Appreciate your prayers and thoughts during a difficult time

General Discussion
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Hi Everyone,

Back in November I was diagnosed with a serious case of anemia leading to an overnight hospital visit for a blood transfusion and a referral to a specialist for assessment.

In December after a number of tests I was further diagnosed with type 2 diebetes. This lead to an all out change in lifestyle choices and a stricter diet.

Initially the transfusion had greatly improved things, as did the altered diet and meds/iron supplements.

On Saturday (January 8th), I found myself back in hospital with anemic conditions. While my situation didn’t turn out to be as bad at first within 24 hrs things did dip below acceptable ranges resulting in a second transfusion. Fortunately this time however the hospital decided to keep things internal with the goal of identifying the cause.

Today (January 10th) it was explained that after a CT scan that a mass had been discovered in my colon, and pending confirmation that I may have colon cancer.

While I am assured this type of cancer is treatable especially as it appears isolated at the moment, it definitely sent a shiver down my spine.

== WHAT YOU CAN DO ==

If you’ve read this far, thanks for listening. There are few times in life I have ever felt so terrified, and helpless.

As many of you know, I’ve been an active part of this community for quite a few years and have been proud to help dozens of folks over that time.

Financially, I’m fine. I’ve got some great and understanding customers who have already made sure I’m okay in that area.

I would ask for prayer and thought during this rather difficult chapter in my life as I work to get through and move forward.

As I said to someone earlier, “you can’t get rid of me that easy”, I am and always will remain committed to providing help to this wonderful community through thick and thin.

Thank you everyone, especially (but not limited to) the Virtualmin @staff for allowing me to contribute over the years and turn my passion into a business!

*** I’ll do my best to keep you all posted as I work through my recovery ***

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Wasn’t aware of any of this at all. Thanks for posting. Keep us updated. You only need your mobile and you can post from anywhere :sunglasses::blush:. On a more serious note, hope things stay positive, remember that people will always be with you no matter what. Even when you don’t feel like it. Have a glorious day.

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Yes with such mind setting you go to make it. :wink:
And extra good luck from here.

FYI my Girlfriend was diagnosed for many years kind of acute anemia , she should have only left 2-6 months is over 15 year ago now , and She is still here with that mind settting.

And yes the food programm has ofcourse change drastic. ( no more alcohol and smoking for here anymore and lot off wholegrain oat flakes ) But this is no medical advice only experience here and none proof at all that it works!

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Sending positive vibes your way. Hang in there, man.

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Best wishes from here, mate!

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Hi Everyone,

I want to thank you all so far for your kind words of encouragement.

It’s great to have a community who is so supportive, a reminder why I enjoy investing my time here.

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I’m so sorry to hear it, Peter, and I’m hoping everything works out and quickly.

It’s a tough time to be dealing with health problems with the stresses the world’s health systems are facing right now, and I’m sure that’s adding to your stress.

Please let us know if there’s anything we can do to help.

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@Joe,

Thanks, it’s humbling to work and within such a positive and helpful community. If I haven’t already said so, aligning with your community and products has been highly influenced by many shared views on things like customer service.

I plan to continue my efforts and thank you guys for allowing me to make a living in part by sort of riding your coattails.

Ultimately I hope my assistance and any money I’ve earned directly or indirectly through your community has been a greater aid in the bigger picture.

Once again, thank you all for your kindness during this difficult chapter. I hope to emerge stronger and more humbled.

*** The journey in the hospital has been extended as they are studying an infection in my blood. ***

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Keep your head up man :fist:

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Hi, Peter.

I wish you all the best and sooner recovery!

As I wish to help, I would like to suggest few thoughts for consideration, which in my humble opinion, can be crucial for faster healing and avoiding issues like this in the future.

First of all I wish you find powers to be able to handle this situation. You can do it. An assumption that these kind of diseases are genetic and thus cannot be controlled is far from the truth. If your mother and/or grandmother had diabetes you not necessarily should have it too. You may say, “well, they had it, and now I’m having it as well, how do you explain that?”. The point is, that with parents and grandparents we “inherit” habits, most importantly food habits that have direct influence on our healths. This can be observed with how identical health issues can be inside of one family. The same is applicable for countries (specific cultures), in a larger scale. Overall, this is more a systematic problem, and until it’s realized (brought to awareness) one won’t have any control over it, just as responsibility.

Overall, I would suggest learning about how different types of foods affect our bodies, in other words what should be eaten and what must be avoided. However, this may be very complex, misleading and eventually frustrating process, as there are plenty of “scientific researches” which are sponsored by multi-billion corporation industries, would tell you that fried bacon with eggs in the morning is healthy. As a simple but great start would be watching short and motivating documentaries, like What The Health on Netflix (you would need to use VPN, as this particular movie blocked in UK and Canada – works from US though). Also, consider finding on YouTube a channel of Dr. Eric Berg DC that has tremendous amount of correct and concise health-related explanatory videos. Later, as you get better, I’d also recommend reading a book by Paul Bragg titled The Miracle of Fasting for getting even deeper understanding about the problem.

