Showing posts with label Kristy Dusseau. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kristy Dusseau. Show all posts

Monday, February 09, 2009

Kristy Dusseau (1980 - 2009)


For some reason, I got this feeling last night that I should do a post on Kristy Dusseau. So I did.

The last update on her website had been a couple of weeks ago; the news wasn't so good, and I wondered what the deal was. Well, this morning we got the terrible, heartbreaking answer.

Kristy died Saturday morning. She fought a hell of a fight, but the human body and medical science have their limits.

MORE THAN ONCE -- and, most recently, Sunday -- I have compared Kristy's suffering to that of Job in the Old Testament. Well, Job's story had an ending:
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And it came to pass after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I am angry with you and with your two friends; for you have not spoken rightly concerning me, as has my servant Job.
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Now, therefore, take seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up a holocaust for yourselves; and let my servant Job pray for you; for his prayer I will accept, not to punish you severely. For you have not spoken rightly concerning me, as has my servant Job."
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Then Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, went and did as the LORD had commanded them. And the LORD accepted the intercession of Job.
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Also, the LORD restored the prosperity of Job, after he had prayed for his friends; the LORD even gave to Job twice as much as he had before.
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Then all his brethren and his sisters came to him, and all his former acquaintances, and they dined with him in his house. They condoled with him and comforted him for all the evil which the LORD had brought upon him; and each one gave him a piece of money and a gold ring.
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Thus the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his earlier ones. For he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses.
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And he had seven sons and three daughters,
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of whom he called the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch.
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In all the land no other women were as beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brethren.
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After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; and he saw his children, his grandchildren, and even his great-grandchildren.
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Then Job died, old and full of years.
LIKE THE SUFFERING of Job, Kristy's has come to an end. It is the Christian hope that everything Kristy lost here on earth now will be replaced many times over in Heaven.
The Lord bless her and keep her, the Lord make his face to shine upon her and be gracious to her, the Lord lift up His countenance upon her and give her peace.

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Checking back with Kristy. Uh-oh.

UPDATE: See Monday's post.


It's been quite a while since we checked in on our friend Kristy Dusseau in Michigan.

When last we checked in on Kristy -- who's fighting an ongoing battle with the aftereffects of the bone-marrow transplant that saved her from a rare, virulent form of leukemia -- she was back in the hospital. Since, she has been in and out of the hospital . . . then out for a long time, and able to move into a house with a good friend.

TO GET YOU caught up, here's the back story.

Steroids have taken a toll on Kristy, even as they have kept her graft-versus-host disease at bay. And, at last posting on her website, she was back in the hospital yet again.

Yet again. Can you even begin to imagine?

Begin to imagine, if you will, the psychological toll . . . the physical toll . . . the financial toll and every other possible toll. Whenever I think of Kristy Dusseau, I flash back to the Old Testament book of Job. Sure enough, today's first reading at Mass was from . . . Job:

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Is not man's life on earth a drudgery? Are not his days those of a hireling?
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He is a slave who longs for the shade, a hireling who waits for his wages.
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So I have been assigned months of misery, and troubled nights have been told off for me.
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If in bed I say, "When shall I arise?" then the night drags on; I am filled with restlessness until the dawn.
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My flesh is clothed with worms and scabs; my skin cracks and festers;
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My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle; they come to an end without hope.
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Remember that my life is like the wind; I shall not see happiness again.

AND HERE I SIT, fancying myself miserable as I fight the beginnings of what promises to be a nasty head cold -- eating hot soup, sucking on zinc lozenges, inhaling nose spray and sipping on double-strength hot toddies I've dubbed "cold hooch."

Yeah, right. I'm sufferin', man. You bet.

I've said it before, and I'll keep on saying it: You wouldn't wish any of what Kristy has suffered on your worst enemy. You just wouldn't.

If you have a second, perhaps you'd like to say a prayer for Kristy. I suspect she really could use all of those she can get.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Finally! A video update on our pal Kristy


At long last! A new Kristy Dusseau video! We'd kind of been waiting. . . .

Anyway, since this video was filmed, Kristy has been out of the hospital, and then back in. Have I mentioned lately that cancer sucks?

Not to mention the aftereffects of what they do to you to get rid of the cancer. You can ask Mrs. Favog about that one. Or Kristy, who (sadly) may be one of the world's leading experts on that score.

Anyway, here are the latest updates from Kristy's big brother, Rob:

10-7-07

Well it turns out I was dead wrong about Kristy's getting out. She's still in the hospital right now recovering from the surgery to close up the wound left behind by her feeding tube. I guess since they've removed the tube (a week or two ago) her skin keeps breaking apart where it used to be. They've cauterized it, stitched it, stabled it, you name it trying to heal it back together.

I'll let you guys know when she's out.

I finally got the latest movie together. You can see it over there on the right. I thought it was pretty dull so I added some music to jazz it up a bit. This was taken last august at one of her stays in hospital.

Very busy, get back with you guys soon.


10-4-07

Hello everyone. Thanks for your patience. Yet another stay in the hospital. This one was a little scary.

You see I had everything figured out. Last Friday night Kristy was to accompany friends and siblings to a classy comedy club here in Michigan called Joey's. It might not sound fancy, I know, but it's actually a really nice place as far as comedy clubs go. There was ten of us in total going, and Thursday night I called to surprise her with the news.

She sounded tired, but very happy to be going. Dad and I worked out how I was going to go about getting her to the club, and I took a half day off of work just to make sure I could get her in time to make it.

Friday morning she had one of her regular check-ups at the hospital, and around noon my father called to tell me she had been omitted.

"There's something wrong with her lungs. They think she might have some kind of virus. Kristy was really upset about it because you know they don't do anything on the weekends. They're worried that the Graft vs Host might have come back in her lungs ... which would be really bad"

"But I thought Kristy was doing great?"

"She has been getting weaker over the past few days. She's only able to stay awake for about four hours at a time now. The doctors want to put her out and fill her lungs with fluid. After that I guess they take it back out and study it."

I was really bummed, worried, and angry all at the same time. Needless to say I didn't have the greatest attitude that night. The comedians only got a faint smile from me.

So the weekend went by with nothing being done. Dad reported Kristy seemed stronger, but suspected the drugs had something to do with that.

I started to worry about her. It was a fresh worry, something I had buried deep into the back of my mind had resurfaced again. If it was Graft vs Host, and it was in her lungs, that's something that would take her out quickly.

Monday they were late with the test, as was the norm, and the next day I tried calling my father to hear the results, but his cell phone was off. And no one answered the house phone. I called every hour or so, with each call implanting another terrible image into my head. Maybe they had the phone off and weren't answering because they got some terrible news. Maybe something happen to Kristy last night and they were too upset to talk to anyone. Maybe -

She was fine. It's just a virus, not the Graft vs Host, she's going to be okay. She may have gotten out of the hospital today, if not tomorrow for sure.

If you're reading this mom and dad, don't do that again.

And Kristy, if you're reading this, you're a very loving person, and everyone loves you very much, but you need to stop hugging and kissing people. I know it's hard to do, but people are walking nests of viruses, and until your immunity gets stronger, maybe you should tell people to back off a bit.

Because you and I ARE going on that plane trip to Texas this winter to visit Kenny. Mark my words.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers, working on the video now, but it's a dull one, so be warned.

AS ALWAYS, go to KristyRecovers.com and say "Hey!" And maybe drop a little scratch in the kitty, y'know what I mean?