My dear friend's granddaughter was diagnosed with a rare form of pediatric lung cancer at three years old. She spent the next two years in and out of chemo, radiation and had two operations. Unfortunately it was not enough to save her. The tumor recurred three months ago and she passed last night. We are all devastated.
Last September I had a bit of a heart attack; in January I was told I'd picked up a cancer too. By now I've been through the treatment, and discovered that what everyone says is true - it's after the treatment stops that you feel really rough.
<votive> for AFF's friend's grand-daughter, and her family.
@Robert Armin, hopefully you're on the mend, even if you may not feel like it, IYSWIM.
Yes, indeed - treatment (or the side-effects resulting therefrom) can be a right unpleasant bastard. ISTM that They don't really tell you much about this...you find out yourself.
A Feminine Force....May your friend's grand-daughter finally rest in peace, and may your friend and her family slowly recover from this tragedy.
Robert Armin.....I wish you courage and tenacity....and I hope as time goes on you feel better.
So sorry to hear this, Rossweisse. Hope everything goes OK talking to your daughters; as I’m sure you know, it’s hard to steel yourself for someone else’s reaction before you’ve adjusted to news yourself.
Thank you everyone for your kind thoughts and wishes. She is in the arms of the One in Whom we have our being. May cancer itself finally pass the veil of existence as she has.
My dear friend's granddaughter was diagnosed with a rare form of pediatric lung cancer at three years old. She spent the next two years in and out of chemo, radiation and had two operations. Unfortunately it was not enough to save her. The tumor recurred three months ago and she passed last night. We are all devastated.
AFF
This absolute heart breaker plus recent events on this thread and at home have made me want to return for a moment to the theme of this thread.
CANCER SUCKS!
Let me count the ways:
The initial diagnosis that pulls the rug right out from under us and forever
changes the world as we know it.
Infusions and the creepy port that goes with it.
Nausea and the vomiting that goes with it.
Incredible, all encompassing exhaustion.
Radiation and the piercing pain of burns.
Holding perfectly still for an hour for magnetic resonance imaging.
Long drives to the hospital.
Long nervous waits.
Long tired trips home.
Having to depend on others.
Insurance forms.
Pills tablets and capsules.
Trouble swallowing.
Hair loss.
Hearing loss.
Tooth loss.
Vision loss.
Appetite loss.
Dehydration.
Feeding tubes.
Surgeries.
Compression stockings.
Amputations.
Morphine nightmares.
PAIN.
Feel free to jump in, these are just a few awful things I've observed.
{After being so negative I want to tell Robert Armin about my friend who was a healthy robust world traveler a year or so ago when he fell and broke his neck, just recovered from that, and got diabetes, a few months later diagnosed with cancer. After months of treatment he was as pale and frail as a wood nymph and needed help to walk a few feet, I could have picked him up and carried him. Today he is once again a tan, robust world traveler, feeling great and enjoying life to the full. Sometimes it is all worth it. }
<votive> For @A Feminine Force's friend's granddaughter
<votive> For @Robert Armin
<votive> For all affected by this rotten disease
I told the offspring units this morning. They were quiet, but seemed shaken, and agreed when I said I would like to have some serious time for the three of us to get together.
Rossweisse, I think sometimes there are doctors who just can't face telling you either. So sorry to hear the news but I sure hope they can treat this somehow.
Fuck fuckety fuck fuck. This bastard disease. No words but tears & prayers for anyone suffering either with the disease or at the side of someone who is. I have been lucky enough to survive, but the shadow is still there.
Ross - you are always in my prayers. I add others weekly. BASTARD disease.
My dear friend's granddaughter was diagnosed with a rare form of pediatric lung cancer at three years old. She spent the next two years in and out of chemo, radiation and had two operations. Unfortunately it was not enough to save her. The tumor recurred three months ago and she passed last night. We are all devastated.
AFF
This absolute heart breaker plus recent events on this thread and at home have made me want to return for a moment to the theme of this thread.
CANCER SUCKS!
Let me count the ways:
The initial diagnosis that pulls the rug right out from under us and forever
changes the world as we know it.
Infusions and the creepy port that goes with it.
Nausea and the vomiting that goes with it.
Incredible, all encompassing exhaustion.
Radiation and the piercing pain of burns.
Holding perfectly still for an hour for magnetic resonance imaging.
Long drives to the hospital.
Long nervous waits.
Long tired trips home.
Having to depend on others.
