Taking a past Co-worker to lunch today

[fisherman]

I left Mega Cr*p nine months ago for SER. I have not been back once. I do hear from so of my previous co-workers from time to time. a few of them were good friends outside of work and still are.

One of them is just 30 years old now and got some really bad news two weeks ago. He has cancer (melanoma) and it has spread to his lymph nodes and possibly more. He will find out tomorrow if it is in any major organs. He found out when a lump on his leg started bleeding and he went to the doctor about it. They cut it off but three new one have already grown back. He has two kids and his wife only works part time.

This guy is very kind and always there to help anyone in need and was also very generous to charities. I mentioned to him that in the unlikely event it gets worse he will be well taken care off by all the friend he has.

The above story is yet another reason that ER is so special. you have time to help when needed.

 

[fisherman]

Update:

My old cell mate got the report from the oncologists and the Cancer does not appear to have spread past the two lymph nodes and the original site. He will start one year of chemo soon but has a good prognosis!

He is a good kid and I am very glad he is going to pull through.

 

[haha]

Update:

My old cell mate got the report from the oncologists and the Cancer does not appear to have spread past the two lymph nodes and the original site. He will start one year of chemo soon but has a good prognosis!

He is a good kid and I am very glad he is going to pull through.

Very good to hear, Fisherman! You are a good friend.

Ha

 

[Rambler]

Not to be negative, but my grandma died of melanoma that spread to the breasts, then lungs and bones, eventually everywhere. Melanoma is a dangerous one and often spreads when broken for a biopsy (or any other reason). I hope they get him on the chemo soon...as I understand it, the outlook for melanoma patients is not great but still bettter when treatment starts early. Keep supporting him Fisherman...he'll need all the support he can get very soon.

R

 

[W2R]

Not to be negative, but my grandma died of melanoma that spread to the breasts, then lungs and bones, eventually everywhere. Melanoma is a dangerous one and often spreads when broken for a biopsy (or any other reason).

You are so right, and from what I understand they can spread really fast. My mother had a tiny but very malignant melanoma in her eye that was discovered in her late 50's, and had her eye removed surgically right away. No preliminary biopsy, and no chemo. The pathologist said it was the right decision because the diagnosis was correct. It was sad that she lost one of her beautiful blue eyes - - but she lived more than 40 years afterwards. We thought we had lost her, but luckily we were wrong.

I guess if one is lucky enough to get a very early diagnosis, they can be stopped before they spread.

 

[Buckeye]

This is not a political comment but he is going to be scrambling if things don't go well and he can't work and he exhausts his COBRA. He has a kids and wife to take care of and it's to society's benefit if he's around to do that.

 

[Dawg52]

Melanoma is a tough one. A buddy of mine had stage 2 melanoma and had to go through a year's worth of chemo. He worked, but he looked like an old man. Lost about 40 lbs. But that was over 5 years ago and he is going strong. I hope your buddy has the same success.

 

[fisherman]

This is not a political comment but he is going to be scrambling if things don't go well and he can't work and he exhausts his COBRA. He has a kids and wife to take care of and it's to society's benefit if he's around to do that.

I appreciate all the comments and plan to keep helping all I can. My old company and the company he works for provide up to one year of sick leave continuous at full pay then LTD after that but LTD is at 60% of pay so that would be a problem for him at that point.

I hope he does not lose 40 lbs. He is 6'2" and weighs 135 now so that would be very bad.

Also I did not see the typo on my first post in time to edit it but SER should be ESR.

 

[Martha]

I wondered about the "SER" but didn't ask. I thought it might be "super early retirement."

 

[hillstreet]

It may be a long shot but suggest your friend look up SYNTA, a company that may have a highly effective drug for melanoma. GSK is a partner with them in it's development. I think it is in phase 3 clinical trials. If you go to their website, it has a place for patients to log in. The call letters for SYNTA are SNTA.