Dear Maria,
First, I am so happy to hear that you are in total remission. Going
from blast to remission in such a short time is nothing less then a
miracle.
As everyone keeps welcoming you then you will see just how much we
care about you and everyone else. You also mentioned something about
not having hope. I would like for you to read something that I wrote
over twenty years ago concerning hope.
The Window
This is a true story that took place more then twenty years ago.
There were two men in the cancer ward of Mount Sinai Hospital in New
York City. They were in Ward KCC-6 North, which was at that time the
cancer ward at that hospital. Both of these men were suffering from
the end stages of Leukemia. They were there basically to die.
One of these men had his bed right next to the only window in the
room. The other one was across the room and had no access to the
window. The man by the window would always tell the other man how
beautiful it was looking out of that window, and let him know what was
happening outside. He would talk about the beautiful skies, and how
all of the little children were playing in Central Park. He would tell
about the green grass, and the people who were having a picnic, and
the dogs that were running around, as well as the ice cream truck with
the man selling ice cream pops to the little children, and the hot dog
vender also selling hot dogs with mustard and sour kraut. He would
tell the other man that he would be able to see all of this for
himself once he was healed.
This went on for about two weeks, and one morning the nurse came into
the room as she usually did, and presented these two men with their
sponge baths. She first went over to the man who was by the window to
find that he had passed away in his sleep. She then covered him up and
left the room for a couple of minutes. When she returned, there was a
doctor with her. This was a fairly new young doctor who would
pronounce the man dead, and at that particular time, 8:40 a.m. even
though he had obviously passed away some time during the night.
The other man across the room with tears running down his cheeks
became quite depressed at seeing his roommate wheeled out of the room,
declared dead. He thought about how this man would always try to make
him happy with him describing all of the nice things he was able to
see outside.
Later on that day the nurse returned and made up the bed in the room
that was now unoccupied. The man in the other bed asked if by any
chance he would be able to be put by the window. The nurse was a very
kind and compassionate woman besides being a very competent nurse, and
she wheeled him over.
Although this man was unable to prop himself up to see the outside
because he had
recently had his Spleen surgically removed, he tried but finding it
was just impossible. The next day came, and he again tried and
although he was in a great deal of pain he managed to very slowly prop
himself up and peer out of that most appealing window.
He was absolutely shocked at what he was able to see, or to put it
another way, what he was unable to see. There was nothing there but a
brick wall! He wondered why that man would always tell him about what
a beautiful world it was out there when in fact there was nothing but
that brick wall.
At about that time the nurse came in with his sponge bath. He
immediately without any reservation asked her why the man would always
tell him about what was happening outside when in fact he wasn't able
to see anything. The nurse then told him that he was correct. The man
who had been by that window was in fact not able to see anything
because he was blind.
The man then realized that the other man was trying to make him feel
good, and try to become well once again. And, as it turned out that
other man did in fact return to health but not until he was able to
receive a Bone Marrow Transplant. There was a donor found, his sister,
and although he had to live in a plastic bubble for many months
without having a window in it he would also be able to see all of
those wonderful things that this world has to offer. In effect the man
who passed away prepared the other man so that he would be able to
tolerate something that no one could ever imagine happening to anyone.
I know all about this story because I was that other man, and without
this blind man’s help I would have never been able to really “see”
what the other man saw, even though he was totally blind.
I gladly wrote this story to be able to make others understand that
there is hope even though you cannot see any hope. There is something
to be learned by all of this, and that is to never give up hope. Most
of us are blind to this fact, and we can only see what we want to see.
Sometimes it takes someone that can really see what is out there even
though he is blind. Or was he?
Authors’ note:
I wrote this story on May 21, 1990, which I consider my second birth
date, because that was exactly one year after my Bone Marrow
Transplant. My actual birth date was on May 21, 1944.
It is my wish that whoever reads this will take comfort in the fact
that there is a beautiful world out there, and they must have hope in
order to really be able to “see” it.
Martin Gartenberg
18's, Maria
Marty
On Mon, Jul 14, 2014 at 9:45 PM, <mariacash...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello again!!! My origib\nal post was on june 7th, around 10:30. It was
> answered by Marty, but I didn't notice it untill today. Sorry!!! It is hard
> from me to keep up with all of the "streams". The "flow of messages is not
> always clear. I am no longer in blast crisis. I was when I was diagnosed,
> it was awful, because I had no idea of what was going on. I will write all
> about it soon. I am in total molecular remission and have been since
> january 2012. I was diagnosed on Dec 2011. At that time, there was no hope
> for me...but here I am!!!!!
> Iwill write soon. I am alittle tired now...
>
> Maria
>
>
> On Monday, July 14, 2014 10:28:43 AM UTC-4, caselmar wrote:
>>
>> Hi Maria:
>>
>> As everyone has said, I did not see your post or I, too, would have
>> welcomed you. As a group, we have been dealing with the loss of one of our
>> very dear members and a number of us don't stay in touch sometimes because
>> we are going through our own issues. This group is a family and while we
>> hate to expand it, because we don't wish CML on anyone, we know that new
>> family members will come along. We are all here for you and will be in our
>> thoughts and prayers.
>>
>> Marcie
>
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