We were all tested positive for Covid just few days ago. It all started with my wife, next day the younger daughter and then, another day after, with me and the older daughter. We hadn’t been able to take a vaccine (because of anamnesis), and even though first two days were bad, we seem to be recovering relatively fast. We have been all vegan for the past many years, without having much of extra weight, doing regular exercise, and avoiding any alcohol. At first, I didn’t want to call a doctor, although my wife convinced me otherwise, as later we would be able to get a QR codes for the whole year, if we have evident antibodies. The funny part here, when we called a doctor, and when the doctors came (we have different doctors for kids and adults) to our home for a check up and performing PCR tests, guess what both of them (completely different people and completely different departments) recommended us to do for better and faster healing? they said, - “Avoid all kind of dairy and meat products”. The obvious question I had in mind, which I certainly asked was, - “If meat and dairy products are considered to be bad for healing, why it’s not recommended by doctors across the globe to avoid them at all?”. The reply was, that “We are not allowed to recommend it, as World Health Organization doesn’t tell us to”. I am sharing this, because it’s very important from my point of view, to understand what doctors do and how the system works. Doctors around the world are obliged to comply with World Health Organization regulations, otherwise they can just be fired. Unfortunately, contemporary health care system, doesn’t care at all about preventing a disease, rather curing it, which is a serious problem for a person and a great profit for the industry. This must also be remembered.

Get better!

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@Ilia,

Very informative.

Yeah, I wasn’t surprised about the diebetes diagnosis, my lifestyle choices often dictated a slightly elevated sugar level so I sorta saw that one eventually coming down the pipeline.

The anemia caught me by surprise however, and ofcourse as we’re starting to think that there’s a mass growing in the colon that it’s likely the culprit. Though again, when you do the research the mass growth itself is caused by poor health habits so I suppose I’m guilty there too.

Regardless of how I got here, what I could or should have done differently, and ultimately where I’ll go from here now that reality has kicked in, it’s no doubt a scary time.

Its interesting as humans how we repeat the same mistakes of our parents, and theirs. We’re given all the warning signs and advice growing up about how to keep ourselves in shape, but tend to often make many of the same mistakes thinking those warnings are made for someone else.

Well, I’ve definitely been woken up. Will I instantly change my ways, not likely, I mean I want to but it’s gotta be a lifestyle change rather then a forced change in my opinion. So I’ll have to buckle down and work at it. Find new ways to get satisfaction from life, while doing things a better way.

I love pasta, and fortunately I’ve also begun loving zuccini which when spiralized can substitute pasta in a more healthy way. One step closer to doing things right, while also enjoying the change.

That’s crazy man! Sorry to here.

Yikes

Awesome!

Overall, I do appreciate everything you’ve mentioned. It’s informative, logical and helpful.

Thanks for sharing :slight_smile:

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Cannot agree more! It should be done in full balance and harmony. It should be originated from within. Although, the source of the problem, I mean in general, is that people think that they have time, i.e. will have another chance to do something. This is very dangerous but unfortunately common practice.

You are welcome.

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Ilia, c’mon. This is not the time, and not the place, to preach about diet.

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It seems we have cultural difference in perception of “prayers and thoughts” which may lead to misunderstandings. I just wanted to be more helpful.

Apologies, if I hurt anyone’s feelings.

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I’m sorry to heard about the challenges you’re facing, Peter; but I’m confident you’ll get through them just fine.

FWIW, I’ve had DM2 for about 10 years now (actually, probably longer than that undiagnosed). It’s annoying, but controllable. I find that weight control and limiting simple carbohydrates are the most important things; but everyone is different. It takes a while to discover the diet and exercise regimen that works best.

Anyway, it seems like you caught all of this early and are on top of it. I’m confident you’ll be fine.

Richard

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@Ilia,

No love lost here, I told the walk-in doc the first day that I wanted a straight answer. “If I did this to myself, just tell me” is what I told him. No candy coating. So all advice and moral support or any kind is welcome. I’m just thankful for such a caring and respectful community.

Cheers!

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@RJM_Web_Design,

Thanks for the kind words.

Regarding the diebetes, while I won’t pretend it’s not annoying and a tiny bit challenging, the real concern right this moment is/was the anemia which until recently could not be explained.

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Something of note: As well as cutting out the sugar, you’re going to want to cut out the salt too. You can use substitutes for both, but take it easy on them as well.

Salt makes a kidney really work hard. When you’re perfectly healthy and have two good kidneys the typical salt amounts don’t hurt you.

But when you’re diabetic, or like me living on one kidney, you can’t afford to make your kidneys work any harder than they have to. They have enough on their plate.

So get rid of the salt as well as the sugar. I know that’s a hell of a one-two punch, but it has to be done.

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@tpnsolutions

hi Peter, I’m sorry to hear that! you know me all those years and I say I’m with you mate. Was waiting on your message once you got back from hospital. man don’t really know what to say eh. regards diabetes I can help, I’m type 1 myself also slowly loosing my eyesight due to this. btw tomorrow I will have finally time to connect and do those things we have discussed. man I hope so you will have speedy recovery!

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Hi Everyone,

Shortly after my last post and before I got busy for a few, I got some news.

So, as they rushed the biopsy results due to the infection they’ve been treating the results came in this morning.

It’s confirmed that I have colon cancer. Yeah, the “c” word sucks no matter how you put it but…

They also secured me a surgery date this Friday to have it removed so…

First off, they did what they said and got me answers and…

It seems the road to recovery is coming sooner then later.

You know, a challenge I faced each day throughout this process was the inability to solve the biggest problem I’ve faced in a long time. As someone who spends his day solving technical issues for people and companies this left me feeling helpless and quite afraid.

Everyone here and even more within my inner circle have been nothing but encouraging and informative at all stages. This has allowed me to remain brave, and positive throughout which has helped more then words can express as it’s extremely difficult to hold onto hope while there has been uncertainty.

Thanks to everyone for giving me the strength to press through.

*** You may have noticed I’ve remained active in this forum through this. Helping others has also been a source of comfort as it’s what I love doing. ***

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