Insurance forms.
Pills tablets and capsules.
Trouble swallowing.
Hair loss.
Hearing loss.
Tooth loss.
Vision loss.
Appetite loss.
Dehydration.
Feeding tubes.
Surgeries.
Compression stockings.
Amputations.
Morphine nightmares.
PAIN.
Feel free to jump in, these are just a few awful things I've observed.
{After being so negative I want to tell Robert Armin about my friend who was a healthy robust world traveler a year or so ago when he fell and broke his neck, just recovered from that, and got diabetes, a few months later diagnosed with cancer. After months of treatment he was as pale and frail as a wood nymph and needed help to walk a few feet, I could have picked him up and carried him. Today he is once again a tan, robust world traveler, feeling great and enjoying life to the full. Sometimes it is all worth it. }
What @Twilight said - not sure there's owt to add to the list of fuckety fuckety things...except, perhaps, and YMMV - NOT KNOWING what's going on, and what the outcome might be...
That could be said of many other dis-eases, of course.
Oh, and thanks to @Twilight , as well, for reminding us that the fucking, sucking, bastard doesn't always win!
Live every day like it is your last.
Love abundantly, forgive and seek forgiveness, offer expressions of thankfulness.*
And say all that is important.
And as best able, be at peace.
And do this if you have cancer too...
My ongoing prayers, and sharing of all your stories.
Along with all else who post, you are heard.
And always feel free to out-live and out-survive prognoses.
Robert Armin, I'm so sorry that you're feeling so rough. Praying now for you.
AFF, my heart is breaking for you and the grandmother and all the family and friends of that little girl. I'm so very sorry.
Rossweisse, I always pray for you, my friend. I'm very, very glad that your daughters will be spending time with you. They will be grateful for that forever. No Surrender.
I just learned that a dear friend, Bob, is dying of cancer as I write these words. A superb professional singer, he mentored me when I was a 23-year-old newbie, as he did many others, and remained a lifelong friend. He's been fighting the disease for more than two years; he went into remission, but it came roaring back. Happily, he was able to meet and hold his first grandchild in late June. God damn you, cancer.
Does anyone else get fed up of being cheerful and jolly all the time? There are lots of lovely people surrounding me, who want me to be well, and I feel under pressure to be upbeat in order to stop them worrying.
Huh. I don't even try to be cheerful and jolly any of the time!
Tell it how it is - if They don't like it, that's Their problem...but don't go out of your way to be miserable at Them! That wouldn't be fair, especially if They have your welfare at heart.
Does anyone else get fed up of being cheerful and jolly all the time? There are lots of lovely people surrounding me, who want me to be well, and I feel under pressure to be upbeat in order to stop them worrying.
From my own experience, caring for and encouraging your carers is a significant part of dealing with cancer. It can wear you out when the invisible side effects kick in and drag you down. There are a few angels who get it and don't have to have it explained. Stay close to them if you can.
@Robert Armin and @Stercus Tauri That sounds tough. A real double burden....the being ill and the having to reassure your carers. Bless those who can understand...
I have to say that I am not up there with most of the others here. I'm officially NED - no evidence of disease - meaning the cancer, so I'm out of the surgery and radiation and chemical warfare circus. It doesn't stop me ranting and raging and foaming at the mouth about the endless side effects and side effects of side effects that a better person would handle with more grace and gratitude for not being dead. I try to make up for it by spending time as a volunteer peer mentor for other cancer patients, which has taught me to behave better than I do here.
Prayers continuing to ascend for Ross, and adding ones for Robert Armin and for the soul of AFF's little friend and for her family. May flights of angels sing her to her rest.
5 more pills to go in this cycle (#15) ... tomorrow night will really start to feel the bite.
44 deg C (111.2 deg F) today - and tomorrow the same - sure does not help; though the house is well-insulated and air-conditioned. But I hate feeling "stuck inside"...
Thank you.
Very accurate.
In Round #1 (1996) and Round #2 (2009-10) I was very clear both to myself and to those around me) that I saw cancer as a disease and not as a lifestyle. Those were the times of the term "survivorship" and the fucken industry and mind-set surrounding that.
Now it really is a lifestyle. But I am still clear to myself that I am a woman in treatment for a disease that is incurable.
I still do not see myself as sick per se.
Today I had my four weekly check up with my specialist. In another four weeks they will be able to look inside me, and see if the radio and chemotherapy have worked. However, it seems I've developed two small spots, one on each lung. They may be cancerous, they may be something else, but I don't feel like jumping for joy at the news.
