Too Much on Our Plait

Honestly, I don't even know what to say.  As you probably read in my mother's post from yesterday, my uncle Richard passed away yesterday morning from complications post-treatment for AML.  My mother said pretty much everything there was to say, but I think there's a little more. Uncle Richard, I have one more story for you. Uncle Richard was a funny man. He was downright weird at times, but the best kind of weird there is. He was never seen without a smile. Uncle Richard had this way about him - even in his lovely tennis shorts in December (mind you, we're in Baltimore) - to brighten the room around him.  I'll never forget the smell of his pipe (I hate smoking, but his pipe always smelled so good), the smile on his face, and the songs he used to sing, again in those tennis shorts. He would just break out into song. When us cousins were kids, we were always captivated by his humor. The one song that immediately comes to mind is, "The Littlest Worm....

Cancer has struck  our family again…in a big way.   One week after the burial of my mother on February 23, 2016 for non-cancer related issues, my brother-in-law, Richard, was diagnosed with AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia).   Since March 6 th , he had been an inpatient at University of Maryland Hospital.   As our family typically does, we all came together to support my sister, Anna Marie.   We made daily trips to the hospital.   Most of the time we were full of hope, but eventually we felt more like wounded soldiers marching into a losing battle.   Richard suffered one unfortunate circumstance after another with both happy and sad outcomes.   The happy outcome is that the first round of chemo was successful in eradicating his leukemia cells.   The sad news is that all too often the same drugs that cure you can also, indirectly, kill you.   As a result of Richard’s extremely depleted blood cells and extremely compromised immune system f...