Patrick Swayze Interview

blueroses

CanadaSue said:

Dealing with it all
Hi Dream,

I haven't been to church in years, but I am a believer. Our lives are what we make of them, and blame cannot be placed anywhere, WE (not anyone else)made the choices to eat red meat, smoke,and anything else they say is bad for us. I totally agree with you that we are not being punished, in order to make it thru our journey here on earth we have to experience the bad with the good.

Before this cancer experience we are going thru, I never gave a lot of things a second thought. Now I savor everyday, and while it is true tomorrow I could step off a curb, get hit by a car and die....once you live the cancer experience you realize just how preious life is:
I don't take people for granted anymore, I listen to what they have to say. I spend a few extra minutes looking at the beautiful sunset, and we quit putting off till tomorrow all the things we want to do. I no longer find room for negativity in my life, you have choices, you can choose to have a great day or choose to feel sorry for yourself - your choice.

Have a great weekend all!

Hugs

Sue

We All Deal Differently
I think it's important to say, concisely (like I'm capable of doing 'concisely', lol) that everyone has their own way of dealing with the whole cancer experience. We all go through all the stages of loss in different ways, in different orders and sometimes over and over. I think most of us get negative sometimes, even in little ways, and for those who don't I want your secret, lol. Just let me say here that cancer is tough, duh. Don't be hard on yourself if one day isnt as supercalifragalisticexpealidotious as the one before. Hmmm that one word ended the idea of 'concisely' all on it's own. lol. I bearly remember the last supercalifragalisticexpealidotious day that I had. Oh well. Been better, been worse.

blueroses

Swayze Is In Hospital
Just saw on the news that Patrick Swayze was admitted to hospital today with pneumonia. Praying for him and his family. Pneumonia is rough when you are in poor health, as some of us well know, pray he musters up all the strength he showed in his interview, and then some, to beat it.

Dreamdove

blueroses said:

Swayze Is In Hospital
Just saw on the news that Patrick Swayze was admitted to hospital today with pneumonia. Praying for him and his family. Pneumonia is rough when you are in poor health, as some of us well know, pray he musters up all the strength he showed in his interview, and then some, to beat it.

It's Always Something
I'm glad I started this thread. I feel that people struggling with their health have a need to express their feelings, good and bad. Sometimes the people in our daily lives don't want to hear that stuff. I started this because I can relate to Patrick Swayze's experiences with cancer. He is 100 percent human! I like when people bring their cancer experiences out in the open. It used to be most people kept it to themselves and left the house with a wig on. When I was going thru cancer treatment, a nice couple gave me a knitted hat. They said, "This way no one will know--they'll think you are just wearing a winter hat." I didn't say anything about how I felt about that comment but I think it was rather a dated comment that would have been true 20 or 30 years ago but not now. I appreciated that they cared but it was a hideous hat anyway. Going out wearing it I would have felt like a Dr. Seuss character. But that's besides the point. Gilda Radner brought ovarian cancer (what I had) out in the open with her book "It's Always Something." I appreciate it when celebrities do that. We can relate to them. I's too bad Paul Neuman hid his cancer from the world. He was brought up in a different time period. He was so much loved by the public but he probably didn't want a fuss made over him, which I understand.

green50

Dreamdove said:

It's all in the perception and how we deal with what happens
Sue, I agree with so much of what you said. We have a purpose here and once we fulfill it we move on. It's nobody's fault, not even God's. It's not a punishment. It's just one of those things some of us experience while here. Others have different experiences that are maybe just as bad. It's how we deal with those experiences. I don't believe I have ever felt anger about having cancer. I never once said, "why me?" My mother thought I was angry at her for passing on the gene. But she had breast cancer, I had ovarian. But she pointed out, as I knew, that those cancers are genetically related. I was totally stunned that she thought I blamed her! I did not see anger in Patrick Swayze either. My mother may have thought I was angry but I was not. It was her perception of what I felt. It's not that I never have angry feelings because I do. But I did not feel angry about having cancer. But I feel that it is far better to put the anger towards fighting the disease because feeling angry all the time eats you up and does no good for yourself or anyone else. Cancer is what it is. Like Patrick Swayze said, "we are all dying."

