Fri, Mar 25th - 5:52PM

The Age of Napoleon, p. 292
54.5 miles
a bit of a break

100 recordings of 37 types

Rasmussen: -12: 46/53

The statistics for Rich's type of cancer are not good. I keep saying that someone has to be in the survival percentage, why not us? Obviously, I've been praying for a miracle.  Bernadette, surfing the web, may have found one.  This is the first I've ever heard of it, but the idea has apparently been around a while. I then did some surfing of my own, and found a popsci link, a skeptical one,  others with lots of technical words, a connection with prostate cancer, and research into a drug (talactoferrin alfa) for lung cancer.

There are lots of anecdotes, and some ethical questions about the supply.  (There's not enough milk in the milk banks for preemies, never mind adults.)

Is this a miracle, or an old wives' tale?  Well, Joanna is tapering off but Bernadette is still producing, so we're going to try.  It's not like Rich would do this instead of the chemo, but with it, it can't hurt and it might help. We all feel a bit weird about it, of course.  However, we wouldn't hesitate to ask for a targeted blood donation or a kidney, so this is only a step or two up in the weirdness factor.

I was thinking in Church how Father Ice-Cream is pushing praying to Blessed Mother Mary to intercede for us and how appropriate it would be if mother's milk was the cure. I was also remembering that St. Bernadette was the one who brought us Lourdes, which is supposed to lead to a lot of cures.

My girls like their milk fresh (2 dd's, ages 3, and 7mos) so I've been funneling my extra to my mom who just finished chemo and is about to start rad for cancer. This is her 3rd bout in 22 years so only this time am I more aware of the effects of chemo and the amazing gift God has given us with breastmilk. I tell hubby I have a "medicine *chest*" lol.

Reading: The Age of Napoleon, Will and Ariel Durant, The Bible (Zachariah), Cancer: The Adventure of Your Life!, Teresa Kalvedage Matthews, The True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, St. Louis Marie de Montfort, In a Sunburned Land, Bill Bryson*, Sacramento The Hub, Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, Blue Highways, William Least Heat Moon, Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg, Don Quixote, The Life of Man with God, Thomas Verner Moore, Low-Carb Dieting for Dummies, Katherine B. Chauncey.

*I have to have a book I can carry around with me, to sit at chemo or take when we go out in the car.  So a lot of these are too big, or just not the sort of book you read all at once.