My exchange & blog take a break because of health issues (again)
As avid and long term followers of the blog may recall, I suffer from disease called Ulcerative Colitis. Sadly it’s flared once again, and I’ve been ordered a set of studies and operations on my local hospital in less than two weeks time. As I (or the doctors) have no precise picture what will happen in next weeks (and months), I see it best to close down my stamp exchange for the time being. Please, do not post any exchange lots until I give my permission again.
I wont lie that I’m not worried (and bit scared) as each operation and option I have ahead carries risks.
Even on best of case I’ll be forced to move into stronger line of meds (similar to those used to treat various cancers). Some of it may require hospitalization, but likely I would just feel myself very ill (nausea etc) for months to come.
Alternatively, I may be heading to gut removal (so called ileostomy or JPouch surgery) if any harmful cell level changes are noted. This would mean several weeks of hospitalization, and long term recovery at home.
And the final (and very unlikely option) is that something goes terribly wrong, and I’ll join the heavenly collectors club.
Funny, I always imagined I would feel hugely ill when my my disease reaches this crossroad stage. However, I’m feeling surprisingly healthy (at least for the time being). I guess it shows that it’s useless to worry things too much in advance (a skill I need to learn more from my misses).
What this all means to blog and my exchanges? Well, shortly put it all goes to break for undetermined period of time.
I will try process any exchange sendings arriving before my departure to hospital promptly; anything arriving later or left on my table I’ve asked my wife to send back to their owner as is.
I hope to be able to read/reply to comments on the blog more or less daily (as usual), as it will hopefully provide me something else than my condition to worry about 
This will be my last blog post for some time (at least 3-4 weeks; possibly much longer), as I need to focus the days ahead on preparing my (and my familys) life and assets for various scenarios ahead.
Thanks for all the good times. I hope to rejoin You all soon.
-keijo-
15th Feb 2012
Join the discussion on this topic below. There are 67 responses already!
Want more?
Sign-up to weekly newsletter and get notified when new articles like the above are published at Stamp Collecting Blog. The email-newsletter is sent to You once a week (during the weekend) and it contains a summary of latest new entries and discussions.
Show that you liked this article - and support Stamp Collecting Blog!
Clicking the Like-button below promotes this article on FaceBook:Clicking the +1 button below promotes this entry on Google and GooglePlus.
Thanks for your support!
Oh Keijo that is so sad to hear that things are worse healthwise. I really hope everything goes well.
@Mary…. Thanks for the good luck wishes
I hope you will be back online sooner than you think.
So sorry to hear your health issues have worsened. I will keep you in my thoughts and hope for the best for you.
I am still finding interesting and helpful articles on your blog. Thanks for all your help!
Last week i sent you an exchange packet. Hopefully it arrives in the next few days.
Keijo,
I hope that all goes well with your treatment, I will keep you and your family in my thoughts and prayers. I look forward to exchanging with you when, you are back and ready to go.
Alyn
@Pablo… That’s what my misses keeps telling me too.
@Diana… It’s a pleasure to hear you’ve started digging through the archives. The 370+ posts and 4,300+ comments will hopefully keep You busy for some time.
@Alyn… Thanks
Keijo…sigh!…I don’t know how to explain myself, reading your words…it seems I’m looking on a mirror for all the bad situations you’re in.
Not me, but my wife is an extremely terminally health person, plagued with different health problems; many medications, tablets etc; so…I can see completely the way you feel…pity on a very young person like you…I think (wife says I am very pessimist!!!) life is not fair!…that’s the reality!
Regarding this blog….we’ll have to wait for the very good news and your recovery…that’s the important thing!!
all the very best to you and your family.
Hi Keijo
I am sorry to hear about your health issues and hope you recover quickly! You’ll be in my thoughts. My post will go out this week for the 100 stamps in exchange for the bogus stamps but don’t concern yourself in getting it back to me until you’re better. Take good care of yourself!
While we will miss your temporary absence and your wonderful blog, the most important aspect of this situation is your health and a speedy and easy recovery. Best wishes.
You’ve got a good plan. Get well soon.
Although we have been made to believe that if we let go we will end up with nothing, life reveals just the opposite: that letting go is the real path to freedom.
- Sogyal Rinpoche
Glimpse After Glimpse
@Fred… I think You are real bundle of joy compared to me. Not sure if I’ve told before, but my wife’s nicknamed me as ‘Generalmajor Doomsday’ because of my pessimistic (or as I like to call them, realistic) views of mankind, life, healthcare, modern medicine etc. I so much agree that life’s not fair, far from it. But we’ve all just got to learn to live with it – one day at a time.
