cancer

[daveed]

I don't really have a question or anything id just like to hear some of your stories or opinions. No trolling please as this is a very serious subject and not something to fuck around about.

Ill tell you guys a little bit of my story.

I didn't personally have cancer but my mom is a 2 time cancer survivor. Shes the strongest person I know for being able to conquer this not only once. But twice.

The first time she had a cancer in her eye (don't remember the name right off hand) but it literally melted all her nerves in her left eye. She had it for about 4 years before ever knowing about it. Once they found it they had to remove her eye because there was just nothing left. She couldnt see from it move it or anything. They did the surgery and she now has a glass eye. Afterwards they ran some tests and told her she was cancer free (happiest day of my life) shes doing real good now

The second time she had breast cancer. They caught it early enough to remove it without removing her breast. Thank God. She had a small malignant tumor and they were able to just remove it.

I always knew it was serious but I guess I just really didn't realize until it struck my mom. Shes doing well now and experiences little to no problems. She still takes medications to help it prevent from forming again.

This subject really interests me now as I am able to relate to most of the stories in a way.

If you don't feel comfertabe sharing. Don't. That's perfectly fine. Id just like to know some of your experiences or opinions on the illness or preventing it.

 

[Marek]

My uncle died on March 16th from prostate cancer, he was only 37 and they aren't sure why he died. He was on treatment and was found dead lying on the kitchen floor in my aunt's house with a blanket over him, toxicology reports take a long time to process but until the results of the toxicology come back they still don't know how or why he died. He was only about 3 weeks into Chemo and had stage 2 cancer, we were really close and it's been really hard on me and my family but I'm staying strong for my aunt and my cousins whom I've come to love as siblings being an only child. It's tough but in the end there's nothing that we can do but move on, I try to reflect on the way that my uncle has positively impacted my life and the lives of those within my family and I try to live every day with a sense of urgency and renewed importance. To anyone dealing with cancer personally or the cancer of a family member, I wish you all the luck in the world.

 

My father passed from lung cancer almost three years ago (August 19th 2011). It was stage four when they caught it in 2009, and the prognosis was that he had about six months left. He went through several surgeries to remove the tumors that had spread into his right arm and up into his neck, along with a few rounds of chemo. Things started to look up a bit around July 2010, when the cancer had gone into remission.

The next 10 months or so were thankfully uneventful. The tumors had done quite a bit of damage before they were removed, so he had very limited use of his right arm and could only comfortably turn his neck about 30 degrees. Other than that he was almost back to normal.

In June 2011, he started coughing quite a bit. The lung cancer was back and the tumors focused around the apex of his lungs had caused fluid to start building up in his lungs. A port was put in to drain the fluid and he underwent a lobectomy in an attempt to remove most of the tumors. Surgery went well and we only had to wait about 24 hours post-op before he could go home. That night, however, things took a turn for the worse. The lobectomy, initially thought to be successful, had caused an infection to spread.

He was moved to the ICU, but the infection had lowered his immune system and treatment was relatively unsuccessful. He stayed in ICU until August. At that point, the cancer had spread throughout most of his respiratory system, and he was placed on mechanical ventilation (essentially life support). It was clear he was in pain almost 24/7, despite the efforts of the doctors and nurses. After speaking with the doctors and discussing it with the family, it was decided that we were merely extending his discomfort, and that he should be moved out of the ICU. That was a hard day for me, as it felt like we were giving up on him.

On August 18th, we moved him into the hospice wing, where the nurses did an amazing job of keeping him comfortable. I stayed awake through the night talking to him, though I'm not sure he could hear me. He passed the following morning.

I consider my dad to be the strongest person I've ever known, and I don't see that ever changing. Cancer is horrifying, and I give my full support to anyone who has gone or is going through it, as well as to their loved ones and supporters. Hope this is what you were looking for OP, sorry for the long response!

 

[Desin]

well my mother went through breast cancer, and treatment..i was about in fourth/fifth grade when she started going through all that..it scared me to see her have to go through all these procedures..and im so happy to be able to have her still..

she has had some somewhat severe side effects due to all the medication she has taken..for example her bones arent as strong as they use to be so she'll get aches easier than most people and I HATE..HATE seeing her take all these different medications :/

but shes come a long long long way, and im so happy and proud of her..we dont always get along but i know she knows that i love her and am happy shes my mother.

i could go into more detail but its kinda an odd thing for me to process through sometimes still..

 

[Swan]

Had cancer personally as a small child. I don't remember it whatsoever, but I have a scar to show where the surgery was. I can't say I've ever been terribly bothered by it, but then again the concept of death has never bothered me (for example, when I was told my Grandmother was dead I didn't even blink).

It sounds kind of defeatist to say so, but accepting that this sort of stuff exists and taking whatever steps to deal with it, however successful or unsuccessful they may be, is the only thing that can be done. Worrying over it isn't really that productive.

 

[daveed]

Thanks everyone for sharing. For the ones who lost a loved one I'm terribly sorry to hear that. For the others I'm so glad to hear you or your family members were able to overcome such a obstacle.

 

[daveed]

And thank you to everyone so much for sharing. I love hearing about these experiences and how people overcome them.

 

[vegeta508]

cancer took my papa last year , i wasnt able to visit him very often and the day i was finally able to visit, he couldnt talk or anything i decided to spend the night at his place to keep my nana company that night, he died in his sleep that night

 

I've lost 3 grandparents and my aunt and uncle to cancer.

