On Thu, 06 Jan 2011 09:42:06 -0600, Ignoramus30509
wrote:

Why is it, that some people are more resilient to stress and keep
acting rationally, whereas some others, at the first trouble, break
down completely, start getting hysterical, blame others instead of
being constructive, etc?

Think about people you would take with you to a recon mission, and
those you would not.

i

Just this week a physician told Mary he'd never had a patient with
issues like she has that was quite as upbeat as she is. Unlike recon
missions which eventually end, there's no safe return from an
incurable disease. It's a less urgent form of stress, but perhaps
more telling because it is relentlessly ever-present -- and it does
get urgent now and then as when BP drops to levels that should not
support consciousness but she flat refuses to give in and faint.

I have great respect for our spec ops warriors, force recon marines
and LRRP soldiers having known a few, but they ain't the only
exemplars of courage.

We did a down-and-back-same-day run to Mayo today for a triple chemo
session. Mar was cheering up the others around her with her plucky
attitude.

The road we see ahead is a low crawl up a hill of sharp rocks, but
eventual improvement and abatement is possible and an objective. Her
team of professionals at Mayo are committed to maximizing her quality
of life. We are far from done enjoying life and each other.

Mayo is not treating her this way because we're rich or elite. We're
seniors on medicare with good supplementary insurance, responsible but
ordinary people. Mayo is far from elitist. The folks next to Mary
today were from Fort Dodge, Iowa, nice folks and clean-cut. A
discussion about wigs revealed value-consciousness. Her wig was very
becoming (faked us out), we got a good tip there.

We're going to Mayo because they are world-class in understanding how
to manage Mary's very rare (8 per million) incurable disease. Doctors
learn how to treat disease by treating disease. We all eventually die,
mercifully so I think, but it's worthwhile to make whatever
contributions we can to prolong good lives for our collective progeny.