Comments
AFF
@Robert Armin, hopefully you're on the mend, even if you may not feel like it, IYSWIM.
Yes, indeed - treatment (or the side-effects resulting therefrom) can be a right unpleasant bastard. ISTM that They don't really tell you much about this...you find out yourself.
The hard way.
Robert Armin.....I wish you courage and tenacity....and I hope as time goes on you feel better.
Robert Armin, I can only echo what others have said: May you continue to grow in wellness.
Thinking of all concerned ... bast*rd of a disease, innit?
Poor wee thing ...at least her suffering is over
AFF
CANCER SUCKS!
Let me count the ways:
The initial diagnosis that pulls the rug right out from under us and forever
changes the world as we know it.
Infusions and the creepy port that goes with it.
Nausea and the vomiting that goes with it.
Incredible, all encompassing exhaustion.
Radiation and the piercing pain of burns.
Holding perfectly still for an hour for magnetic resonance imaging.
Long drives to the hospital.
Long nervous waits.
Long tired trips home.
Having to depend on others.
Insurance forms.
Pills tablets and capsules.
Trouble swallowing.
Hair loss.
Hearing loss.
Tooth loss.
Vision loss.
Appetite loss.
Dehydration.
Feeding tubes.
Surgeries.
Compression stockings.
Amputations.
Morphine nightmares.
PAIN.
Feel free to jump in, these are just a few awful things I've observed.
{After being so negative I want to tell Robert Armin about my friend who was a healthy robust world traveler a year or so ago when he fell and broke his neck, just recovered from that, and got diabetes, a few months later diagnosed with cancer. After months of treatment he was as pale and frail as a wood nymph and needed help to walk a few feet, I could have picked him up and carried him. Today he is once again a tan, robust world traveler, feeling great and enjoying life to the full. Sometimes it is all worth it. }
<votive> For @Robert Armin
<votive> For all affected by this rotten disease
I told the offspring units this morning. They were quiet, but seemed shaken, and agreed when I said I would like to have some serious time for the three of us to get together.
For Rossweisse, a friend of mine went through a similar rollercoaster. You by name at communion Friday.
Ross - you are always in my prayers. I add others weekly. BASTARD disease.
What @Twilight said - not sure there's owt to add to the list of fuckety fuckety things...except, perhaps, and YMMV - NOT KNOWING what's going on, and what the outcome might be...
That could be said of many other dis-eases, of course.
Oh, and thanks to @Twilight , as well, for reminding us that the fucking, sucking, bastard doesn't always win!
https://xkcd.com/1928/
https://xkcd.com/933/
Live every day like it is your last.
Love abundantly, forgive and seek forgiveness, offer expressions of thankfulness.*
And say all that is important.
And as best able, be at peace.
And do this if you have cancer too...
My ongoing prayers, and sharing of all your stories.
Along with all else who post, you are heard.
And always feel free to out-live and out-survive prognoses.
*From Ira Byock.
AFF, my heart is breaking for you and the grandmother and all the family and friends of that little girl. I'm so very sorry.
Rossweisse, I always pray for you, my friend. I'm very, very glad that your daughters will be spending time with you. They will be grateful for that forever. No Surrender.
Tell it how it is - if They don't like it, that's Their problem...but don't go out of your way to be miserable at Them! That wouldn't be fair, especially if They have your welfare at heart.
From my own experience, caring for and encouraging your carers is a significant part of dealing with cancer. It can wear you out when the invisible side effects kick in and drag you down. There are a few angels who get it and don't have to have it explained. Stay close to them if you can.
Warmest wishes and love to Bob, Stercus Tauri and Robert Armin.
Words fail me.
No, I really try to be cheerful. It doesn't always work, but it's the way in which I was built.
44 deg C (111.2 deg F) today - and tomorrow the same - sure does not help; though the house is well-insulated and air-conditioned. But I hate feeling "stuck inside"...
Very accurate.
In Round #1 (1996) and Round #2 (2009-10) I was very clear both to myself and to those around me) that I saw cancer as a disease and not as a lifestyle. Those were the times of the term "survivorship" and the fucken industry and mind-set surrounding that.
Now it really is a lifestyle. But I am still clear to myself that I am a woman in treatment for a disease that is incurable.
I still do not see myself as sick per se.
Continued love to all here from the grey depths of a winter's day...may a bit of light be with you.