Absent Friends & Missing Persons

[cloughie]

Sorry to hear your multiple woes - makes all the bickerings and forum tantrums rather trivial and pointless however passionately stated! Hope your way forward leads to better times.

[HighlandDougie]

Much saddened by your run of misfortunes - and missing your posts from Chicago. Hope that the treatment you will have to endure isn't too arduous and debilitating for you and the family - and that you are back among us soon. As Cloughie says, what you have experienced puts intra-forum snits in perspective. And, Scots cliché here we come, "Lang may yer lum reek"!

[johncorrigan]

And, Scots cliché here we come, "Lang may yer lum reek"!

I'll go along with that, Richard. Hope your road becomes a lot less bumpy soon.

[hmvman]

Sorry to hear about your misfortunes and wishing you better times ahead, and a return to the forum.

[gurnemanz]

Very best wishes, Richard.

[Edgy 2]

Best wishes Richard

[richardfinegold]

Thank you for all the nice words. It did sound rather like something out of the Book of Job when I tried to provide a succinct summary of my last couple of months.
Omicron was the least of it. A little fatigue, headache, GI upset for a few days. Pre Covid I would have just worked through it and thought I had a slight bug. They shut our office down because 18 out 20 of us tested positive the week between Christmas and New Year. In terms of sheer discomfort my new disc herniation from the fall is the worst. I did have an epidural with partial relief but still can't sleep in a bed ,snatch a few hours in a recliner at night. I have to go to Detroit in a few days to help make arrangements for my mother and I'm dreading the effects of the drive, etc. And of course Work isn't much fun. The Silver lining might be that the pain from the back lead to a routine urinalysis that may have caught the Kidney issue at a very early stage. Time will tell.
The most soul crushing of this has been the two young people referenced in my first post, both full of promise, just embarking on their lives, now gone. One is my (now widowed ) Niece husband, who died a terrible death after a failed bone marrow transplant, and the other who was going to be marrying another Niece, was diagnosed with Ocular Melanoma, and died within days. We actually had her Wedding coming up next week, I just got the reminder of my Calendar as I opened the Computer. I just turned 64 (cue Paul MacCartney, please) my children are in their mid 30s, I have wonderful Grandchildren. I want to hang around, but I've had my shot. I guess anything else I may say will sound trite, cliched, so I will leave it unsaid

[BBMmk2]

I suppose some explanation is in order.
It started with losing my password last December. Initial attempts at reclamation failed. Then, a run of misfortune, which decreased my desire to interact and get into stupid meaningless spats happened. First, I had Omicron. Then, two close relatives under the age of 30 died in close succession, with resultant significant grieving and family commitments. I fell on the ice and injured my back and am in terrible pain and will spare the details. , another family crisis involving my 93 year old mother and dementia. Finally, I have been diagnosed with Kidney Cancer and beginning the staging for that.
I’ve looked at the Forum a few times, been motivated a few times to get involved, but basically not in a frame of mind for Civil Discourse. It, ahem, also seems a little quiet lately…

I’m so sorry to read all this. I hope if you like, you could contact me and have a chat, sometime. Best wishes, BBM.

[gradus]

A tough time Richard, best wishes and good fortune in the coming months.

[Dave2002]

Really sorry to hear of Richard's troubles. I hope there is going to be some form of light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe music and conversation will help - but there's no pressure to keep up with everything which goes on round here.

Very best wishes, Richard.

[Serial_Apologist]

Richard: our thoughts, feelings and wishes go with you, on this side of The Pond.

[RichardB]

Very sorry to hear about all this, RF. I hope and trust you're being well taken care of. Best wishes for getting back to good health.

[richardfinegold]

Again, thanks to all. After enduring side effects from all the medications for my back pain I am thrilled that I chucked them all last night and was able to sleep in my own bed last night for the first time in two weeks. It feels good not to be in a perpetual fog (well, some might say that I'm a bit fogged as a baseline...).

[Historian]

Again, thanks to all. After enduring side effects from all the medications for my back pain I am thrilled that I chucked them all last night and was able to sleep in my own bed last night for the first time in two weeks. It feels good not to be in a perpetual fog (well, some might say that I'm a bit fogged as a baseline...).

This is great news: sleep helps make everything else more bearable. Very best best wishes.

[Nick Armstrong]

Again, thanks to all. After enduring side effects from all the medications for my back pain I am thrilled that I chucked them all last night and was able to sleep in my own bed last night for the first time in two weeks. It feels good not to be in a perpetual fog (well, some might say that I'm a bit fogged as a baseline...).

Belated commiserations and wishes for continuing improvement, Richard!