I do get asked, “how did you discover this cancer?”    Well, the ordeal came to light on Diane’s birthday, November 19, 2021.  We had just arrived in Arizona for the winter at the beginning of November.  We brought down a few boxes of Alaska salmon and halibut and we had a nice dinner at Mom’s with Joan.   Shortly after dinner I felt very full.  Then, my stomach began to ache and it felt firm and distended.  My first thought was food poisoning but no one else felt bad.  I mean, it’s not like I ate a giant plate of Mexican food or some bad food combination.  I really needed to take a dump but didn’t want to do that at Mom’s house so we decided to go home. Being a male, of course I had no intention of going to Emergency.  All I needed to do was go to the bathroom and if necessary, force myself to vomit (which I’ve always done successfully my whole life).   I got home and I could do neither, even as the pain increased.  Diane wanted to go Emergency but I said I wanted to lay down for a bi

Even though this cancer is known as slow growth things continue to move at an efficient pace for us.  This week we added two major players to our overall support team.  I’ll give you an overview but plan on more extensive detail in a future blog. I mentioned in a previous blog that any diagnosis of Mesothelioma generates asbestos litigation.  Have you ever heard of asbestos litigation?  I didn’t really know that was a thing.  There are law firms built exclusively on this practice.  After careful consideration and with the help of John and Leeann Cassin (pickleball friends as John likes to remind me!), Diane and I have selected not one, but two of the top firms in the nation to handle our claims. These firms are easy to find and they are looking for Mesothelioma patients.  Here’s how we found them:  Early on we were looking through Meso websites, one in particular was Mesothelioma.com.  The site was full of very interesting information and facts about the disease and even more about tre

Chemotherapy Treatment Day 2. In general, the first round of treatment 3 weeks ago had a slight learning curve.  I learned that nausea does not always involve puking.  I had an upset stomach for a few days that wound up going away almost immediately when I started my nausea medicine (so, that medicine will begin tonight after today’s round).  After day 6 or 7 I had no real side affects at all.  Which means the last 14 days I’ve felt very normal. The other obstacle was what the three days of steroid medicine did to spike my glucose numbers.  That was a little distressing as my Alaska diabetes doctor was unable to treat me out of state.  So, Diane and I found an amazing Endocrinologist here in Phoenix who gave us plenty of attention and prescribed some insulin and taught us how to offset the high numbers (which started again with yesterday’s first steroid)  We consider the appointment another way God has looked out for us.  This doctor group could not see me before May 24 but I really di

 You’ve not had to put up with an annual family Christmas card from the Daly’s all these years but you might have to struggle through one today!  I want to tell you about my first string support team….my family,   We had a fantastic Mother’s Day yesterday so I will start with the one and only Willie Daly.  The majority of you know my Mom Willie but for the uninformed, here’s the lowdown.  She is the rock of what’s left of our nuclear family.  She is 91, lives on her own, drives a Mustang, and has a little Hollywood dog named Suki.  She is fiercely independent and ultimately capable.  This is not to say we don’t worry about our Mom but, even we are impressed at her ability to never age.  She still won’t move to Sun City because old people live there. Her stamina and endurance is amazing considering who’s gone before her.  We lost my Dad in 1973 so she has been a widow for nearly 50 years.  She lost her youngest son, Patrick when he was 36.  She lost her youngest brother, Bumpy around th

 I hear this question often enough that I thought today might be a good day to discuss this topic. As I alluded to in my first entry, Mesothelioma is an environmental cancer.  The only known cause is exposure to asbestos.  The fact of the matter is, most of us probably have had some distant exposure to asbestos in our lifetime.  The older you are, the more likely, absent the countermeasures from extreme pressure on the asbestos industry in the last 30-40 years.  Perhaps, you lived in a very old classic home that at one time used asbestos in things like, fireproof siding, dangerous ceiling tiles, the adhesive that was used to install floor coverings, or maybe in old paint.  Think about the dangers to firefighters using extinguishers and fire prevention techniques that used asbestos.  Another prevalent occupation seems to be Navy veterans who spent time on ships.   Another large population that seems to be affected are asbestos industry workers, miners, transportation, installers, and ot