Primary Myelofibrosis is a serious, incurable, life limiting, blood cancer. But I have had a pretty easy time of it compared to many of my fellow patients. Since I was diagnosed in 2013 I have not been hospitalized. My symptoms have been mild by comparison to many who have severe bone pain and/or require frequent transfusions to keep their numbers up. I have great health insurance coverage that has opened doors for me to advanced specialists and provided me with the expensive medication I take twice a day. I have responded well to that expensive medicine so that my symptoms have improved and I have been able to stay active. I have been able to continue working as a pastor.
That is not to say that myelofibrosis has not made an indelible impact on my life.
All of us myelofibrosis patients have fallen out the door of the airplane of life. Some of us are falling faster than others - but we are all falling toward death. For the moment it seems that I have a scrap of a parachute, but it is smoldering and likely to burst into flame. It is a reality that I cannot escape.
My life is foreshortened. Every moment is more precious. The experiences of my fellow patients are portents about my own future. It is sobering. It is a cause for lament - but not despair.
Psalm 102:23–24(ESV)He has broken my strength in midcourse; he has shortened my days. “O my God,” I say, “take me not away in the midst of my days— you whose years endure throughout all generations!”
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