Cancer - I Have It

[tirebob]

Beat that shit dannie! We sort of had the opposite (thankfully!) where my wife was having issues none-stop and in the end had the hysterectomy at 37 and fortunately it was not cancer. She had cysts etc but nothing cancerous. I was never so happy then to hear those results. You have all of us pulling for you!

[HiSpec]

Great read. Forwarded this to my wife. I wish you a full recovery. Go kick cancer's ass!!

[speedog]

Cancer, it's an ugly, ugly disease and here's to wishing that you beat this.

To the rest of us, please do not readily dismiss even minor issues which don't go away. An old friend of mine from TELUS passed away about 2 years ago from pancreatic cancer. He had been retired for 2 months and had consistent minor indigestion pain that started just after he retired. He fi ally went to his GO, they ran some tests and then he got a phone call from his GP requesting that both him and his wife come see him. In they went only to be told to put his affairs in order as he had at best two weeks to live. He died 10 days later. Could've something g been done if he had gone to his GP earlier, difficult to say but certainly an example of not to dismiss those little things that are constantly bugging you health wise.

All the best Dannie.

[finboy]

Glad to hear you are on the mend, best wishes on a quick rebound

[msommers]

I'm sorry to hear this and it's very brave of you for telling your story. Cancer has affected most, if not all of us, whether directly or indirectly. You're a fighter, always have been! This will be no different and I'm looking forward to reading how you beat it

Our health care system is improving but frankly is very broken. So many family docs need to meet algorithm criteria in order to even refer patients. Then it's the waiting game based on whatever the system deems priority. The obvious thing is that a flow chart doesn't solve all the problems. My partner worked for a patient advocacy group, is involved in health care and many of my friends are MDs. Lots of queue cutting, preferred treatments, serious wrongdoing whether nurses or MDs, etc. And in the end, all I see are people generally doing their best with the tools they have. They're not perfect and despite MDs being idolized, they're people and make mistakes. All of this is to say that there is a human element, and a business element to AHS. And both need to be improved to help more people.

I'm just happy you pushed as hard as you did and got the care you deserve. It's both inspirational and in many ways disheartening that you must push so hard to be taken seriously.

[Super_Geo]

Best of luck dannie. It was devastating to read (knowing where it was heading), but glad to hear you're on promising footing.

I recently lost a very young family member to cancer. It really fucks with you in a lot of different ways.
For anyone going through it, I recommend the following books:

When Breath Becomes Air

For readers of Atul Gawande, Andrew Solomon, and Anne Lamott, a profoundly moving, exquisitely observed memoir by a young neurosurgeon faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis who attempts to answer the question What makes a life worth living?

Reading When Breath Becomes Air and going through his journey with him is heart wrenching, but makes you feel less alone

The Emperor of all Maladies

The Emperor of All Maladies is a magnificent, profoundly humane “biography” of cancer—from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago through the epic battles in the twentieth century to cure, control, and conquer it to a radical new understanding of its essence.

If you want to fully understand our history and progress with cancer, I can't think of a better book. Not as heavy as one would think given the topic, and very very informative.

[The_Penguin]

Fucking hell! So sorry to hear. Thanks for sharing!
Stay strong, you can beat it.

[R154]

I hope you and your family recover fully. I am saddened to hear this. I know it's not great, but your illness is well trugeoned ground, and practice makes perfect.

Thank you for urging me to not only take my own health seriously, but my so and families.

You are in our thoughts and prayers.

[roopi]

Thanks for sharing this and if there is anything that can make your life easier please share. There is a big community here that is more then willing to try and help.

[dannie]

Thanks for all the well wishes guys. Please, continue to forward this thread to any and all women in your lives. It's so important to keep up with your health and as women, we forget and push it aside.

Here is my next soapbox rant

Last week, I got the good news that I am cancer free at this time. However, cancer doesn't always leave the body.

(Side story - one night when I was high as balls on morphine, my husband caught me yelling at my abdomen "fuck you groot, fuck you" was what I was yelling. He apparently asked me what I was doing and I told him that in one of my scans, the tumor looks like baby groot from the avengers when he's disco dancing. I dont remember any of this happening. The tumor has since been named baby groot lololol)

So, dead baby groot is still there and he is causing some major issues with the kidney. This resulted in the oncologist scheduling me for surgery less than a week later (this past wed) to look into what's going on.

Just because someone survived, does not mean that everything is ok. The toll that cancer takes on the body, emotions and mental health is staggering. Don't expect the person to bounce back from treatment. It's hard. It's grueling. It's like starting life all over again. If you've got a friend/family member who is going thru this battle, they WILL need you more at the end than they do during treatment. It is a complete mind fuck.