fuck cancer

:)

ditto mooks here. sending good thoughts your way. fuck u cancer, and all illness, really.

thanks

Hoping this will help, if only ever so slightly: my dad was diagnosed with throat cancer...crikey, almost two years ago. He felt fine and was in generally good shape and was expected to live at least a few more years upon initial diagnosis. However, he went in for some extreme chemo treatments which killed him in less than a week. Although, obviously, not all situations are the same, it is helpful to remember that modern medicine sometimes doesn't know shit about dick. On the other hand, I know a friend of a friend's dad who, afaik, continues to do fine years and years after his cancer diagnosis as a result (one assumes) of undergoing a diet change much like the one you describe. So...hope for the best, I guess. It's all you have the power to do in your shoes. Strongest of wellwishing, VG.

that means a lot, Deric, and it really does help to read that. Thank you <3

However, he went in for some extreme chemo treatments which killed him in less than a week.

OMG I'm so sorry, Deric. That must have been so awfully hard.

I used to talk with this older woman who took chemotherapy with me. While my treatments were once every two weeks, for six months, hers were to go on perpetually once a week. She said that she wasn't ready to give up on life, despite the discomfort and spoke fondly of the Whippets she was raising.

I'd lay in bed for the next couple of days and think, man, that woman must sure love Whippets.

In other words, you'll never hear criticism from me about older people saying to hell with chemo, I'm going to stock up on vegetables and head for Mexico like Ambrose Pierce.

Had thyroid cancer in 2000. Every time i am about to get the green light on no more six month follow-ups, something suspicious turns up. Then it's another few years of watching and testing and nothing really turning up, which is great. At what point do you say fuck the follow-ups? Because this can go on forever.

Sorry to hear about your MIL and what you are going through, Vegemite. I have heard really great and miraculous things about the Gershon diet. Only, in fact. My uncle has been following the diet on his own, without the proper juicer and has leukemia but has been in extremely good health since. Being pro-active and making decisions like that, I feel, is a very good sign.

When doctors says a cancer is slow moving, you can bet then then it is slow moving. It does mean that they want you to come in for follow-ups and testing pretty often. What this does is keep cancer on everyone's mind even when things are not progressing or even looking up.

Thanks tera, I'm glad there's good stories about the diet -- honestly it sounds like a cross between a genius idea ie the nutrional approach, but also quackery with all those enemas but I definitely admire her being so pro-active. And she has a lot of support within the family, plus a family friend has been on the Gerson diet for a year or so now post-breast cancer, and is also a GP so she's been very good at helping get my MIL get good information.

I talked to Mr Veg about it last night, and he said that there's no reason I shouldn't just talk to my MIL, instead of trying to come to terms on my own. We have always had a very close relationship so it might be a good approach. idk. We'll see.

Talking things out can help tremendously.

forgive the question, but "MIL" ?

is that a US thing ?

this thread just underlines the sheer fucking evilness of cancer.

something i never really appreciated until it crashed into my world

(i know i know, ignorance is bliss, and in my case, it really really was bliss as we genuinely had a perfect life)

oh, and its one month since the evil lump changed our lives forever.

2 weeks ago i buried my wife.

so image how i felt when @ 9:30am this morning, my boss called to see if i was coming to a meeting this afternoon with HR to discuss my situation re returning to work !

my answer : "i'm still filling in the f*ckin' paperwork .. "

so a quick question for anyone else who has been through similar situations to me : how long before you went back to work ?

MIL = mother-in-law

I couldn't imagine ever going back to work, tbh. I guess at some point you have to, but damn.

So very, very sorry Mark.

I couldn't imagine ever going back to work, tbh. I guess at some point you have to, but damn.

this is where my head is, so it was not easy as when boss called i was on the verge of an outburst along these lines.

the problem is : the company have been great, and my boss has been and is great.

just that my official sick note ran out a mere few hours before, and they were on the phone checking my whereabouts, despite the fact that last week i went into the office to tell them 'i'm f*cked up, and there is no way i'm coming back for a while'

hey ho, paperwork and forms are the foundations of the modern world i guess.

I'm so sorry man.

@ VGirl, it might sound sappy to say so, but in you it sounds you've got a fortunate mother-in-law.

one month on.
the big question : how long is it when i no longer see my wife die everytime i close my eyes
its ripping me to pieces.
cant remember any of the good stuff due to the sheer intensity of the last 12 months.
this shit really hurts.
think i need to see someone and get some advise on how to deal with this which is not easy given that on the surface all appears ok ..

