Damn.
Man given six months to live discovers tumour is harmless abscess
Phil Collins, 61, quit his job, planned his own funeral and blew £18,000 from a pension pay-out after being told he had inoperable gallbladder and liver cancer.
He fulfilled a lifelong dream of buying a Triumph motorbike, bought wife Isabel a car and made financial arrangements to ensure she was secure after his death.
But when the six month deadline passed he went back to hospital - where further checks revealed the growth on his liver was in fact an abscess.
However, Mr Collins claims that complications from the cocktail of cancer drugs he was prescribed have ruined his health and he is now planning a legal bid for compensation.
"If you have spent two years thinking you are going to die, then you are told you are not, it knocks you backwards."
Mr Collins, who used to work as a lorry driver, first referred to Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester in Dorset in April 2007 after suffering a loss of appetite, weight loss and anaemia.
A CT scan revealed an abnormal gallbladder which doctors diagnosed as advanced cancer which had spread to his liver.
He was advised to give up his job and his wife stopped her part-time cleaning work to become a full-time carer to her husband.
The couple, who have been married for 44 years and have no children, did not take holidays and chose to spend his last days at home in Yetminster, Dorset, together surrounded by friends.
Mrs Collins said: "Six months came and went, and it got to Christmas and we had what we thought was our last Christmas together.
"Then, in April last year it was Phil's 60th birthday; that came and went. The doctors said, 'You should not be here, I cannot understand this'."
The couple insisted on more tests and in April 2009 scans revealed that Phil did not have cancer of the liver or gallbladder.
Hospital chiefs ordered a review and doctors then said they believed the malignant tumour was actually an abscess.
Steph, I missed something -- your mom got fired!? I'm sorry for that, and for all the family distress now -- much -ma to all.
I had to wait nearly 3 hours, but it was worth it -- got my extended-extended-extended Unemployment benefits approved, which means I don't have to look for work where I ask if you want fries with that... well, for another 13 weeks. The economy's going to turn around before that, right?
Damn, indeed. That...is a story full of mixed emotions.
Note to self: if I get a diagnosis of 'terminal disease', remember to get a second opinion before sewing up my worldly affairs and/or blowing all my savings.
Steph, I missed something -- your mom got fired!?
She did, about a month or so ago. They knew that "restructuring" was coming, but she had always gotten rave reviews at work, and she had been there 9 years, and so the "worst" she expected was having to take on extra work, from the people who got fired.
She never expected that she was going to be one of the people who was fired. The dean of students got fired there -- after 33 years with that school (he started as an English teacher; I had him for American Lit). He was stunned. My mom told me that he's already been hired as principal at another Catholic high school.
It happens, but it's just so rotten when you aren't expecting it.
Liese, thank you for sharing your memories of Ellison Onizuka and his contributions to our history. When I remember the Challenger disaster in the future it will be a memory with another human dimension included.
Weekend: tonight is family movie night with the parents and sister. We are going to watch
A Walk on the Moon
and possibly
The Dish
if mom isn't too tired. Sometime over the weekend anyway. Don't know beyond tonight.
Weekend: going up to Maine to hang with family. Going to a local music theater with my Mom on Sunday to see Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Back to MA on Monday (maybe catch HP at a matinee on the way back).
Best to your family Steph. Ease to all.
My DexH and I were in Harry's Diner in La Jolla having breakfast when I noticed that everyone in the place was visibly upset. I asked the waitress what was going on and she, with tears in her eyes, said that the Challenger had blown up. In a weird, automatic response, I squealed, "No it DIDN'T!"
It was so surreal and sad. To this day, I can't explain how deeply it hit me, though I had no personal connection to the program or the event. It still affects me and, forgive me for making a no-doubt inappropriate connection, but every time I see the Air Force Memorial in Alexandria, it brings it all back.
Ford announces intention to replace spark plugs with lasers
...with frickin' sharks attached to them.
