F*** You, Cancer! Catch all

I am deeply sorry, Wizard. I really hope you all can get through this and emerge on the other side with a great future ahead of you.

Bruce wrote:

Having a sonographer say "that's definitely not a tumor" is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me on my birthday.

A late reply, but congratulations! I am glad you had such monumentally good birthday news.

That sucks WizardM0de. I'll be transmitting any good karma I've stored up your way. Good luck with your son.

f*ck cancer.

WizardM0de, what a marathon. Your son sounds like an amazing kid! Sending lots of love and strength your way.

Thanks for the thoughts all - early tomorrow AM we get to the hospital to hit the reset button and set the clock to T-minus 3 years and counting again. Scared but hopeful, and riding in with tons of support!

I'm also sending love and strength your way WizardM0de.

How can it be that our children are less afraid than we are of the real monsters which try to take them away? There's some logic to that, but living the reality of it has kept me up so many nights. Making a life together in the midst of it is incredibly tough work even though it's a labor of love. I'm with you in spirit over the coming years as you go through this, WM. You and your family won't be forgotten.

End of Day 4...seems like we’ve been here two weeks already. He’s amazing and brave and awesome. The meds he’s on are vile and putrid and disgusting and amazing and awesome. It’s weird seeing your son piss toxic blue sludge, but you just shrug and hope it’s working. Video games, board games, books, and legos are all magic, full stop.

Still no word from his bone marrow aspiration so still not completely sure about what he’s up against, but the rest of his body’s primed and ready for war, so we got that going for us.

The one spot of cancer in my liver (according to my most recent PET scan) now appears to be eight spots in various places in my body (two in the liver, three in various muscles in my head, three in the mesentery lining), despite being on chemo since October. Current plan is to maintain existing chemo regimen, get a CT scan in a month to confirm and go from there. Some alternative therapies are still available but, this takes me off the liver transplant list, which means there's no permanent solution.

f*cking cancer.

Sorry to hear that, Bighoppa.

sh*t, that sucks.

WizardM0de wrote:

End of Day 4...seems like we’ve been here two weeks already. He’s amazing and brave and awesome. The meds he’s on are vile and putrid and disgusting and amazing and awesome. It’s weird seeing your son piss toxic blue sludge, but you just shrug and hope it’s working. Video games, board games, books, and legos are all magic, full stop.

Still no word from his bone marrow aspiration so still not completely sure about what he’s up against, but the rest of his body’s primed and ready for war, so we got that going for us.

I wish him the best of luck. I hope you all have good tidings ahead.

bighoppa wrote:

The one spot of cancer in my liver (according to my most recent PET scan) now appears to be eight spots in various places in my body (two in the liver, three in various muscles in my head, three in the mesentery lining), despite being on chemo since October. Current plan is to maintain existing chemo regimen, get a CT scan in a month to confirm and go from there. Some alternative therapies are still available but, this takes me off the liver transplant list, which means there's no permanent solution.

f*cking cancer.

I'm deeply sorry, bighoppa. I hope whatever treatment you have going forward can take of the cancer. Keep us updated, if you can and are willing.

Ugh, bighoppa I’m so sorry to hear that. You have been kicking butt for quite a while, hopefully they can turn the tide again.

f*ck cancer indeed. Stay strong bighoppa.

Wishing for a change from this for you bighoppa. As Docjoe says, hopefully they can turn the tide again.

I thought it was appropriate to post this here in recognition of someone taken by cancer but more as an example of someone who clearly took the F*** Cancer concept to heart. I think she's worthy of us knowing more about her.

https://deadspin.com/gabriele-grunew...

From the article:

"Despite her diagnosis, Grunewald competed professionally in the middle distances at the highest level for six years after she graduated college in 2010, winning a national championship and nearly making the Olympics."

She was an absolutely amazing person and a tragic loss. F cancer indeed.

