We lost another one last week and the trend is not good. The official story released by the family is non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Actually that is enough since that particular diagnosis is fatal. There underlying issues were not discussed. The same ones that were not discussed when AIDS took my brother. I guess technically AIDS is just a complication; it is always something else that gets you in the end. Mark, like my brother, had various organs sprinting to see which would be listed as the official cause of death.
Mark was just a year older than I am. We were in boy scouts together, went to the same high school. His sister married my cousin. He had a Chemical Engineering degree from Purdue and a JD from Indiana University law school. Overall he was just a cool guy. The e-mail said his partner of 23 years and his sister were by his side when he passed. I guess in the end that isn’t a bad way to go.
I'm sorry to hear that, Brent. The weird cancers still hit folks with HIV/AIDS. I work with someone right now who has KS - which is the OLD AIDS-related cancer that I didn't think people got anymore.
ReplyDeleteThe upside is that it's getting damn hard to get someone with HIV onto Disability benefits - because SSA knows they could be on Disability for 35 years or more.
The downside is that with a compromised immune system, a sore throat could take someone out.
Like you said: There are some ways that are better to go out than others. Having advance notice, being able to get your affairs in order, having loved ones around you... it beats the hell out of getting hit by a bus on the way home from work...
Or in our cases, run over by a crazed 112 pound soccer mom driving her 1 ton dualie down the sidewalk.
ReplyDeleteI had forgotten about KS. I thought that had been replaced by something else with a trendier name. KS 2100, the next generation. The SSA disability situation is unfortunate. Nothing like being screwed by success. "The good news you have a treatable condition & will live another 35 years. The bad news is, you can't afford it"