Hi Lowell & All,

Don and I had some time to talk about how it might be possible to split up some of your daily summaries and make a contribution, though no doubt it won't hold a candle to anything you've done. We just aren't there yet.

Of course the good news is that at some point when you touch-down you will be able to at least participate in some form or another. Even if you wish to describe your new territory on planet Earth, I'm sure no one would complain. At least it is only transitory.

On the other side of the rainbow sometime this month I have to make a trip to Redding to say a permanent goodbye to a friend of 22 years. One time neighbors in Pinole, CA, she and another friend and I met each other playing bingo. We were all married at the time, all went through divorces and just recently the other one got married to her sweetheart of 17 years. We used to laughingly call ourselves The Golden Girls. But the one in Redding is dying from cancer. At age 53, not likely to see life to the end of the year, that goodbye will be a really tough one.

When I spoke to her last she said she thought I might make a good citizens advocate. I think she may be right, so I'm going to share a few words about why it angers me greatly that her departure in life is so unnecessary. Someone reading these words may learn something really important, so please don't stop reading now.

Four years ago when her son began to bring her first grandchild over, she would hold up the child so his legs would sit on her abdomen and she noticed a pain. She mentioned it to her doctor and he told her that since she was overweight, it was nothing. Every year she went back and she was continuing to gain weight and he said the same thing. Finally the pain got so intense she couldn't stand it anymore and at long last he had a look see. The look see revealed she had a 22 pound cancerous tumor in her abdomen.

She had it removed and had a hysterectomy at the same time and ended up being released from the hospital too soon and within 24 hours was back in another hospital suffering from abdominal bleeding and a stroke. She had borderline diabetes as well and though she made it through two different types of chemo her left leg from the knee down began to shrink. But they gave her a projected remission time of four to six years. She only made it for six months and now she has a tumor attached to her chest wall. She has cancer in all of her lymph nodes in her body. She's back with chemo treatments again, but now I'm certain she only has a very short time left.

At times when I have shared this story with people I know, they said she should have gone to see another doctor way back when. They are right of course, but when you place your trust in the doctor you've known for years, you are not likely to take that option.

While cancer treatments today from early detection are amazingly successful, it takes a doctor who cares enough to go the extra distance to listen to their patients and act accordingly. But as that does not occur all of the time, I'd like to urge everyone to remember this story and if something is not right with you, please go seek another opinion. Or if you have a friend who is having some concerns, urge them strongly to get another opinion.

Hopefully, you'll have many more opportunities to say Hello and not have to say a permanent goodbye prematurely.

Petra