Apparently the diagnosis of Stage 4 is less fraught than it used to be. It's the type of cancer Hubby has that's so worrying, not the stage--though the stage is a serious complication. But he's been responding so well that they've occasionally drawn an extra vial of blood for research purposes. I wonder how much of this is his inherent mutancy, his systems have always been a little odd. I hope no one tries to patent his genes.

re: hair, I'm going to see if I can get my hair just generally healthier, then let the curl do its bit. I tell Hubby that women cut their hair short at my age to de-emphasize the thin spots. He dislikes short hair on women.

SailAweigh, I was just wondering if the problem was that the hairs didn't keep growing. But I get that you and I both lack expertise in this topic.

He dislikes short hair on women.

DH is the same. He says it is old lady hair, but I look at myself and see an old lady with long hair. He also likes it down and I tend to wear it twisted up most of the time, in the summer absolutely all the time. If there was a short style I liked he wouldn't bug me about cutting it, but it is easier to just trim it from time to time anyway. My biggest issue is my crazy schedule and making time to get it cut more than a couple times a year.

So Hubby's having bone marrow cells harvested. The magic number is 12 million. As of yesterday, they were around 3 million. They can work with 10 million.

Yesterday, he overheard a knockdown drag-out argument between two doctors, a technician, and a patient management person. They didn't know he was around the corner. The tech said they had 8 million for a patient, one doctor insisted he wouldn't accept anything under 12, 2nd doctor said they could work with 10 at the absolute minimum, manager asked if they were sure they couldn't work with 8. No resolution was found. One of the doctors came stomping around the corner and froze when he saw Hubby.

Hubby said, "Thank you for working so hard for us, doctor." The doctor, who Hubby thinks was Indian, bowed to him (I mention ethnicity, because bowing isn't something one normally sees in Americans).

I would imagine there are more factors at play than one number for one value. Of course doctors flexibility varies wildly. We have some doctors that are so fixed that if one tiny thing is changed, like icon placement on a screen or something in an exam room, they are so thrown they have to go home. Others would see you in the restaurant restroom if you had an issue. Of course knowing which one you have in advance is super unlikely.

I just celebrated my 4th anniversary at current job. Which means it's time for me to re-take the sexual harrasment training. Ugg. Why do we have to do it every two years? They aren't posting new examples. Or new cases. Curious why it's every TWO years?? Like the memories of the lessons learned wear off, and I start wanting to make lewd comments, and overt suggestions start after 27 months??

t /whine

Hubby was told every cell meant another minute of life, so he's a fan of high numbers.

Others would see you in the restaurant restroom if you had an issue.

He ran into his electrocardiologist in the frozen food aisle at our supermarket once, and the doctor insisted on taking his pulse and asking questions. We had another doctor who stopped us in the bank line one day. We have been very lucky in doctors.

Speaking of cancer news, my mom got the results of her latest MRI and her tumor has not grown in the last three months--they said it was the best news possible, considering. In her case, being in her 80s is a real advantage.

Why do we have to do it every two years? They aren't posting new examples. Or new cases. Curious why it's every TWO years??

I think there's some regulation in play in some states which mean that if you do business in that state and have a certain number of employees. We have the same 2 year requirement where I work, and a hideous online "training" course that is the subject of much mockery in our department (we develop online training).

This one is online training. The names in the case studies are funny. The section on "new technology" and messaging via AOL and LiveJournal made me chuckle. Sure they still exist, but who uses them??