Fuck Cancer - Hope Edition
Hi All,
I wanted to take a moment to share my situation in order to maybe give some hope to those in the MGoCommunity dealing with that awful shit called Cancer.
Specifically for DarkerBlue, whose story hit home as it seemed so similar to that of my own father.
As in the case of DarkerBlue - my father was diagnosed with cancer and given a year to live.
What they at first thought was "only" Colo-rectal cancer, was actually cancer of the prostate, colon, bladder, and one kidney.
15 surgeries, multiple rounds of chemo, and a lot of poking and prodding, and my father is still with us alive and kicking 13 years later.
His medical file is gigantic, and when we go to the local hospital with students, they quite literally bring students down to see my dad. He is a "medical marvel", and they are shocked he is still around AND is doing as well as he is.
I know life can look bleak when you hear the words cancer - and medical professionals seem resigned to the death of their patient - but keep the faith! (Whatever Faith that might be for you).
You never know what might happen, and hope is the light that can brighten even your DarkerBlue days.
Best of luck to all of you who may be dealing with this shit.
December 11th, 2019 at 1:48 PM ^
My best friend died at 26 from colorectal cancer. He had no idea he had it until his organs were failing. Get checked, friends. It's never too early.
December 11th, 2019 at 1:52 PM ^
That's crazy. Sorry to read that man.
They don't even recommend testing for it until you are 40.
Get checked sooner.
December 11th, 2019 at 2:13 PM ^
problem is most insurances won't even cover getting it checked until at least 50. Even with a family history.
December 11th, 2019 at 2:28 PM ^
Is this the one that the poop in a bag and mail it to us commercials are supposed to find? Just curious, because that could be a much cheaper and non-invasive for younger people to get checked.
December 11th, 2019 at 2:52 PM ^
The poop in the mail thing is better than nothing I suppose. But to catch it early and for those with a family history, you have to have a more, ahem, detailed examination. Looking for cells to slough off by combing through feces isn't the most guaranteed process in the world.
December 11th, 2019 at 2:44 PM ^
8 years ago when I was 40 I had two friends diagnosed with colon cancer - one in their 30s and the other his 40s. I made an appt with my primary doc shortly thereafter mostly to get myself checked. Pretty much said the same thing you did - that insurance won't cover at my age. But I have a family history so I'm not sure if that plus his referral/recommendation got me in but in any event it did. They told me I was good to go and they'd see me in 10 years but I at least had temporary peace of mind.
My older friend/best friend's brother died a few years back. His family has a genetic defect with a strong predisposition to cancer. He put off getting checked until it was too late. His brother has been getting annual colonoscopies.
My younger friend is still alive but has had major complications. His 1st colonoscopy apparently missed the cancer so it got worse before they caught it. He went to Mayo to discuss a newer treatment as he's relapsed and it's worse - insurance said they won't pay for it. WTF is the point of health insurance if it's not to keep you "healthy", i.e. alive?
December 11th, 2019 at 3:05 PM ^
The point of insurance is not to keep you healthy, or even alive. The point is to make as much money as possible for the insurance companies.
My company self-insures, as most larger corporations do. My "good" policy costs me over $200 per pay, and each member of my family is subjected to a $1,500 individual deductible. After that's met they still only pay 80%. A decade ago my premiums were half of that, the deductible was $300 for the whole family, and when it was met they paid 100%.
No coverage, at all, for mental health services of any kind until the deductible is met. And then everyone wonders why suicide rates are so high and mass killings happen every day. Even people that want treatment can't afford to get it.
If I ever get cancer I'll either forego treatment or end up in Chapter 7.
December 11th, 2019 at 3:56 PM ^
Breathing those mercury vapors will cut your life expectancy. Why worry about health insurance?
December 11th, 2019 at 3:07 PM ^
Don't be mislead by the term 'insurance'. The point of an insurance company is to make money for it's stockholders. Insurance companies are doing nothing more than gambling on your health - hence the focus on prevention. Experimental treatments are more expensive, ie: they hurt the bottom line more than 'normal' courses of remedy.
