To those who never knew her, C.A. is a long time Brickboard member. Just over 4 years ago, she was diagnosed with an inoperable brain cancer. The doctors gave her less than 6 months to live.

C.A. went to the Mayo clinic where she was introduced to chemotherapy and radiation. Neither helped. She started losing her speech and developed tremors in her arms and legs. The Mayo clinic put her on an experimental drug and the tumor stopped growing and actually shrank a little. She has since been on additional chemo regimens, both at the Mayo and the University of MN.

During her 3rd year of all of these poisons, she found that she could no longer speak what she wanted to say. Numbers became impossible, and simple words needed to be slowly extracted. Her right had became numb, and the left hand shakes. She walks with a cane.

But, she still has a sense of humor and misses her "friends" on the Brickboard. She can no longer type, but she can read. There is nothing wrong with her mental abilities, sharp as a tack, but she can no longer make jewelry. Her service dog, Fanny, is her crutch which she loves. C.A. just got a new puppy Golden which is going to be called LuLu.

C.A. is in her 50's, I think. She won't tell and she has an excuse: she can't say numbers :) She slipped and fell this Spring, breaking her forarm and elbow. The elbow was pinned together, but the excruciating pain of therapy lasted 2 months. Fortunately, the therapist had her signed up for physical therapy to help with her speech and wayward limbs. I realized that she has an easier time talking and moving since she started.

Last Fall, I got her a new car, a 1996 850 wagon with all of the options. Her 2 744s were a little banged up from city life and needed a lot of work to remain safe.

This Spring, C.A. had me clean up her 1967 122S wagon which used to pull her travel trailer and see the country. She loved the car and wanted to try driving it again. Unfortunately, she can no longer handle the lack of power steering and power brakes to say nothing about coordinating the clutch and shifting. She asked me to buy the car, I accepted. I also agreed to get it fixed up a little and give her a ride whenever she wanted.

Fortunately, there are people in the world like C.A. They make me feel better about myself and my trivial problems.

Klaus

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The more I learn, the more I forget. So why learn?