What Really Matters

(That's Office Testosterone with his sister)

Office Testosterone is still fighting for his life.  Starting this week, he begins intense preparation for a bone marrow transplant.  Unfortunately, he doesn't have a full match on the bone marrow, so his dad will be a half match.  Also, his liver function is too compromised for what they call a maxi transplant, so he can only have a mini.  The good news is that he can have any kind of a transplant at all, which is a BIG change from  December.  That's the medical update.  We continue to ask that you keep him and his recovery in the forefront of your thoughts.  He's important to all of us, we don't want to lose him, and I'm a huge believer in positive energy.
For the first time, Office Testosterone wrote his own journal update on CaringBridge.  In his P.S., this is what he had to say:


"P.S. I would also just like to take a second to really say thank you directly from me so far for all the support everyone has given me.  A man can only be as strong as the people around him.  Even during some pretty rough patches here and there you guys have always been cheering me on, never giving up, never wavering from telling me that i can do it.  I can't thank you for your support enough, i am truly blessed to have the people in my life that i do and i wouldn't give a single one of you up for the world, but i would give the world to keep everyone of you in my life."


He's 22 years old, and he understands what is important in life in a way that many of our clients here in the Trenches never will.  It's not the people who are in our lives when things are going well who matter.  It's the ones who stick with us when the chips are down, who keep cheering for us when there's not a lot for which to cheer, who do not let us give up EVER - those are the people without whom we would not survive.  So many of our clients waste precious time mourning the fair weather friends who abandoned them as their marriage crumbled, their children suffered, their lives as they knew it fell apart.  They discount the very few friends who stick with them when they are at their worst.  What those of us here in the Trenches want to do is shake them, hard, and tell them to wake up, stop feeling sorry for yourself, and thank your lucky stars or whatever almighty power there might be out there that you have people in your life who care enough to stick with you when life sucks and you're at your worst.  These are the folks that matter.  Just ask Office Testosterone.