U2start.com | I'm leaving for a little while.

just a quick update:

been rushed to hospital last Wednesday with another stroke. Hiz emergenc< unit and intensive care. Got out of hospital yesterday, today I need to go to my doctor for further treatment. I fecking hate it all. But thank god I'm alive. Anyone who awaits my online presence or reply, please be patient, my brain is upside down. I love you all. carpe diem while you can. big hugs.

LikeASong

10 years

Don't worry about that, get back to us whenever you can. Get better!! Much love ♥

JuJuman

10 years

Big hugs to you too Kirsten, and all best wishes... indeed, no hurry at all to respond to messages! I hope things can go a bit better soon. Thinking of you... much love from here too J

Remy

10 years

Thanks for the update Kirsten. Stay strong

Malahide

10 years

We know you're out there. Get well

patou2

10 years

Thanks for the update !

MacStripey

10 years

Originally posted by Remy:I am very sad to share the news that Emiel has passed away yesterday morning. His wife Jolanda sent me a message this morning and appreciated if I could share the news in the topic where Emiel kept us all up to date on his battle, one he couldn't win. U2 was an important theme in his life, which will continue with his wife and kids.

Emiel Klute, 06-06-1972 - 25-09-2013.

Rest in peace our friend.

it was today 1 year ago (typo in date, Remy, maybe? I'm sure it was August 25

).
One year has already passed since you left us, Emiel. Always with us,, every day, never forgotten. Much love to you, wherever you are now, dearest friend.

(edit: pic of me removed, looking too dumb)
silly pic of me, but I don't care about hiding anymore. Love always, Emiel.

MacStripey

10 years

short update, as some of you still wait for replies on PMs (sorry, will get to that asap)...
I was in a special eye clinic in Giessen from August 05 until August 14. My left eye, which is closed since the surgery incident in2012 as you can see on the pic above, was operated on. It now is corrected from being turned to left to looking straight by removing the inner eye muscles and nerves...whatever the details, there were complications and an infection but now I am back home, recovering. Hope is that after another surgery on the eye lid in about three months I can use the left eye again. We will see. Literally. All that matters is tht I am alive. The things I learned from Emiel. Carpe diem end enjoy every day. Consider yourself hugged, my friends

Remy

10 years

Is it a year already? Damn it feels like so recent. It's so sad he isn't around anymore, I still see his picture every now and then on Facebook.

Thanks for the update Kirsten. I hope you will be able to use your eye again soon. All the best!

PS: I've been to Dortmund on Saturday, I really love German football! Will have to do Schalke again soon too

LikeASong

10 years

Originally posted by MacStripey:short update, as some of you still wait for replies on PMs (sorry, will get to that asap)...
I was in a special eye clinic in Giessen from August 05 until August 14. My left eye, which is closed since the surgery incident in2012 as you can see on the pic above, was operated on. It now is corrected from being turned to left to looking straight by removing the inner eye muscles and nerves...whatever the details, there were complications and an infection but now I am back home, recovering. Hope is that after another surgery on the eye lid in about three months I can use the left eye again. We will see. Literally. All that matters is tht I am alive. The things I learned from Emiel. Carpe diem end enjoy every day. Consider yourself hugged, my friends

Don't worry for answering the PMs, priorities are priorities and yours should be getting better each day. We will see (

) if the next surgery can get your eyesight more or less back to normal, that would be grand. Keep us posted, will you?

Lots of love as always

Also, a thought and a prayer for Emiel on the day of the first anniversary. Never forget. We're still with his wife and all the people who loved him ♥

patou2

10 years

Originally posted by MacStripey:short update, as some of you still wait for replies on PMs (sorry, will get to that asap)...
I was in a special eye clinic in Giessen from August 05 until August 14. My left eye, which is closed since the surgery incident in2012 as you can see on the pic above, was operated on. It now is corrected from being turned to left to looking straight by removing the inner eye muscles and nerves...whatever the details, there were complications and an infection but now I am back home, recovering. Hope is that after another surgery on the eye lid in about three months I can use the left eye again. We will see. Literally. All that matters is tht I am alive. The things I learned from Emiel. Carpe diem end enjoy every day. Consider yourself hugged, my friends

Always is good to know about you

MacStripey

10 years

Aloha

Here I am again, back from a quite long time of absence, compared to earlier days.
Things have happened in the past months. Here is a short update.

