AARP Online Community: Hodgkins-Survivor

Hodgkins-Survivor

AARP Member

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Background

Name: David

Birthday: August 2

Gender: Male

Status: Married

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Religion: Christian/Catholic

Location:
NORTH ATTLEBORO, Massachusetts
United States

School:
B.S. Business Admin - Northeastern Univ

Work:
Vietnam Vet.
Institutional Food Sales Distribution

My Websites:
www.angelfire.com/ma/shannonsweb
http://www.angelfire.com/ma/shannonsweb/Penny/Penny.html

Quote:
Friendship with oneself is all important, because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world. - Eleanor Roosevelt

My Bookmarks (3)

My Comments (13)

My Scores (6)

Game	Score
Sumatra	1466
Deja Vu Solitaire	1196
Klondike Solitaire	302
Disco Bowling	198
Skeeball	170

About Me

I am 66 and have spent the last year and a half fighting Hodgkins Lymphoma with Chemotherapy, radiation, and just this past June "High Dose Chemotherapy" followed by a stemcell transplant using my own stem cells. If God is willing, I will go into total remission and be able to be a mentor to some other person afflicted with that disease simply to offer an ear and to help push him/her through the treatments, especially if he/she hits that point of wanting to pull the plug. Been there - done that. I would say that the toughest thing to deal with concerning the chemotherapy is the neuropathy it has caused. Sometimes the pain and discomfort are very difficult. I suppose I am lucky in a way because it has affected both feet (mainly the toes) and just the left hand and fingertips). I do experience some numbness in the right hand and fingertips but not has heavily as my left hand

Interests:

Golf, driving, playing my accordion, barbershop harmony, online games, and helping others where an opportunity to do so presents itself

More About Me

My Photos (26)

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My Videos (11)

Dolphins and the Ring

Length: 1:09

Olympics - Funny Turner

Length: 1:40

U.S.S. Montana

Length: 0:54

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My Journals (3)

November 23, A date in History

November 23, 1963 - I was taking a final exam in "Humanities" at Minot State College, at Minot, No. Dak.

I still cannot believe that jerk of a professor would interrupt our exam to make the announcement that JFK had been assasinated.

Not only was I a full time student, but also a member of the United States Air Force, stationed at Minot Air Force Base (Strategic Air Command - aka SAC). Obviously I had to hand in my exam (incomplete) and return to the base as quickly as possible, as it wasn’t hard to imagine the entire US military had been put on Strategic Alert.

It was the longest 13 mile drive that I can remember taking, and as I neared the base I could see the B-52 Bombers and Tactical Fighter Jets taking off for God only knows where. We were all confined to base for the next week, and by the time I was able to get back to my studies, that idiot professor would not allow me to re-take the exam.

This guy had said many times that the US would be better off without the Kennedy’s, and I think took it personal that I was in the Air Force. My duties with the Air Force were as a Ground Radio Operator, and except for making radio checks with Air Force Command and other strategic stations it was a rather boring and quiet job. Since I only worked rotating shifts at night. This allowed me to be a full time student and work nights at the base.

That was then, and this is now. As most of my friends here at AARP are aware; I went through a stem cell (Bone Marrow) transplant back in June and as far as I am aware right now, going through that procedure but the Lymphoma into remission.

Now I have to have the Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) I was diagnosed with at the same time as the Hodgkins Lymphoma was diagnosed. All the doctors involved decided to get the Lymphoma taken care of first. It has almost been two years since that initial CAT Scan picked up on both of these problems, and the Aneurysm has grown from a little over 5cm to a little over 6cm and could burst at any time. It was that type of burst that took Harvey Corman’s life back in June. His burst sometime around the first of the year, and because his had to be real emergency surgery, the effects of that surgery was the cause of Harvey Corman’s demise.

If taken care of under normal surgical procedures at a pace the surgeons can work with -- the chances of the surgery being fatal are about 1%.

My surgery date is Scheduled for December 8th at 10:00 am at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. I have maintained my personal website through Caring Bridge and you can visit my page and leave messages for me there. I am supposed to be in intensive care for two days and the remainder of a week or so as a guest of Brigham & Women’s. If I am not physically able to be online, my daughter will probably make some entries in my journal log at the Caring Bridge web site. I have put the URL for the web site below.

I want to thank everyone that gave me the support and encouragement during my battle with cancer, and welcome that same support and encouragement again from them along with my new friends.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/davidcashel

God bless and thanks for being there. ---- David Cashel

Added: November 23, 2008
Views: 131 | Comments: 0 | Bookmarks: 0

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