Paul A is getting better, but it is still going to be a little while before he
gets back into the swing of things. He's still at his girlfriend's house in
Salem which is about 50-60 miles south of Portland. For example, they made
back-to-back trips up to Portland for doctor's appointments on Thursday and
Friday and Paul said that doing so wiped him out. But he is eating, drinking
adequate fluids and is gaining strength.(Therefore there's no need for
stuffing-stomping, Kate.)
He has been diagnosed with osteoporosis, osteopenia and multiple myeloma,
which is a form of bone cancer. The myeloma is considered treatable and very
often responds well to chemotherapy. So, he's been getting better-tolerated
pain meds, IV drips of an osteoporosis drug (probably calcitonin, but I'm not
100% certain), transfusions of whole blood (which they try before getting into
bone marrow transplants) and, later, will likely be treated with a modified
version of thalidomide (the drug that was responsible for birth defects back
in the late '50's and early 60's). There are all sorts of hoops one has to
jump through and tests that need to be run before a patient can be given the
thalidomide so it will likely be another few days before that portion of the
therapy is initiated.
One of his sons will be up here in a couple-three weeks and will be able to
stay for a week and a half or so. I'm telling you this because that's likely
when Paul is going to be able to park is butt back in the shop and have an
able-bodied go-fer on hand. Right now, I can't be of much help because the
rheumatoid arthritis is flaring up and I am having trouble doing simple things
like getting out of bed, turning the key in the ignition of my vehicle, etc.,
etc. Hopefully by the time son Joey gets here this will have calmed down and I
will be able to pitch in some constructive way
Paul's has accumulated so many emails during his illness that looks like his
ISP might be rejecting any new ones. He's going to start working on this from
his GF's place and might have to dump the accumulated emails and unsubscribe
from a couple of the lists until he can get things sorted out. Also, his
telephone voice mail tends to fill up almost instantaneously ... he said he
emptied it both Thursday and Friday and imagines that it will be full again by
the end of the day.
So, if you'd like to get in touch about parts, orders, technical questions
etc., etc., let me know and I can relay the message.
Pete
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