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Notifying work

Prostate Cancer | Last Active: Sep 20 7:56pm | Replies (40)

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@stevecando54

I had no time to mention at work, went to doctor on a friday for leg pain, was out of work for two months. Received tons of cards from coworkers but even now after being back to work I'm not sure how many know I have cancer, stage 4. People will ask how I'm doing but never get asked "what happened". I have the best co-workers you could ask for. Some know and I get the comment, "well you look good". Still not sure what that means. I truly believe most have good intentions, it's just if the cancer word comes up, they don't know what to say. I will say the comment "well at least it's the good one, referring to prostate cancer" irks me and I let the conversation end. Best to all.

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Replies to "I had no time to mention at work, went to doctor on a friday for leg..."

From my perspective, that's actually a reasonable (or at least understandable) comment. "look good" means you're still energetic & smiling. Take it as a compliment. To some people, cancer means you're dying tomorrow. In terms of prostate cancer being "the good one".... badly expressed, but that's possibly someone who has at least looked into prostate cancer & they understand that it's one of the slowest-growing cancers. That's what makes it "the good one".

Here's my thing... I feel lucky that it's prostate cancer. If it was bladder cancer or lung cancer or something... I can't just say "Meh... take it out". But with prostate cancer I can.
That would also be true if it was brain cancer. That can be removed with no effect, because I work for local government.