December 11th, 2019 at 4:13 PM ^
I would like to put in a word of caution before many Mgobloggers below the age of 50 rush to get colonoscopies. While insurance companies may have perverse incentives, most recommended tests are generally paid for. The reason why colonoscopies are generally not recommended below the age of 50 is because on average you're more likely to identify false positive results or have complications from the test itself than to identify cancer for the average person below the age of 50.
Bottom line - if you have the resources to pay for one of these tests (colonoscopy, Cologuard) on your own, you should still consider the likelihood of finding cancer vs the risks of the test (discomfort, perforation, bleeding, anxiety to name a few). The decision to be tested should be carefully considered, ideally via a conversation with a medical professional.
December 11th, 2019 at 1:48 PM ^
Awesome news about your Pops!
Congratulations!!!!
December 11th, 2019 at 1:58 PM ^
What a good post. Hope this uplifts anyone who needs it.
December 11th, 2019 at 2:00 PM ^
Thanks for sharing your story, it's wonderful for you and your family to have so much more time and hopefully you'll have a lot more time going forward.
I lost my mom to cancer when I was 23 yrs. old, so yeah fuck cancer!
December 11th, 2019 at 2:02 PM ^
Sorry for your loss, my friend.
December 11th, 2019 at 2:26 PM ^
Thanks man, just keep up the faith and positive thinking, it goes a long way.
December 11th, 2019 at 2:30 PM ^
Cancer is, indeed, shitty.
One of my two best friends - a friend from high school and also a college roommate - passed away ten years ago from bile duct cancer...which is very rare and even rarer among those younger than 75.
Seeing my friend just a few days before he passed away...laying in a hospital bed hooked up to what seemed like dozens of machines...bright yellow from jaundice...is a haunting memory that will stay with me forever.
I drove away from the hospital (he lived in LA so I flew out there knowing it would be the last time I'd see him) toward LAX overcome with sadness and tears.
My heart goes out to anyone - and their loved ones - fighting this battle.
December 11th, 2019 at 2:48 PM ^
I can include my story here, too, as it is hopeful so far. Two years ago, I was diagnosed with stage 3 squamous cell carcinoma in my left tonsil. It was mostly asymptomatic (the symptoms were more obvious in retrospect) until my lymph nodes swelled up on the left side of my neck. The cancer was HPV+, which improves the prognosis significantly.
I had seven weeks of radiation to my head and neck, plus chemo. The treatment was really brutal, but things are mostly back to normal now (setting aside the long-term side effects of the treatment). I've had almost two years of clean check-ups. If I get through three more years without a recurrence, they'll call it cured. We'll see.
My heart goes out to anyone dealing with this disease. One thing I've learned is that if you take ten people with similar diagnoses, you'll likely hear ten very different stories about how things turned out. It's a very individual journey.
Get those strange swellings checked out. Vaccinate your children against HPV once they are old enough. Take care of yourselves and those around you. Happy Holidays to all of you. Go Blue.
December 11th, 2019 at 3:01 PM ^
Ditto all here but with the parotid gland. Caught it early because it was pressing/growing against a nerve and causing a lot of pain.
I saw some pictures of the surgery afterwards and they had the side of my head cut open from my ear down my neck. The surgeon had to disect a nerve from tissue so that it would not be damaged and that side of my face would move again and speech not be impacted. Once he put everything back to where it belongs, they had to reconstruct that side of my head by backfilling it with collagen. To this day, when I eat spicy food, just that portion of my face turns red.
Crazy stuff. God bless that surgeon and modern technology.
Fingers crossed for your next three years.
December 11th, 2019 at 3:05 PM ^
excellent story. and i guess that explains the helmet in your avatar.
December 11th, 2019 at 3:53 PM ^
Hey.
We all cannot be as beautiful as you are.
December 11th, 2019 at 6:10 PM ^
pfff. i'm as beautiful as a three car accident. with gray hair.
