Jeeps and an Amphicar from the late 60's. A few weeks ago we drove some of these out to the Blackhawk Automotive museum to exhibit at their car show on a Sunday morning- I'll post a few pictures later today. Randy's a chopper pilot, flew in Nam, and commercially afterwards- GF is a private pilot, so they have that interest in common, too.

[5th element]

My goodness this isn't good news but when it rains it pours I guess. My mother is about to start chemo on Monday herself, she's not looking forward at all to what the side effects could be. Luckily we live within walking distance, down a very pleasant tree lined road, of The Christie cancer hospital in Manchester, so things couldn't be better on that front!

My thoughts go out to your family and neighbour Jon, medical science can do amazing things these days with cancer treatment, although it's far from perfect.

It's definitely a nice time of year for it, rather than being bogged down by cloudy skies and rain (especially for here). I know that people would rather be holidaying it up somewhere, but ones environment has been shown to be quite important in the disease battling and healing process, so I'm glad it's going to be sunny out.

Maybe there hasn't been much time for music or DIY, but some well chosen tunes can certainly help pass the time and hopefully allow ones mind to a better place.

[wkhanna]

offering my deepest & most sincere concern for your mother, Matt.

we are like an extended family around here, many of us....
when times are tough for one, we all share in the battle.

of course you know we are all behind you, offering as much support as possible....

please keep us posted.


regards,
bill

[wkhanna]

btw, i especially like what you said about the therapeutic effects of music.....

it is a proven fact....

[Mr.Ed]

"Medicine heals the body, music heals the soul".


Sending good wishes for your mother Matt.

[5th element]

Thanks guys!

I think a good play list will certainly be on the cards

Fingers crossed.

[Carl V]

Thanks guys!

I think a good play list will certainly be on the cards

Fingers crossed.

Best wishes for all those helping loved ones with their fight.....
been there to the end with parents & spouse.

[ergo]

Tough reading this one, but reminds us the aspects of life one does not necessarily think about daily.
Best of wishes to both and your loved ones.

[WillyD]

Just checked back in the forum after a long while and I see this; your family is definitely in my thoughts Jon. I work in Radiation Oncology and it indeed has come a long way, so I hope it does some good.

[JonMarsh]

Thanks- Beverly has two more chemo sessions, and it getting some special scans, and evaluation for the radiation. You know what this is about- I've done a lot of reading on it, and there has been a lot of progress.


Gee, Matt, that's awful news about your mother! I only wish the best for her outcome. My GF's son's GF's mom has beaten stage 4 cancer twice with the same oncology team here at Kaiser, so we have fingers crossed, but for her type of pancreatic cancer the outlook isn't good. She's already beaten breast cancer 24 years ago.

Unfortunately, I don't have much music right now except the Soekris DAC through headphones; we cleared out part of the family room to make a miniature dorm setup; she needs to do her initial sleep in a recliner, to take pressure off the pancreas; only after her stomach is completely emptied can she come back to bed, usually around 3-5 AM.

We did have a very nice dinner out at her favorite seafood restaurant last night; Father's Day was just a good excuse to get her out.

I promised a few pictures from the Blackhawk Museum show we did back in early May- it was a working weekend again, so didn't get to that but I'm taking a few minutes now...

(things are going to get even more crazy at work because the other strongest guy technically in our local team just resigned to move back to Southern CA, as his ideal job came and found him, literally...)

Heading to the show early in the morning...



This is the view literally over GF's cap and 356, at my first sighting in the flesh of the new NSX.



Randy's Amphicar after the restoration work- new paint and a lot of other stuff, looks really sharp- and two of their vintage restored jeeps in the back ground.





No car show is complete for me without a little close up time with a new Tesla...



Here's an interior shot of Randy's Amphicar after restoration:



And a quick shot of a passing Lambo- there were a lot of much newer ones here, too, but the old ones charm...

[5th element]

It sounds like both our families have excellent oncology units behind them, which is half of the battle in my opinion. Still it seems like administration errors are still being an issue, even if the care is great. Can't leave anything to chance, need to be on the ball and follow everything up yourself...

As you've alluded to, it is still important to try and enjoy the finer things in life with your loved ones, even if they aren't feeling up to much. My mother is struggling with nausea and fatigue, hopefully they'll manage to find a med that will help her with that. She's tried a couple but I don't think they are being all that effective.

Those cars do look nice and that restoration of the amphicar is incredibly sharp! Loving the colour. Speaking of Tesla, I happened to see my first model S on the road the other day too. You don't see many of them around here.

[JonMarsh]

It sounds like both our families have excellent oncology units behind them, which is half of the battle in my opinion. Still it seems like administration errors are still being an issue, even if the care is great. Can't leave anything to chance, need to be on the ball and follow everything up yourself...

This is so, so true, especially of Kaiser Permanente. In CO I knew a few medical professionals, all of whom used Kaiser, and who agreed you could get excellent care if you know how to be your own advocate- and pick your doctor carefully- otherwise, can be so-so, and you know, life is too short for so-so in this area.

Best of luck for your mother!

And as you might imagine, the situation for Tesla's is a bit different around here- in Danville, they're almost as common as Chevies. Uh, no, strike that- they are more common than Chevy's, because the people that might drive those, here they drive Prius's or Mercedes SLA. The telling point is that Model S is outselling every high end sedan from the other luxo makers the last few years (Audi, Mercedes, BMW, etc) and this is not a trend those guys like one bit. When I drive at lunch to Jersey Mike's to get a sub, it's completely normal to see several model S and one or two Model X in this town. *(but let's face it, our demographics are a bit skewed... in the slums of Danville where I live, the cheapest most poorly maintained homes still are selling for around $800K)

I worked with Tesla motor inverter engineering on some issues, back in 2012. It was an interesting experience visiting them again in December 2016, and noting all the changes... and thinking about all the changes yet to come on the drawing board. Buying a model X new or used is on my retirement bucket list.