Dot`sThoughts

I have been so worried about my brother and today i was told what i was fearing right along. I heard the Dr gave him about a year to a year and a half to live with all the bone cancer they discovered with the tests. This is the same brother who had a leg removed almost 2 years ago due to osteomyelitis- which is a kind of bone infection. Today they have better cures for it and it is usually treated before it gets as bad as his got. He had trouble with that leg since the age of 14. Back then the Dr told my parents that my brother wouldn`t last through the night unless they removed his leg. My Mother refused to sign as her faith made her feel he would make it and still keep his leg. They used magets back then to eat the dead infected flesh and bone while they won`t eat healthy flesh or healthy bone. They had to drain the fluid from the knee twice to try to keep the infection from going above his knee and killing him. With the knee fluid removed, the Dr said he would never walk again and his knee would never bend. He spent over a year in the hospital, and another year in a wheel chair being school tutored at home before he was able to spend the following year going to school on crutches. He finally was able to walk and that was a happy day for the whole family. His last year of High School, he often rode his bicycle to school. I used to walk fast beside him till we reached the steep hill, then I often coasted down the hill to the School riding on the cross bar of his bike. So, he went through a lot keeping his leg for so many years. I am glad our Mother and Father never had to see him lose it after such a long battle. Then a couple years ago he had cancer in his throat and they removed his gland and the op was successful according to the Dr`s and tests. Then he went through lots with kidney stones. Seems like as soon as he wins one battle, he has a new one to fight. I pray the Dr is wrong and he fools them again by fighting this bone cancer. He is just now beginning to walk with the leg prothesis and the walker.

I once had three brothers. Lost my younger brother at age 60 from Heart problems- 14 years ago, then we lost our oldest brother on June 9, 08 ( 2 months ago), also from heart problems, and now it is my other older brother we are praying for. Over the years every time we lost someone, we always lost two more before that year was over. Now we seem to be on an every 2 year losing streak. This started when I lost my darling husband 6 years ago. Two years later my youngest sister lost her husband from an accident, then 2 years after that my oldest sister lost her husband due to medical problems, then this year we lost our oldest brother. I want to say When does it stop, but I know there is no answer to my question. Also lost an Uncle and a cousin lost her husband this past winter. I know i should expect to lose loved ones as we are all getting older, but then i think of some who are in their 90 and still doing good. Guess they must have received good healthy genes, or something. My Mom was 4 days before her 81 st birthday, my Dad was only 72. My oldest brother was 83 and this bro is 81. He is a fighter, but this time I can hear the defeat more in his voice. Now, I am scared myself and i don`t like feeling this way. I will need to stay strong for him. I just hope i can.

Sorry for such a downer post, but I am hoping writing it down with help me get through this terrible worry. I can`t talk about it much to others as I am not supposed to know. My brother made them promise not to tell us. I am glad they decided we should be told. (They is my nephew and his girlfriend who took him to the Dr apt.. They moved in with him after his leg removal and have been helping care for him.). Now, we have to keep our brother from hearing that we were told against his wishes.
Another nephew stopped by today to tell me he has put a down payment on a 5 bedroom home a few street from where i live. I am happy for him. He is a hard worker and with rent prices today, it is nice to have his money buying his own home. He is married with two older teenagers.