As my dysphagia worsens, and weight loss has gotten to the point when nothing that I wore a year ago fits at all ( I look like a child wearing his father's suits), i have followed Charm's journey with great interest, thinking that at some point in the future I will be on a path behind him.

However I hope that I do not develop the pica behavior (google it) that Charm has obviously not told us about. I think that due to some mineral deficiency he has taken to this diet of inedibles� rumor has it that he has developed a taste for metallic objects with a special fondness for nails, screws, staples and pins. Of course this plays hell with the balloons. Buy 10 get one free sounds like a really good deal all things considered.

All joking aside, I think that one of the things about this disease's after effects is the constant "it's always something" crap that goes along with the treatments, which wear on you to no end. What next, and the numerous visits to doctors, the new symptoms, the new issues, and of course the issues that were not so bad, but are now getting worse, just beat you up. Charm's lack of whining about it all, but just a matter of fact manner of dealing with each thing in its course, is certainly to be commended.