December 11th, 2019 at 3:39 PM ^
Thanks for the good wishes. I was fortunate to avoid surgery, knowing the risks associated with it.
I asked my ENT doctor if they didn't at least want to take out the tonsils and she told me not to worry about that, there wouldn't be any tonsils left when they were done with the radiation. She was right.
Good luck to you. I'm glad you're able to tolerate spicy food, it still burns too much for me to eat things like that.
December 11th, 2019 at 3:36 PM ^
See, you try to be a good guy by eating some pussy, and what does that get you? Cancer.
December 11th, 2019 at 3:55 PM ^
Dude... I swear to God I was going to end that post with <Hatter insert pussy eating joke here>.
And then I considered the past NSFW, bewbs, female readership metrics discussions, etc. I thought better against it and deleted the line.
Thanks for living up to expectations.
Ha ha ha!
December 11th, 2019 at 4:05 PM ^
I was going to say that I got it from a toilet seat, but that sounds much, much worse.
December 11th, 2019 at 4:20 PM ^
Yeahhhhhh... I'm thinking if you're licking a toliet seat instead of eating pussy, you're doing it wrong.
December 11th, 2019 at 7:39 PM ^
I had a Melanoma removed 8 years ago at 33. Really fucked me up for a while as I had 2 kids under 3 at the time. No chemo or anything, just lots of awkward Derm appointments. All good so far, but it does change your life. Don’t fuck around, though, go to the Dermatologist every year guys. That shit will kill you.
also, like the song says, wear sunscreen
December 11th, 2019 at 2:52 PM ^
Congrats and God Bless your dad!
Lost my best friend to glioblastoma in '13. He fought the fight for 44 months, was only 47 years old.
Fuck cancer.
December 11th, 2019 at 2:55 PM ^
These posts are going to make me give my parents a big hug this weekend and tell them how much i appreciate and love them. I do not do this enough with family or friends. You never know when they could be gone.
December 11th, 2019 at 3:03 PM ^
Do it.
I hug my friends all the time... even the dudes.
Sometimes I get a weird look from others but once they get to know me, it's all good.
December 11th, 2019 at 3:09 PM ^
I did reach out to my friends just now (we're all in a group chat) and said something. Got some great responses and agreed to get together the following weekend. It's rare for us to all get together because of life. Glad i did it.
December 11th, 2019 at 3:38 PM ^
Also, if everyone could please stop posting stories of people under 45ish with cancer, that would be great. I'm stressed out enough lately. Cancer will have to wait until after Christmas.
December 11th, 2019 at 5:29 PM ^
I had to watch my mother lose both parents to cancer - her mom died from pancreatic cancer in 1986, and her father from lung cancer in 1999.
Not cancer, but I've spent the last ten years watching my own father go steadily downhill from Parkinson's Disease, which is also not fun.
December 11th, 2019 at 5:40 PM ^
Thanks for sharing this
December 11th, 2019 at 6:10 PM ^
My own story....
Was having some lower intestinal issues, discomfort (fill in the blanks yourself), got a colonoscopy the week before Thanksgiving, found a mass, took a sample for biopsy, had bloodwork and a CT scan right before Thanksgiving day and found out it was cancer. I have met with a surgeon who sees it fully contained in the tumor with no metastisis and am meeting with an oncologist tomorrow to set up 5 weeks of chemo and radiation to shrink the tumor, which will be followed up a couple months later by removal of the tumor. Then there will be one more round of chemo to make sure nothing spreads post-surgery. To say I'm shocked and upset would be an understatement. To understand it is fully contained with no spreading is what I'm hanging my hat and hope on for now. Gonna fight this shit and beat it!
December 11th, 2019 at 6:31 PM ^
Hang in there. More thoughts and prayers coming your way.
December 11th, 2019 at 9:00 PM ^
Staying positive is a big step forward. I was diagnosed with chronic leukemia 11 years ago and am in remission due to a daily pill. Sending positive thoughts your way!
