Blogging in my sleep

When I woke up this morning, I was almost positive I had written a blog in my sleep. At least that's all I thought about during the night. Since I apparently didn't print what I wanted to say, I will do it now.

As most all of you know, my niece Jackie didn't have Lymphoma. I can't thank God enough for this. She was spared that part of it. I guess what she has is hystoplasma. Hystoplasmosis is basically, a yeast infection of the spleen. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about that.

Histoplasmosis (also known as "Cave disease,"[1] "Darling's disease,"[1] "Ohio valley disease,"[1] "Reticuloendotheliosis,"[1] "Spelunker’s Lung" and Caver's disease) is a disease caused by the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum. Symptoms of this infection vary greatly, but the disease primarily affects the lungs.[2] Occasionally, other organs are affected; this is called disseminated histoplasmosis, and it can be fatal if left untreated. (That last part scares me to death)

Histoplasmosis is common among AIDS patients because of their suppressed immunity.[3] In immunocompetent individuals, past infection results in partial protection against ill effects if reinfected.

Histoplasmosis is generally contracted from contact to microscopic fungi borne from decomposing biological fluids, most notably human excretions like urine, vomit, and feces. Cases of histoplasmosis have declined acutely since the Industrial Revolution as quality of life improved dramatically and humans were no longer living in their own squalor. Unfortunately, it is still a major killer in third world countries and can be contracted easily in the first world by living among the aforementioned human fluids.

Now...what I DO KNOW is that Jackie doesn't hang out with bats and she doesn't have AIDS. Another thing I do know is that we breathe in a lot of crap that we don't know we breathe in. And this would be one example of just what scary stuff is out there. This would, I assume, affect her lungs at some point. That scares me too. The cough though...that is a major symptom of this histoplasmosis thing. So I would bet that comes to a stop soon enough as well. Depending on her lungs. Maybe. I don't know. My doctorate didn't cover that.

ANYWAY...........

When we were told that Jackie had Lymphoma, it literally felt like the world came crashing down around us. Well, for Kathy it did. And it did for me as well. What we really weren't expecting was such an outpouring of love and support that we were met with. Some days that was all that held us upright. Immediate talk of fundraisers came at me and that kept my mind busy. Although we couldn't do a fundraiser, generous hearts Kerri Jo and Shelby got right on the wristbands and started taking orders. It was almost overwhelming, the people that wanted a bracelet; the people that wanted to do anything...as long as it was something.

So I decided I wanted a shirt to honor Jackie and what she was going through. And several others wanted a shirt as well. So we did it. We had a campaign to reach 75 people. I honestly had my doubts about reaching the goal so was I surprised when it kept climbing and climbing and in 3 days, we had reached our 75 shirt goal. By the end of campaign, we had gotten 148 shirts ordered! How awesome is that?!?

So Jackie has had surgery and the pathology reports are all back in. Now if you have been following my blogs, you will remember that someone had already made my sister feel awful about this whole thing. Saying things like "aren't you going to feel dumb if they find out Jackie didn't have cancer?" And I am here to tell you.....again....that I don't feel a bit dumb. And if you feel like you wasted money on your shirt, send it to me and I will reimburse you.

Nobody will ever convince me that God didn't have a hand in that. Nobody.

So from my heart...from Jackie's heart...from Kathy's heart...we can't thank you enough for your love and support during this ordeal. Like I said before, it was you that kept us upright some days. Although it was hard to even look at Facebook at first, it helped to know that there were so many willing to listen, willing to talk, willing to do anything; but so many that were already praying for Jackie. Words can't even cover what we have all felt.

My humble thank you is all I can come up with right now.

Since Jackie has been home, she has had some stomach issues, which is to be expected after the major surgery she went through. She's tough though. She has a high pain tolerance and that couldn't be a better thing right now because from what I hear, it's a very painful thing to go through.

Now...let me back up a little bit here. I want to send a message to those that have talked behind my sister's back. What I don't think you understand is that Jackie could have never went through the biopsy process, therefore taking the spleen was their only option. If you were any part of her life...other than in name only...you would have realized that. And if you had any heart at all, you would have spoken to Kathy about it, rather than run your mouth. Because, after all, SHE is Jackie's main caregiver. Not anybody else. ALL responsibility falls on Kathy's shoulders here folks. 100% of every decision.

If you have a problem with that, leave me a message and I will give you my phone number. Then we can discuss just how many times you have helped Kathy. How many times you have attended a doctor's visit...for anything. We will discuss all those weekends you had Jackie spend with you...and those she didn't. All the times you have texted her...or not texted her. The times you have called her...or not called...or not even answered her calls.

So if you want to go around saying negative stuff about my sister, take a long hard look at how much you participate in Jackie's life. Let those without sin cast the first stone. I will be waiting.

I thank God every day that Jackie has the loving people around her that she does. It makes up for those that can't...or won't, show it. I would give anything for Jackie. ANYTHING. Because she deserves that kind of love and that kind of respect. It's just too bad that she can't get that unconditional love and respect from those that she gives it to. To those that love Jackie...and I mean truly love her...thank you. It means the world to her; and what is important to Jackie, is important to all of us that love her so much.

I will probably get in trouble for this blog. Won't be the first time, will it? I highly doubt it will be the last too. Thanks for reading my rant. Maybe tonight I will sleep.