Mark, I'm sorry for your loss and I sympathize deeply (although I could never understand exactly what you're going through).

I thought I was just coming back home to support my mom while my dad was in hospital with a sudden downturn related to his chemo treatments, when in fact I managed to get into town and to the hospital just in time to actually watch my dad die. It's a horrible thing to experience, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. As I mentioned upthread, this was almost two years ago and I'm still shaken by it. The best advice I can give: seek a grief counselor, or any kind of therapist/psychologist/psychiatrist. Someone who you (or your insurance) are paying to be there on a regular basis to listen to you. As helpful as friends can be as a shoulder to cry on, they might not be there when you need them to be or as much as you need them to be. It's important to remember that some people feel more helpless than others with respect to helping you cope with such a huge weight and also that this isn't a weight you should expect anyone in particular to help you shoulder if that person isn't a professional.

All I can tell you with any certainty is that when I was confronted with tragedy (my dad's death was only one of a number of deaths and heavy events that transpired over the course of several months), I tried the "shaking it off" method for as long as I could, pressing forward and hoping that day-to-day life would take my mind off of it. It only worked for so long, and I completely turfed out after I stopped seeing my psychiatrist at the time. I'm only starting to get back on track now, two years later, so I think it's really important that you take care of yourself now and continue taking care of yourself for as long as it takes until you are well. And possibly quite a bit after you think you're well. Most importantly, though, don't try to carry the weight yourself.

Ohhhh, and thank you, Erica, I didn't see your post yesterday. As evidenced by my most recent post, it really was and has continued to be a pretty rough road. And my dad and I didn't even particularly get on that well. You just never know how it's gonna hit you until it hits you.

thanks deric.

went to my gp today.

she toyed with the idea of upping the dosage of my anti-deps, but i resisted that.
however, i will be referred to the relevant people to talk about my issues around the death, to try and help me get to the next stage.
best thing = my gp telling me that this shit can take a while to get over, and she will help out in anyway she can.
i.e. ongoing sick notes.
as getting a call at 9:30am on friday morning from my boss (2 weeks to the day after i buried my wife, 4 weeks to the day after she had died), asking where i was as my official sick leave ran out on the day before.

him : "HR have organised a meeting for you this afternoon"
me : " i aint going to be there"

not the most helpful of attitudes.

so hearing someone tell me that they can swing, and that my boss will just have to wait for me to get over this was a massive boost that i needed.

That's great to hear. A lot of people are really dense when it comes to the grief of others.

deric (of the most amazing facial hair !) : that seems to have become very apparent in recent days.

old school macho attitude british seems to be at the fore - 'stiff upper lip', and all that crap.

head of HR = wife of high ranking bloke in the forces therefore one suspecst has a more clinical/cold 'tude towards dealing with death.

problem is that i'm not of that type of breeding.

this is the first time i have had to go through such an experience (and hopefully the last), and given certain aspects of the death, i'm struggling to reconcile various issues (all appears ok to the outside world as i have to function on a day to day basis for the Lads, but this stuff goes way deeper than being able to do the ironing).

my feeling is when you go through something like this, work may as well be another planet. Like, if you're a person who needs to throw themselves into work to cope, that's one thing...but yeah, I would feel no guilt at all for thinking your boss can sodd off and cope without you for a while.

"my feeling is when you go through something like this, work may as well be another planet. Like, if you're a person who needs to throw themselves
into work to cope, that's one thing...but yeah, I would feel no guilt at all for thinking your boss can sodd off and cope without you for a while.

indeed * 1000

yesterday i was walking to school to pick up small and one of the mums asked me re returning to work.

my answer : 'i couldn't give a shit re work'

to which after a moment of raised eyebrows, she eventually answered : 'well there's your new priorities'

which summed it all up for me ..

but it's like, this is your *life*. it's right to feel all those messy feelings and emotions and sadness...how could you not.
I think onlookers just have a sort of weird shelf-life for empathy, where they're sympathetic for a week or two and then they just don't want those tendrils of sadness in their life anymore so they want to shove you back into your normal routine so they don't have to talk about it. maybe not as blunt as all that, but something like it.

they're sympathetic for a week or two and then they just don't want those tendrils of sadness in their life anymore so they want to shove you back into your normal routine so they don't have to talk about it.