December 11th, 2019 at 6:18 PM ^
Thank you! Made my day. I had two bouts of melanoma, and I’m 2-0. Obviously, it’s nowhere near what you all are facing or have faced, but it’s two more victories just the same.
Fuck cancer
December 11th, 2019 at 7:57 PM ^
Woke up a year ago and had brown urine. My skin started to itch all over. Within a week I got an ERCP. Went to the Wisky night game, woke up Sunday feeling terrible, drove 265 miles back home to my hospital, who sent me to CCF for sepsis. While there I got news that the brushing from the ERCP indicated cholangiocarinoma, a very rare tumor. I came back in November and had a 10.5 hr surgery to remove it, as well as my gallbladder, half of my pancreas, 23 lymph nodes, and my duodenum. A week later I went back for a second surgery due to a perforated viscus. I got discharged Christmas Eve, got chemo a few weeks later, made it through 2/8 rounds before I got a rip roaring colitis and small bowel obstruction and aspiration pneumonia. The skin of both hands peeled away. I just had my 1 year CT scans and they were negative, although biochemical markers are uncertain. I did manage to lose about 70 pounds, so there is that side benefit.
December 11th, 2019 at 8:37 PM ^
wow. glad you are here to post about it but man, that sounds like a tough, tough road.
December 11th, 2019 at 9:14 PM ^
Yea, not fun. I spent 8 days in the ICU following chemo, and 30 days total in the hospital. BTW, when I was about 13 I developed back pain diagnosed as a posture problem. After a month of worsening pain I had a myelogram (pre-MRI and CT era) and i was diagnosed with a ependymoma of the cauda equine and had major back surgery with 6 weeks of post-op radiation. Missed 3 months of school. Only 690 cases are recorded in the US per year out of 330000000 citizens. Recovered from that only to to get Group A strep meningitis through the operative site that has left me wheelchair bound when i turned 40. I was given a 10% chance of recovering from that. My body has not been kind to me, but you just have to roll with the punches.
December 11th, 2019 at 11:14 PM ^
JFC. I hope you have the best Christmas ever.
December 11th, 2019 at 11:36 PM ^
Cancer is a bitch...
Everyone knows someone who has been affected or, sadly, they have gone through their own challenges with cancer.
Considering the stories being shared, i have been very lucky... Stage 1a non small cell lung cancer where i had my right middle lobe removed, and currently dealing with early onset stage 3 nsc lung cancer. As daunting as that diagnosis sounds, I have been fortunate due to a mutated gene in the cancer (ALK) which has allowed for a targeted therapy regiment...no radiation, no chemo, just a couple of pills everyday and CT scans every 4 months...but its inoperable, so its chronic situation you just have to accept and live with for as long as the medication works.
Like everyone else that hears that diagnosis (either for themselves or for a loved one) it is a scary/shocking thing... But it is a process and you have to put your trust in the medical professionals handling your situation...
I have so much sympathy and empathy for everyone going through this...especially those who don't have medical coverage...its not an easy road to travel, but you have to keep your spirits up as best as possible and as long as possible.
Use that diagnosis to live your life better than the day before you found out.
December 11th, 2019 at 11:59 PM ^
I have to have an annual or biannual colonoscopy every year due to my condition. I don’t have cancer, but I have a lifetime risk of getting colon cancer of 50%...I hope I never have to hear those words.
You’d think that medical researchers would have figured out cancer considering how much money has poured into research. Specifically, what foods and habits in combination with traditional treatments are most effective. Would the healthcare industry even tell us if the cure was cheap or even free?
December 12th, 2019 at 4:29 PM ^
The problem is there is no one disease called cancer, it is a blanket diagnosis. There are over 200 forms of cancer and they all have different tendencies, causes, treatments, and prognosis. Even curable cancers can grow in certain patients despite therapy. Patients may not be able to tolerate chemotherapy while the guy across the hall does fine. Certain mutations on the cancer cells may help select treatment plans, or allow immunotherapy, but most mutations do not.