Interview

Today I was able to spend some time with a journalist with the local newspaper. There is the possibility they will do an article on Amyloidosis, Me, and the Support Group I am trying to get to Utah.

After surviving chemo and stem cell transplant and all the complications that came with it, I had 3 main goals I wanted to accomplish. 1. Educate physicians in Cache Valley about Amyloidosis. Partially there and still working on this one. 2. Increase awareness of the disease with the public. 3.. Start a support group for the state of Utah/Idaho/Wyoming. Being able to visit with this newspaper representative is helping accomplish part of these goals. 

I learned a fact over the weekend from off of my online support group.  40% of AL Amyloidosis patients die in the first year after diagnosis; because of delayed diagnosis and slow to get treatment. Treatment is so very hard on the heart and kidneys so if you have much amyloid involvement it becomes very very risky. As was my case, but I am a walking miracle. I am hoping an article will come out of today's interview, then I will send a copy of it to other newspapers in Salt Lake and Provo and Boise and Idaho  Falls are and Wyoming....hoping they may print something about the disease and support group.  Patients and family members need to know there is HOPE and that they aren't alone. I am so very grateful we have got this far.

We just finished a face lift on our home. Dave didn't want to put it's 23rd layer of paint on the masonite siding so we put up new siding and some brick. I'll attach a photo.

Today is the day before Mother's day.  My heart is full of emotion.  My mother passed away when I was 19 years old, but oh what a job of mothering she did in those 19 years.  It has shaped my whole life.  I completed Mom's history.  I hope she would like it. She has now been gone 40 years Most memories are dim but because of the "special visits" at the hospital, I still remember how she "feels". I am so grateful for those angelic visits. My step mom has recovered enough from her terrible ordeal that she was able to come home this week. It's been since Sept that she has been in her home. Our lives are so full of blessings. Two miracles in one year and many, many tender mercies.

If your mother is still here, I encourage you to love and honor her every day, not just on Mother's Day. If she has passed, I encourage you to write your memories of your mother, or even her life history. You will come to know and appreciate her more than you already do.

Thank goodness for Mother's. Thank goodness for children that make us mothers.  I love my family so very much. I am so grateful that we are a forever family. 

Happy Mother's Day!  This is what I look like with a shadowed face. Smiling though.