The Top 40

I'll draw a metaphor here. The state of our nation is like a cancer.
Some forms of cancer can be dealt with successfully because they are sharply defined, such as breast or colon cancer; some surgery and radiation will remove all traces of the malignancy.
Other cancers are more systemic, such as lymphoma and multiple myeloma. (I have the myeloma).

Multiple myeloma is a cancer that forms in a type of white blood cell called a plasma cell. Plasma cells help you fight infections by making antibodies that recognize and attack germs.

Multiple myeloma causes cancer cells to accumulate in the bone marrow, where they crowd out healthy blood cells. Rather than produce helpful antibodies, the cancer cells produce abnormal proteins that can cause kidney problems.

There is no isolating, no surgical procedure to remove it. It's in all of my bone marrow, where would one start?

So it is with our nation. We are beset with a cancer that has root in all and every aspect of our lives. Can't cure it with a military putsch; massive application of fascism or socialism or any other -ism would yield regional results at best. Any treatment that would kill the malignancy would also kill the host.

Friends, we are not ready for that.

yup.. USA.....too late to save it...too early to start killing the bastards...

What empire? People throw that word around to mean any major power or nation without any comprehension what that word means.

America is in bad shape right now as it has been in the past, but the problem isn't leadership, its Americans. In the past awful presidents, economic hardship, etc wouldn't get us down because of who we were. Americans were "can do" and saw problems as opportunities. We were made up largely of people who left safe and reliable behind to come to a mostly empty country without infrastructure or "safety net" to make our own way alone.

That's gone now. Americans have become the same wretched pathetic useless dependent trash as the rest of the world. We can't claw our way out of the problems any more because we don't want to. We want to put a hand out and cry for someone else to do it.

Hey, chas, may be worth checking
www.cancercenter.com/multiple-myeloma-cancer/stem-cell-transplantation/
Stem cell transplants from 'blood' relatives are often effective if your own source is not appropriate.
We're all pulling for you, man. We need you.

Stug: I've been doing chemo the last year or so and I am lined up with the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix for the transplant procedure.

"In a stem cell transplant, the patient gets high-dose chemotherapy (sometimes with radiation to the whole body) to kill the cells in the bone marrow (including the myeloma cells). Then the patient receives new, healthy blood-forming stem cells."

They will be "harvesting" some of my healthy cells the end of this month. (They will keep for a year or so.) These healthy cells will be used in an Autologous transplant:

For an autologous stem cell transplant, the patient’s own stem cells are removed from his or her bone marrow or peripheral blood before the transplant. The cells are stored until they are needed for the transplant. Then, the person with myeloma gets treatment such as high-dose chemotherapy, sometimes with radiation, to kill the cancer cells. When this is complete, the stored stem cells are infused back into the patient’s blood.

If that does not do the job, next step will be the Allogeneic transplant:

In an allogeneic stem cell transplant, the patient gets blood-forming stem cells from another person – the donor. The best treatment results occur when the donor’s cells are closely matched to the patient’s cell type and the donor is closely related to the patient, such as a brother or sister. Allogeneic transplants are much riskier than autologous transplants, but they may be better at fighting the cancer.

Side effects for either procedure will be a lower immune system and possible kidney damage leading to dialysis.

I'm giving serious thought to this situation. Stay with chemo for a five - ten year prognosis or do the transplant for ten - fifteen years, if it works and if it doesn't leave me with worse quality of life due to side effects.

Prayer will help.