2010.......bad news already...

[wolfdogs]

damn. mary's brother, Charles... (7 months younger than me..the one that lives here in VA..) went to the doctor 2 weeks ago with chest pains.. doc found nothing, sent him home and said it was stress.. 2 days later, leg pain.. went back.. gave him vicodin and sent him home...

last wed.. he started having trouble breathing.. and chest hurt so bad.. he could not stand it.....went to Alex hospital friday morning and met his doctor... doc found nothing but sent him to a clinic for further checks... (cancer clinic it turned out)....... low and behold... esophagus cancer...and its at stage 3 or worse... the clinic transported him by ambulance straight to Fairfax hospital.. and there where he is now. Got an upper gi today to determine the picture... doctor has not told him the details yet, other than "you are going to be here a while, sir"......

Fact is... he went from 155lbs two months ago to 123lbs now... thats not good at all.. and he ignored it......kept "tightening his belt" he said......

some of you might remember us speaking of him... real nice guy..heart of gold..but not real bright.. works at a bowling alley......

anyway.. its on marys shoulders, older selfish a hole of a brother is in hawaii... bankrupt in fact.. and her mom...cant drive or handle stuff very good since mary's dad passed...and she's 91.


update: the tests have shown its spread to his bones, hence forth the leg fracture. two tumors on the liver......

doc said 6 months to live .......if he elects chemo it could extend him another 6 months......... but he'll be in assisted living.

im just trying to keep mary and her mom sane.

her worthless brother is coming next week fro Hawaii to "help"......of course, her mom is paying his expenses........

oh..and Charles has a heart of gold.. great person...... but...... he's very slow.. his annual salary is 15k a year. works at a bowling alley....... so financial burdens will be on mary's mom... she has money... i already said we are not paying for all this stuff...... the guy wiped out his 20k savings account left by his wife when she passed going to bowling events and nascar races.... at least he has medical insurance...... what a mess.

[DJ Taso]

Holy Jesus....

[Al 96 Ram Air T/A]

That sucks! Sorry to hear the bad news Ken. Nothing is worse than having to deal with "difficult" family members. I've got a few in the family as well. It becomes physically draining trying to manage them, but in the end, they're still family.

Just a real shame the responsible ones are always stuck having to pick up the pieces of a misspent, irresponsible life. I guess that's why they say all good deeds will come back tenfold in the afterlife.

You and Mary are doing a good thing. I know Mary's Dad is looking down and proud of his daughter and son-in-law with how they are stepping up.

You keep the faith...stay strong.

[FroSSty]

Hang in there...and just remember we don't pick our families...only our friends.

[Black97]

Sorry to hear Ken.

A good friend of mine was diagnosed with the same thing just after Thanksgiving. They caught him in the early stages. He had 3 rounds of chemo, surgery and now he's finishing up another 3 rounds of chemo. The doctors claim that they nipped it in the behind. I sure hope so.

[Rhode Island Red]

I'm so sorry to hear your borther in law has to go through such pain Please tell Mary to tough it out. Believe me I can relate

this year so far for me

Jan 1st, go see Grandmother in hospital for pneumonia (she got it a lot). 1 hour after me and my sister leave, she code blue's due to heart attack induced by the illness, next morning she passes away... then comes the Aunt who has been planning what spoils she gets for the past 25+ years ... openly.. throw in relatives who leached $ from her to the mix ... drama amist tragedy seems to be my family's norm... Oh and not to mention my cousin dying by shotgun 3 months earlier in her house ... and this is death # 11 in 9 years .

Best advice I can give you and Mary is give and give compassion/affection all you can give, even those who worsen the situation with added drama... it seems to be the only thing that helps when you have a 1/2 mile an hour car crash coming at you, you cannot stop it, but can see it coming hours ahead of time.

My prayers out to you and your family ... Big time

[sneitzel]

So sorry to hear that Ken.

[TraceZ]

I lost my grandmother to esophagus cancer. So sorry.

[wolfdogs]

thanks yall. found out today... its worse, its everywhere...in his lungs, all over...

going to assisted living next week till the end.. which may be sooner than we think.....


oh.. and the Hawaii brother said he got summoned to jury duty.... right... so he cant come till a couple of weeks now.........

some day....im gonna kick that dudes ass.

[Joshu]

oh.. and the Hawaii brother said he got summoned to jury duty.... right... so he cant come till a couple of weeks now.........

some day....im gonna kick that dudes ass.

Do it. He could claim family emergency and not have to go.

[Dave-S]

I am sorry to hear this Ken. I hope they can keep him comfortable for now.

[Joe 1320]

sorry brother.

[Steel2686]

You and Mary our in my thoughts and prayers.

As far as the worthless sibling goes, in the end, you are the better person. I will guarantee you he is not living a happy life. People like that are miserable no matter what they are doing. You have it good, Ken. Just do your best to ignore him and don't waste anymore of your time on him.

[Wild Willy]

...

oh.. and the Hawaii brother said he got summoned to jury duty.... right... so he cant come till a couple of weeks now.........

some day....im gonna kick that dudes ass.

No doubt, though, the check from Mom has already cleared- he has a few extra $ to fritter away, while his brother is rapidly slipping away- Sounds like a first-rate user of others, so I wouldn't bother kicking his ass- I doubt if a person like that even has close, real friends-

Too bad about the brother-in-law with cancer- Sounds pretty advanced if he has lost that much weight already. It isn't going to be pretty, watching him waste away- hope the docs are able to ease the pain. Must be tough on Mary, watching one of her siblings die, while another one is a complete, selfish jerk.

Prayers for you and your pack- they all need you to be a rock for them- And I know that you can be. Put aside the family drama for now, and be there for your wife and her frail mom- God bless-

[wolfdogs]

update: he's in ICU. they put a stint in for swallowing and his breathing went south on him........

mother n law and mary will be going up there today...

boy, this cancer is some very bad stuff....... so rapid....