ringo bingo to the power of infinity.

i've been thinking about you a lot. i'm very sorry for what you've lost but also for what you have to go through next. it's going to be difficult and it might take a long time and i really hope you've got kind people in your life who will keep loving you and accepting you no matter how angry and sad and mean you get at times. one of my good friends lost her husband suddenly five years ago and had a terrible time of it but she is finally happy again and is amazed to be because for ages and ages she thought her grief would never end. meanwhile, other people's lives were continuing as usual and they didn't have to work incredibly hard to just get through a day and yet some of them were horribly judgmental.

but she is finally happy again and is amazed to be because for ages and ages she thought her grief would never end.

my world.

cheers estala.

i rarely open up on ilx, but this thread has been a vital resource in recent times.

thank you all.

onward, friend.

and estela otm.

mark, I am so sorry.

Hey Mark, I've got nothing particularly useful to say, but just wanted to wish you all the strength for soldiering on for however long it takes to get through to the other side.

Hi Mark -- I want to offer my thoughts to you too. Strength is hard to come by in people, and I admire what I see of it in you. Fuck cancer.

mark, I can't imagine what you're going through, but i'm thinking of you, and i'm glad your gp is supportive.

i just found out that a friend i hadn't talked to in years and years just died of cancer. he was a real joker and had strong attractive teeth.
iirc he's the first person my own age who i've known to die of a disease (rather than accident/od/suicide/other). sucks. RIP, man.

I'm sorry to hear about your friend La Lechera. My mom was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer two years ago. She beat it with two surgeries and chemo. Unfortunately, we recently learned that it has metastasized to her bones. Since we caught the initial cancer so late, I'm a big believer in the Canary Foundation's emphasis on early detection. I'm hopeful for new technologies advancing early detection. But until we get there, I'd just like to join the chorus here on ILX and say FUCK CANCER.

I can't call Indiana. Radiation either worked or it didn't on Oct. 31. And I'm too much of a coward to call and ask. Girlfriend knows something is up. I'm just defeated, and I don't know what to do but shout it into the abyss of the internet.

I know what I should do. I should call.

Yes. Yes you should. Whatever you hear, whatever the news, you should call. We're holding you up, we're right here, always. recognizing the fear doesn't make you a coward, it makes you human.

fuck cancer.

on the day this thread gets revived, i find out that the husband of one of my cousins with whom i have had no contact in 20+ years has fought the good fight re surgery etc, and yet like with my wife, the evil lump is back, and so now they have to decide whether to fight more, or accept their fate.

to make matters worse, the family has 3 young children, one of whom is totally a 'daddys girl'.

also, i found out that an elderly aunt of mine who has also been fighting this fucking evil, now has been advised that the lump has moved into her back.

which experience tells me, things will not improve as this was the beginning of the end for my wife, and she too has to decide on the next stage.

she is frail, and relatively elderly, so its not an easy choice to make.

in other news .. i went back to work a few weeks ago, albeit on a very part time basis, and i have to say that both my boss and HR have been absolutely fantastic.

i could not wish for a more understanding set up that i now have.

as for you new folks to the thread, my heart goes out to you ...

fuck cancer. fuck cancer. fuck cancer.

I hope you called, Sufjan.

Mark, I'm really glad to hear that work have been so understanding. You must feel really besieged, hearing about these further cases of cancer around you.

Ditto that. I know you were under some stress/apprehension earlier that yr work weren't being all that acommodating to your situation/feelings, so its good thats changed :)

fuck you cancer.
fuck you fuck you fuck you.
how many lives ruined.
how many children are missing people they love due this evil fucking disease.
i thought i was coping, but today, on the day i should be celebrating 21 happy years of marriage, i need to curse long and hard at the fucking evil shit that has been given the name 'cancer'.
fuck you.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mejkk0Gd4q1rffx0to1_500.jpg

Today I went to visit my grandmother, who lost her husband (my grandfather duh) to cancer not even a year ago. She had broken her arm and was in hospital. They had done various tests apparently. So they found a lump. A big lump in her kidney. Monday we'll know more. But seeing she lost quite a lot of weight and broke an arm... Y'know what it could mean seeing I am posting it on this thread. God damn it. This has not been a good year. Not at all.

But on the other hand, she's in her 80s. You have to take that into perspective.

sorry nathalie :(