What does the word Cancer mean? Is it just a simple word?
When I was first diagnosed with lung cancer I found it very hard to identify with the word, never mind the illness it represented. Back in 1997 my prognosis was less than 15% survival, so then it meant death. After 22 years and more lung cancers that I have survived it's just a word cancer- such a plain word- doesn't really mean what it did to me. Cancer is complicated, its a journey, an experience, war, battle, ...fight, etc. What it means to me is being truthful, and genuine, trustworthy and completely honest. I don't have room in my life for even the slightest fib. Cancer is also life for me, because, damn, I'm still here!
What does it mean to you?
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@alamogal635- I am so sorry that it's taken me so long to respond to this post. I really felt every word in this. I'm surprised that you were so thirsty because of the saline drip in your veins. I hallucinated the first few days and threw out the PT gal so I could sleep. I let her back in in four hours. I slept four hours and was sweet as pie when she returned. 🙂
Don't worry about response time. I love following everyone on this site. I always drink a lot of water and other liquids and despite the saline drip, was dry in my throat--maybe the breathing tube--maybe a slight hallucination from the after effects of the anesthesia. Anyway, I'm glad you had a good PT therapist--don't blame you for throwing her out during the first four hours! Sounds like you did well and had good post op nurses.
The doctors never used the "C" word around me in 1975 they just said that I had Stage 4 Nodular Lymphoma, a cousin of Hodgkins. I knew what Hodgkins was, Cancer, and cancer was a death sentence at that time. I was more afraid of the word cancer than I was of dying. Once I was able to get over the fear of the word I was okay. As you have figured out I'm still alive and kicking. Chemo has changed so much in the last 50 years, for me I had to take pills for over 4 years plus 6 weeks of radiation. Radiation has side effects, thirty plus years later I am having to live with those side effect, I do not have any side effects from the chemo. I still have to have an annual check-up because a blood related cancer is never "gone/killed/dead" just dormant. I have blood work every 6 weeks so the doctors are keeping an eye on me.
Each year the treatment for cancer keeps getting better, because of what we go through. Just keep that in mind each time you have another chemo session, another surgery, or radiation session. Someone will not have to go through what you are because the doctors are learning new things because of us.
Good luck,
mlmcg
@mlmcg- good morning. I agree that both the term and treatments have changed remarkably since you started treatments. Mine began in 1997!