In 2014 I had 5 stays in hospitals with 4 operations. Two times a tooth extraction with previous treatment of series jaw infection was done, that was in March or April (can't remember right now).
Then in July I was rushed as emergency to hospital by ambulance due to another brain cramp, following the stroke from November 2013. Something epilleptic, whatever I was unconscious. I remember laying down on the couch at home for a nap, and when I opened my eyes again, I lay in a bed in hospital in an intensive care unit, with a doctor staring down at me. Hardly any damage was added to my brain, so I could be released home after a few days.
Then in early August I went to the university eye clinic in Giessen (down south here in Germany). My left eye had been damaged during the brain surgery in 2012, since then it was closed (the nerve and muscles were cut completely and I couldn't open it myself anymore, damn). So there in Giessen, the professor cut off the muscle on the backside of my left eye and replaced it after moving my eye in a way that it now looks straight forward again. Sounds complicated and sure it is, but to make things short here, the eye is now fixated so it stares straight ahead. I can't move it, if I want to look to the side or upward or downward, I have to move my head for that. However, the eye got infected after the operation, the inner eye pressure went so high that the danger of it bursting open was there for some days. I spent 10 very long days and even longer nights there in hospital until things became better for good.
Side note on this: you know I had some experience with operations and hospital stays since 2011...and I went through it all, walking on. But this experience in August finally got me beyond what I could bare, it broke something inside of me, and for the first time in many many months it had me down in tears. Hard time. Bono had a song ready for me then to sing right from my heart. If you listen to Cedarwood Road, towards the end you will hear him sing the lines "a heart that is broken is a heart that is open". So true. Open, yes, a good thing. But still broken nonetheless. Le sigh.

However, now in December I just returned to the clinic in Giessen again. Another operation on the left eye. Now they worked on the eye lid, connecting it somehow to a muscle of the eyebrow. So....now I can open my eye again without using a finger or a stripe. Just....open it by using the muscle. Like in a normal way. Amazing stuff they did there. After 2 1/2 years I can use my left eye again. Wow. Now I have to practice to use it again. My right eye was permanently damaged by the brain tumor, so I can't really see anything clear with it anymore anyway. The left eye now is my hook of hope to return to a more normal way of life on the long run. Which leads me to the latest news on this update...

An MRI was done this January 6th. The regular control scan of the brain tumor which is by the way the primal cause of all the crap that had me down ever since the diagnosis in Feb 2011 (bastard...sorry, but true).
Result: the tumor has become smaller!!

Effect of the operations and finally the radiotherapy in 2013

So you can imagine the happiness I felt last week when the doctors told and showed me the results. The tumor will never completely disappear due to its' surrounding of a main aorta and stuff, but ... I got time. Precious, beloved time of living. God help me, what a gift. I am down to my knees inside. Walking on.
Many things to work on, many side effects from all the crap that will accompany me for....well, forever. But I am still here. And I got the gift of time.

U2015, here I come

Before I end this boring monologue.... I want to thank my beloved friends here at u2start who never stop caring for me. I got your pms, messages, emails, I read your words and I took your thoughts and prayers with me all the time. I thank you for your patience when I didn't answer (still working on answering messages). I love you, dear ones, you know who you are. I mean it. Silence from my side never means I'm not with you in heart and soul. Sounds melodramatic, and sure it is. Thank you, my friends. And here is to Emiel, who is still with us wherever we are and whatever we do. Every day. And he will be on every show U2 will do later this year.

Much love and hugs to you, friends

/being boring

ps...apologies for any typos, can hardly see the screen here on my laptop....eye sight retarded is what I am

I'm leaving for a little while.

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