@Cathleen… Likely I will mail my part of the trades late this week whether or not I’ve received mail. I’m just trying to get most things sorted before heading into hospital.
@Fernando & Carol… Thanks
PS. Carol… Don’t know if you have ever read a book called ” Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives”. I think you might enjoy it (though sum of the stories are bit boring / bizarre).
I’m sorry to hear about your health. As a medical professional, I know that UC is nothing to take lightly. I will be praying for you, and hope you have a quick recovery, as I received my PostLynx order today and there are a whole lot of duplicate Libya in the Africa and colonies mix. If that’s not a motivator I don’t know what would be.
Keijo,
I am very sad to hear about your extended health problems. I wish you to get well soon. We will patiently wait for your return.
Keijo
I don’t usually bring out my other life, but I’m a physician who has had patients with Ulcerative Colitis, and yes it can be a bad disease, but listen to your Doctors, because it can be treated either medically or surgically if necessary.
Keijo, I’m not minimizing the tough decisions that you may have to make.
Keijo-The very best to you!
Jim
Dear Keijo, I feel so sorry for you. Hope everything will go well and in the meantime try and take heart from all our support and best wishes!
Hope all goes well Keijo, it was reading your blog that rekindled my interest in collecting.
@Steven… That Libya sounds like a good motivator. Wish my body would obey my brains desires
Thanks to all for good luck wishes
The good part of having some “timeoff” at work is that I can finally sort my desk etc. properly. Just this morning I noted that I had over two months old undread message on my Facebook “other messages” folder. It was from NYT (New York Times) editor – they would have wanted me to write a short opinion in their “Room for Debate” section on late December. And I didn’t notice that!!! Trust me, I did bang my head against the table for while for missing such great opportunity…. Well, that’s water under the bridge now.
Get well soon Keijo , be positive & try to hope for the best , enjoy being with your family , & let them show you their feelings , believe me this works in a very good way ( I have a very long painful experience with this , and it helps a lot ).
I always will keep you in my thoughts & prayers, & we all are waiting for your devoted articles & enlightening findings & information.
Nagwa
I had not heard of that book and have added it to my reading list. Thanks, Keijo, for the recommendation!
I’m so sorry to hear of you illnes. I do enjoy you stamp blogs. I wish you well for the future and will look forward to future blogs.
Best Regards
Michael
Sorry to hear about your UC flair. I have crohns disease, a close cousin of UC, and multiple hospitalizations, etc. get well soon. I’ve never taken my stamps to the hospital, buteo gaps I should make up a “travel bag” for those flairs.
@Gerald… That is an interesting idea
I had thought about putting a pile of philatelic books and magazines to my phone, and taking them with me as digital copies. But taking actual stamps… That could be fun… I know hospitals used to have stamp clubs for patients as late as 1970s; apparently last of those got axed in the 1980s depression. Sigh.
Dear Keijo,
Your are regularly in my thoughts and prayers and wish you soonest recovery and pray for your safe return. Allah Hafiz.
Sorry to hear that you are not feeling well. I have just joined this “family” and have so far enjoyed the blogs and information that can be found! Looking forward to exchanging with you in the near future! Get well soon and take it one day at a time!
Donalda
kind sir, your quick response to treatment(s) and a speedy recovery shall figure prominently in my thoughts and meditations. wishing you all all the best and looking forward to your return. mike
Keep positive, and take all in funny way! No worry, even if worst scenario on horizon!
Wish You long life, and till 120 like in 20!!!
best regards
Milco
Keijo,
My good friend I hope you get better with no problems afterwards.
Take care,
Bill in the US
Keijo,
Be well
Ron USA
Dear Keijo,
Sending positive thoughts your way until your return.
Denise
Victoria, B.C.
Hi Kiejo,
I am one of countless individuals who have been reading and enjoying your blog for sometime without ever commenting. I’ve learned much from you and felt the same concern as I would feel for a dear friend when I read of the seriousness of your health issue. I wish you a speedy recovery and brighter days ahead.
-Steve in Syracuse, NY, USA
Hi Keijo,
I discovered your blogs through various stamp-related internet searches (and had a dialogue with you over the colour charts).
Just yesterday I decided I needed to find the actual central location of all the writing and so typed in “Keijo” on google and “Keijo stamp” came up as an auto-suggestion!