 

[DBHorbert]

I'll go ahead and right the short and long stories I have.

My mom had breast cancer, they caught it early, they performed radiation, she later decided to have a double mastectomy where they removed all breast tissue and mammary glands. Her health is good now.

My father had a brain tumor in his brain stem. Where the tumor was it did all the automatic things your body does (i.e. control blood pressure, regulate breathing and oxygen levels, keep you swallowing your own saliva, blinking without thinking, etc.) He had an intensive surgery about a two weeks after it was noticed, they removed 90% or more. He was in the hospital for about a month. He came home, complications sent him back to the hospital for less than a day (he wasn't sent home with all the equipment necessary) He went back home, this time it lasted three days, he went back into the hospital, he was released from the hospital two days later-against the request from my family, he died in his sleep two days later. My sister found him already cold when she came in to give him his 6am medicine, I performed CPR on him until paramedics arrived.

Believe it or not that's the very very short version.
If you want to hear the longer version just ask.

 

[Phi]

My mother had cervical cancer, and be cause of it, even after she shows no signs of cancer now, she can't be too far from a bathroom because her lower digestive system is basically a melted lump of organs. It's all fused together and hardly functioning, so she can't control her bowels or bladder for very long. She can hold it in, but it's painful for her and she can't hold it for very long.

It's probably the best possible outcome one could have after having cancer, she's not dead or impaired or bald and missing two limbs. She just has little control over her bowels, and we're all thankful that she's better.

 

[vtrupee35]

I don't really have a question or anything id just like to hear some of your stories or opinions. No trolling please as this is a very serious subject and not something to fuck around about.

Ill tell you guys a little bit of my story.

I didn't personally have cancer but my mom is a 2 time cancer survivor. Shes the strongest person I know for being able to conquer this not only once. But twice.

The first time she had a cancer in her eye (don't remember the name right off hand) but it literally melted all her nerves in her left eye. She had it for about 4 years before ever knowing about it. Once they found it they had to remove her eye because there was just nothing left. She couldnt see from it move it or anything. They did the surgery and she now has a glass eye. Afterwards they ran some tests and told her she was cancer free (happiest day of my life) shes doing real good now

The second time she had breast cancer. They caught it early enough to remove it without removing her breast. Thank God. She had a small malignant tumor and they were able to just remove it.

I always knew it was serious but I guess I just really didn't realize until it struck my mom. Shes doing well now and experiences little to no problems. She still takes medications to help it prevent from forming again.

This subject really interests me now as I am able to relate to most of the stories in a way.

If you don't feel comfertabe sharing. Don't. That's perfectly fine. Id just like to know some of your experiences or opinions on the illness or preventing it.

I'm glad for you and your Mom Not many people are given second chances but you got a third so be grateful. As to cancer, there's not really much to do besides a healthy lifestyle and safe environment. Cancer is abnormally high cell production and/or abnormally low cell death. Fortunately, these are not easily acquired. One could be affected with it if the person is exposed to an inhibitor(starts cancer) and (forgot the term) that accelerates it. If you are in an environment exposed to both of those, you at high risk of acquiring cancer.

 

[reddogwwa]

My father passed from lung cancer almost three years ago (August 19th 2011). It was stage four when they caught it in 2009, and the prognosis was that he had about six months left. \

Pretty much same situation up to that point. I'm sorry bro.

My father passed away February 4th 2001 from lung cancer. My father and I would go to Florida literally every single year since I could remember. We had family and such down there and we would always go to Universal Studios and Disney World. He planned our 2001 trip to Florida way early...like right when school ended for me in 2000 (Late May). Hindsight my parents must of found out some time before that and of course didn't tell me right away because I was only 10. Anyway we went on our trip, it was a blast as it usually was but I still remember us playing catch outside of our hotel (we would always bring our mitts to pass time) and he couldn't really throw the ball as hard or as far as he usually did. At the time I thought nothing of it but I remember being a little upset because he would only play for about 30 minutes or so as apposed to 1 or 2 hours easily. It took me many many years to really dig deep and remember little details like that and put them together, but when I did it was quite the revelation.


EDIT: Damn lol, proof read it after I posted and realized it's pretty cheesy with the disney world, playing catch and such lol. What can I say, GREAT FATHER =).

EDIT2: After that some time passed, he went through kemo lost all of his hair and a substantial amount of weight...to the point that if I didn't know he was my dad I would not have recognized him. After many moves between hospitals my mom decided to move him back into our house, at which point we had a room set up for him with a hospital bed, oxygen, and all the other things for someone with cancer would need. We got spend another Christmas together, my mom did manage to get him out of the bed to the tree. I remember waiting until like noon to open the presents because he wasn't really feeling strong enough earlier. About a week later he completely crashed, wasn't talking or really opening his eyes anymore and everyone started preparing I suppose. But something really awesome happened before he died. I was the only one in the room just sitting by the bed not really doing anything...pretty much tuned out of everything and out of nowhere he had a total moment of clarity. Completely awake, eyes open, complete sentences...everything. We talked had a heart to heart and all of that good stuff...but I remember thinking that because he was awake and everything that he was going to be okay! Well he ended up unresponsive again, so I waited a couple minutes to see if he would come back...but he didn't so I went out and told my mom what happened because I was so excited! After that my big brother took me downstairs to watch tv, after some time I came back up and he was gone. I later found out I was the last person to talk to him!

Andddd that's my cancer story.