Kevin Drum Has Cancer
Kevin Drum reports that he has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a cancer of blood plasma cells, for which he has already started treatment. The news isn’t all bad:
I’m young, I’m not displaying either anemia or kidney problems, and treatments have improved a lot over the past decade. So my short-term prognosis is pretty positive. Treatment involves two to three months of fairly mild chemotherapy, which has already started, followed by a bone marrow transplant. My oncologist thinks I have a very good chance of complete remission.
The longer-term prognosis is less positive, and depends a lot on how treatments improve over the next few years. But I figure there’s not too much point in worrying about that right now. Better to stay focused on the current regimen and see how I respond to that. Wish me well.
I certainly do.
I’ve only met Kevin “IRL” once, at a party in his honor hosted by Matt Yglesias and others maybe nine years ago now, but have been reading since we were both on blogspot and he was calling himself CalPundit. He’s one of the good guys of the blogosphere and a holdover to the days when the medium was more communal.
None of us are guaranteed tomorrow, much less the “longer-term,” but I certainly wish the remission comes soon, the regimen is as painless as possible, and the treatment protocols improve by leaps and bounds before they’re needed again.
Saw this last night. I’ve never met Kevin, and I’ve often disagreed with what he’s written, but he’s always made arguments that I can appreciate even when I disagree.
Hopefully, he’ll beat this back.
That’s a shame. Let’s hope for his recovery.
Best wishes. I’ve been reading Kevin since Calpundit days. He’s one of the good ones.
I’ve enjoyed Kevin’s writing a lot over the years. I wish him a full recovery.
My brother has been fighting this condition for years and it’s not fun. CalPundit was the first blog I discovered. I wish Kevin the best.
Kevin Drum is one of the few people (James, to his credit, is another) that when I disagree with them, I usually sit back and calm down and think about things through before going off half-cocked, and give them the benefit of the doubt. Anyone who has ever been to my website knows how exceedingly rare that is.
I don’t think I can come up with a better way to put it. He’s one of the few really good guys. This news just sucks.
@John Cole: “I don’t think I can come up with a better way to put it. He’s one of the few really good guys. This news just sucks.”
That’s a great way to put it.