-You really are getting quite famous!
I wish you the very best and hope your recovery will be speedy,
Toby in the UK.
Hello Keijo, so sorry to hear the extended health news but I hope you get better soon. You are in my thoughts right now.
I will put the stamp exchange as aside and will wait for you.
Romeo in Toronto, ON, Canada.
@Toby….
Blimey
Dear Keijo – You will be in my thoughts and prayers. Will be looking forward to your return to the blog as it has been the most informative source of stamp collecting information I have found. Your work is much appreciated.
Take care,
JD
Dear Keijo,
Sorry to hear about the major flare-up. I’m back online again with a new laptop. Feel free to email me if you have any questions regarding the UC and/or pros and cons of the operation. Either way, I know you will pull through. Learning to live with UC can be quite an adventure, and very trying at times.
Best wishes,
k
Keijo
Your website has given me years o pleasure. I know you will be back and in better health raring to go.
In the meantime I wish you a speedy recovery. You and your family will be in my families thoughts and prayers.
Butch
@Kim…. Nice to know you’re back online. I did have a funny feeling that SCF forums were lacking something essential
Thanks for the email offer; I may take use of it some day once. Right now I just try to live a day at a time, and not to worry/stress too much about the upcoming.
Keijo:
Wishing you all the best and a progressive recovery. I follow your blog regularly and you’re much needed in the world of stamps! I’ll hold on to the stamps I have to send, for a while.
My best regards and prayers that your health concerns only turn positive as the weeks go by.
Your blog is super and will be sorely missed. I am a longtime journalist, writer, editor and former stamp columnist, and this is one of the best-written, well-informed stamp sites out there.
Best wishes to you.
I do hope you get better soon. I enjoy your blogs immensely and hope to do so for a long time to come
Thanks Jeff. Compliments from “a pro” (like You) really do warm up
Hope your doing better soon, Keijo. Thanks for all your advice and insights!
Thoughts and prayers are with you. I feel as Steve in Syracuse does-feeling as if I heard this news about a dear, kind friend. I enjoy your blog and hope you are feeling better ASAP. Take it one day at a time and you will be well before you know it. Marion in Hillsborough, NJ
Just a short status update….
The good news: I’m back home in “one piece”. At least for time being.
The bad news… My UC has gotten a lot worse (so called pancolitis state), and it will take up to 6-8 weeks to show which way things will settle. So a day at a time…
Thus I’ve made a decision to keep my stamp exchange on break for whole of March; what happens after that depends on how things go.
Rest of the blog will continue when I have the strength & energy. Right now I’m feeling a bit like hit & run victim
Thanks for the “get well” greeting cards that landed my mailbox while my stay away. They were a nice surprise
-keijo-
Keijo, I am an occasional reader but have never commented. I do enjoy the depth of your articles and the fact that they sometimes cover some of the more obscure stamps that come our way.
I also exchange with a large group of collectors and together we have suffered over the losses of family members, including my spouse, as well as celebrated members cancer-free results and marriages.
May we have the opportunity to celebrate good news with you and your collecting family.
Richard-Arkansas, USA
Keijo
The good news is you are still in one piece, and it has been several weeks,so THAT is good news.
Take as long as you wish, but I notice you are still active on this blog, so I will keep checking in.
@Jim…
True
Yep. That’s the good side of having mobile internet. It travels anywhere with You
Hi Keijo,
Get well soon.
Hello Keijo. I will be hoping and keeping you in my prayers for swift recovery and I am sure you will be fine. I know what you are going through as a dialysis patient with kidney disease. I wish you Godspeed in your fight with these issues! I love your website! Take care my friend!
Ted
Dear Keijo,
I was glad to read the news about you coming home from the hospital.
As a physician (GP), I provede care of UC patients as well, so I know how hard it can be sometimes.
Keep the faith in good outcome and try to be patient, although sometimes it’s far from easy…
Anyway, now you see how many doctors care about your health even through your blog
You will remain in my prayers, as you did from the beginning of this actual flare…
Get well soon, I am saving some interesting stuff for the next exchange, so better hurry up!
Regards, R.
Yep. I’ve noted that…. Too bad my doc is not into stamps (or at least I’m not aware).
Hello Keijo
Read about your Ulcerative Collitis. Have had the same illness many years ago and had to stop my anti-inflammatory medication to give my guts time to recover.
