The Cancer thread: Cancer, early warning signs, and detection

[Pebbles]

I was glad to read your post shaky. When my sister was sick, I always felt as if she needed a break from the constant questions. I thought it was important that she had chance to not "think about the cancer". I am sure it was always on her mind. Yet it gives me a small bit of comfort that I was able to bring her mind some relief. I often wondered it I made the right choice. Once diagnosed she lived three months.

[Shaky]

I was glad to read your post shaky. When my sister was sick, I always felt as if she needed a break from the constant questions. I thought it was important that she had chance to not "think about the cancer". I am sure it was always on her mind. Yet it gives me a small bit of comfort that I was able to bring her mind some relief. I often wondered it I made the right choice. Yes Once diagnosed she lived three months.

I figure most people go through the same things. There's the what would i do if they told me I had X amount of time to live thinking. When the diagnosis comes in all those things you may have said So you go through a stage of feeling sorry for yourself, woe is me, what did i do to deserve this, I'm not ready to die etc.

Closest thing to that feeling was watching the trade center from across the river on 9-11. Real kick in the gut that stayed with you for awhile.

You spend some sleepless nights, while getting prepped for a battery of tests. Still haven't told a sole other than my brother and sister in law. Want all the facts first. Somewhere in the middle of all of this, I started seeing the humor in it. I suppose it's like public speaking where you imagine your audience naked. Laughing is easy. I could laugh all day without getting tired. Worrying and crying is stressful. Choice is easy for me, find a way to keep laughing.

You start getting calls and e-mails, people telling you how brave you are and what courage you have. Perhaps by definition, but I saw nothing courageous in my actions. I didn't choose to have cancer. It's not like running into a burning building to save someone. I had two choices, do nothing and eventually die. Get treatment and surgery and hopefully extend my life. Real tough choice there. I don't consider myself particularly brave, but this was a no brainer. I'm sure most people just sort of kick it into survival mode and do what it takes. You find the strength. The humor is something else. I think i'm just different, I managed to find the lighter side in all my tests treatments and surgeries and rather than avoid the subject, i just turned it into a comedy routine all i needed was an audience.

The worst feeling in the world is laying in the hospital bed with your parents looking on and you can see the pain in their eyes, but no matter how hard i tried, no matter how hard we laughed i could never make that pain go away.

Now I'll let you in on a little secret. That angler of the month story, with the swordfish slicing me up That was my incisional hernia repair. Direct result of my colon resection, the muscles just came apart and they had to open me up again. I knew those pictures would come in handy one day. Don't be mad it's just the way I cope with things

cheers

steve

[DarkSkies]

I didn't choose to have cancer. It's not like running into a burning building to save someone. I had two choices, do nothing and eventually die. Get treatment and surgery and hopefully extend my life. Real tough choice there. I don't consider myself particularly brave, but this was a no brainer.

That could be inspiring to anyone who gets cancer. Thank you for the brutal honesty there, Shaky.