Incredible

My dad was diagnosed this weekend with some sort of blood cancer. They're still doing tests to figure out what kind. The bright side is they symptoms should be pretty manageable with treatment. The bad side is that there's not a lot of long-term survivability, either. Maybe 5 years if he's lucky.

The thing that hit hardest is just how unfair it is. My dad doesn't smoke, drink, or eat foods with artificial ingredients. He exercises and uses sunscreen religiously. He's been living like this since the 70's, and he still gets cancer.

Sorry to hear that, Delbin. Nothing fair about cancer at all, that's for damn sure. I hope they can find some treatment to give him more time. Five years just seems like nothing and simultaneously everything to me these days.

f*ck cancer.

Sorry Delbin. I would imagine that those years of taking care of himself puts in the best possible position to start the fight.

F*ck cancer

Hey, universe! I know you gave my mom Alzheimers, and look, gotta say, that's been super fun. But don'tcha think that giving my dad, her primary caregiver, prostate cancer was just a bit of a dick move?

Seriously, today can f@ck right off.

We blinked and 4+ months were gone, most of which were spent in the hospital. "What a long, strange trip it's been" doesn't really cover it, but it feels like we've lived an entire lifetime in the Summer of 2019. He's been put through the ringer since 4/1, I've never seen a little kid so sick with pain and nausea, but his body's responded in the manner they want and the way his mind bounces back in incredible. Just enjoying each day we have.

His marrow remained MRD negative throughout, so bone marrow transplant's still off the menu for now. Feels a little comforting to know that we still have somewhere else we can go should this second round not play out the way we need it to.

We caved parentally-speaking on Fortnite. Finding Fortbytes and getting to 100 was a fun goal that took our mind off of many terrible things, along with unlocking all the Smash characters.

Speaking of caving, we also started working our way through the Marvel movies. We've only done a few, but it's been fun for the entire family.

Steroids propped his counts up enough to enjoy the first full week of school with his friends. We're back in the hospital for planned stuff tomorrow, but it was huge for him to be able to start 2nd grade with his friends, even if he'll actually spend the most of it at home.

His hair's finally starting to come back in. It looks like it will be dark now, like mine. I'm really looking forward to fall...crisp air, cheering on App State and Panthers football, watching the leaves turn and fall. One day at a time!

Amazing! Really happy to see this. What a journey ...

Kids are truly amazing.

Fortnite isn't the worst thing in the world as a parent. My older doesn't like the game because it's "just shooting" but much better than him sitting around playing GTA5 multiplayer...

So glad he (and you) could enjoy that milestone with his friends.

I unfortunately was shocked by cancer very quickly when my mom passed away May 3rd 2018. It was on a Thursday and we only found out about what exactly was going on the Friday before. That day she was diagnosed with bone cancer in her lower back which had already spread through many parts of her body. She had a baseball sized tumour in her left lung.

It’s a strange feeling having all that jump on you so abruptly. Up until that point we had only assumed what the doctors were saying which was a very bad sciatica attack. She had been off work since December due to the pain.

She was 64 years old and was unable to be there for me when I started my transition. I hope she is happy for me and resting well with our two family pets keeping her company.

I was hoping to write about a very special moment for gaming with her but I’m unsure if that is allowed in here. So for now I just want to say screw cancer.

So good to hear that Wizzard. Sending good vibes.

Moe Bear - of course feel free to share

Moe Bear wrote:

I was hoping to write about a very special moment for gaming with her but I’m unsure if that is allowed in here. So for now I just want to say screw cancer.

This is a place where you can share memories.

If it brings peace, go for it!!

Wizardm0de, so happy to hear about your boy's progress and glad you were able to share in that with him and support him.

Moe, thank you for sharing and being open with your loss. This is a space for writing and you are welcome to share what you feel comfortable sharing. If you are unsure about anything, please feel free to pm me your concerns.

f*ck cancer, indeed
Love you all.