I see you’re a nice busy-body on the net. Impressed with your writings.
Hope you get well soon.
Wobbe
South Africa
@Wobbe & others… Let’s just say that I’m getting better day by day (or that’s what I think/hope). Still got to participate weekly blood tests (and enhanced treatment) for several weeks to come… Anyway, I’ve made a new post on the blog about my weekends adventure with some Spanish stamps
Hope you all enjoy it!
@Wobbe…. You’ve got on interesting site. Especially the online exhibit about Egyptian cassette post was very interesting.
Dear Keijo,
We all the world collectors are jointly praying for your good health and complete recovery. Take things easy and keep it to Allah, our creator. Our prayers will surely prove fruitful and we raise our hands before almighty for your soonest recovery and wish to receive information from your blog as usual. May Allah keep you alive for the sake of your family members as well as for we the poor collectors around the world. Amen.
Best best regards.
Hi Keijo,
Welcome back. Hope you are recovering well. I wish you the best if luck for that.
Has your stamp exchange program resumed?
Ravi
@Ravi
If my recovery proceeds as planned, I hope to resume it sometime in April. If not, then the break continues for undetermined period till I’m feeling healthy enough to keep it going without disruptions.
Hi Keijo
Greetings from Auckland NZ where the sun always shines (between the not too infrequent bouts of rain one expects in a tropical climate).
My 17 year old son also suffers from UC and was recently hospitalised to try and get his flare up stabilised. (As an aside for anyone thinking that sentence should have a couple of “z”s instead of “s”s that’s how we spell in the Antipodes).
One of the potential causes we have to watch with him apart from a quality diet is stress and sufficient rest.
So here’s hoping you are on the road to recovery and please don’t fret or worry about the blog. Sleep and calm are far more important!
Keep smiling and get well soon.
Kia Kaha!
John
Thakns Keijo – Hope you feel better.
Dear Keijo,
You are there in our thoughts and prayers and we believe that you will be here soon with good health and a happy mood as usual. INSHALLAH (God willing). Best regards.
Thanks Yar…. Only time and patience will tell how things go. I had some good days earlier this week (and maybe I did do too much physical stuff); now I’m having some payback to do..
But that’s the nature of this disease – up & down, up & down, up & down….
Dear Keijo,
I am happy that there is a big improvement MASHALLAH !!!
My prayers will continue till your fullest recovery and even afterward. Mr.Grumpy Old Coot used two nice words in his message, Kia Kaha. These if transaled in Urdu means what you said ? So let us pray you are here on the blog always for our sake and no doubt we are a good source of your recovery.Take care and keep yourself busy. Allah Hafiz.
Y.M.Kakar.
@Yar… Thanks for the prayers & good luck wishes…. Let’s just say that though I again actively maintain the blog (write new stuff, respond to comments etc.), I’m still long away from being my “healthy” self.
I had my physicals check yesterday, and thought to update/share the situation.
My guts are still slightly inflamed, and I’ll be starting (yet another few months of) steroid meds to get it under control.
And there’s some issues with my liver enzymes (caused by new meds I started). While my meds are being re-adjusted, I’ll be attending weekly blood tests for weeks/months to come. Sigh
(mainly because of all the waiting required to get few tubes of blood).
As I still have inflammation, I should try to avoid physical exercise and stress. Fortunately stamps don’t cause either of these
But other than these “minor issues” that I’m doing fine.So.. Very likely I’ll re-open both of my exchanges in very near future(with the usual disclaimer “if nothing unexpected occurs…”).
Tell me about it Keijo…Our situation (wife) is pretty similar to yours, everyday something new happen…blood tests are routine, exams, hospital appointments (3 or 4 monthly) is the bread & butter of each day…let alone the rest…pfeew!!!
Those moments, family and stamps seems to be a good remedy to ease pain and frustration, thoug!
Just a quick update… My stamp exchange is now back.
Hello Keijo,
I am grateful to Allah that you are back to your blog which
certainly means a good recovery. Wish you are here to keep us busy and happy and may Allah give you perfect health . No doubt you are in thoughts and prayers of thousands of world philatelists, collectors and stamp enthusiasts.Hope you kindly continue here. Best regards.
@Yar… Thanks
I confess I had a pretty nice weekend doing a bit of “early spring gardening” (despite all the snow around). Though fun & physically very light work, I’ve got to confess that last night & this morning it didn’t felt like such a good idea. So much aching & pain all around the body & muscles I did not recall having