Death From Complications of Leukemia
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In yesterday’s news on TV and in the papers, two relatively famous men were reported as having died from complications of Chronic Lymphocitic Leukemia (CLL). Technically CLL is a malignant cancer. It has various symptoms, and it does various things to one. You sweat profusely. At night when sleeping you sweat, during the day after the slightest exertion, etc. You stay so wet, so much of the time, that skin fungal infections are sometimes a bit of a problem.
CLL affects the bone marrow, the white blood cells, the lymphatic system basically goes hair wire, and your lymph nodes swell up outrageously. The ones near the surface like on your neck show up as big lumps, and the internal ones press uncomfortably against various relatively important and useful internal organs.
Often you itch really badly. So bad that people sometimes draw blood from their scratching. This type of leukemia causes some people to have absolutely zero energy. I mean wanting to sleep 22 hours per day. Barely having the energy to walk to the bathroom and back. My friend up in Hillsboro has this symptom. Luckily I do not.
But probably the most inconvenient effect of CLL is that it reduces the effectiveness of your immune system. Over time you get to where you body just can’t fight off any simple little invader. Bacterial, viral, fungal, mold, etc. And then one day you get a simple little chest cold and poof. Just like that you die from pneumonia. One day you're here, the next...who knows. John Lennon said it was just like getting out of one car and getting into another. Yes, well maybe so. Hope springs eternal.
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Some people have sleepy, slow acting leukemia. Others (like me) have a more aggressive variety which tends to cause serious problems somewhat sooner rather than later.
I’m in the middle of one of my periodic battles with an infection inside of my right lung. I can remember back to being in Paris a little over a year ago, and being in so much pain I thought I might croak right there at the Eifel Tower. That’s kind of how it feels right now. My body just can’t seem to get rid of this lung infection permanently.
All of this has made me much more aware of my own mortality. I’m taking some ass kick antibiotics which I was prescribed back when I lived in Europe. And at least me and my stuff made it back home to El Paso, Texas. My little black doggie Inu is a lot more comfort to me than any of my 3 ex-wives would have been if they were here. I'm making certain that my Will, my financial information, internet user names and passwords, wishes for funeral, obituary, grave stone, etc. are all written down and up-to-date and readily accesible. May seem morbid to you; to me it just seems practical and being well prepared.
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And if this is the time that the pneumonia wins, well so be it. I guess that is Allah’s will or one of those other dudes from the popular fairy tales. I think that in general Karl Mark's ideas were really quite wrong. But his statement about religion being the opiate of the masses seems pretty close to the truth.