Amen
That is what I try to explain we all are dying of something. Whether we live one year or hundred. Cancer can be a battle but so can many other diseases. We do what we can do to enjoy our lives and support those who have a harder time. People hear cancer and they write you off or some anyway. I guess sometimes I get mad but mad when I am too tired to do anything I want to do. I am still here and taking chemo after 7 years. And to be on this discussion board with all these amazing people is fantastic. My husband passed at age 54. I had a grandfather who was 95. My point who knows when. We just have to go on until its our time and though its hard to understand we miss those who have passed we smile with the memories. Patrick Swayze is tough and so are all of you.
Prayers and Hugs
Sandy

terato

Dreamdove said:

It's Always Something
I'm glad I started this thread. I feel that people struggling with their health have a need to express their feelings, good and bad. Sometimes the people in our daily lives don't want to hear that stuff. I started this because I can relate to Patrick Swayze's experiences with cancer. He is 100 percent human! I like when people bring their cancer experiences out in the open. It used to be most people kept it to themselves and left the house with a wig on. When I was going thru cancer treatment, a nice couple gave me a knitted hat. They said, "This way no one will know--they'll think you are just wearing a winter hat." I didn't say anything about how I felt about that comment but I think it was rather a dated comment that would have been true 20 or 30 years ago but not now. I appreciated that they cared but it was a hideous hat anyway. Going out wearing it I would have felt like a Dr. Seuss character. But that's besides the point. Gilda Radner brought ovarian cancer (what I had) out in the open with her book "It's Always Something." I appreciate it when celebrities do that. We can relate to them. I's too bad Paul Neuman hid his cancer from the world. He was brought up in a different time period. He was so much loved by the public but he probably didn't want a fuss made over him, which I understand.

Concealed courage
Dream,

Nancy Reagan hid the fact of her double mastectomy from the public, believing that this was preferable to a lumpectomy and follow-up radiation.

''I couldn't possibly lead the kind of life I lead, and keep the schedule that I do, having radiation or chemotherapy,'' Mrs. Reagan said in an interview with Barbara Walters. ''There'd be no way. Maybe if I'd been 20 years old, hadn't been married, hadn't had children, I would feel completely differently. But for me it was right.'' At the time of the surgery, many physicians and women's groups said Mrs. Reagan's choice of more radical surgery might scare other women, who could safely be treated by lumpectomy, from seeking treatment for breast cancer. As Ms. Walters reminded her in the interview, Rose Kushner, the executive director of the Breast Cancer Advisory Center in Kensington, Md., went so far as to say that Mrs. Reagan's decision ''set us back 10 years.'' 'I've Made Up My Mind'

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=940DEFDF1E31F936A35750C0A96E948260

"Going public" with their own case histories is the best way that celebrities can educate the general public concerning the realities and options of their respective malignancies. There, but for the grace of God, go any of us.

Love and Courage!

Rick

blueroses

terato said:

Concealed courage
Dream,

Nancy Reagan hid the fact of her double mastectomy from the public, believing that this was preferable to a lumpectomy and follow-up radiation.

''I couldn't possibly lead the kind of life I lead, and keep the schedule that I do, having radiation or chemotherapy,'' Mrs. Reagan said in an interview with Barbara Walters. ''There'd be no way. Maybe if I'd been 20 years old, hadn't been married, hadn't had children, I would feel completely differently. But for me it was right.'' At the time of the surgery, many physicians and women's groups said Mrs. Reagan's choice of more radical surgery might scare other women, who could safely be treated by lumpectomy, from seeking treatment for breast cancer. As Ms. Walters reminded her in the interview, Rose Kushner, the executive director of the Breast Cancer Advisory Center in Kensington, Md., went so far as to say that Mrs. Reagan's decision ''set us back 10 years.'' 'I've Made Up My Mind'

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=940DEFDF1E31F936A35750C0A96E948260

"Going public" with their own case histories is the best way that celebrities can educate the general public concerning the realities and options of their respective malignancies. There, but for the grace of God, go any of us.

Love and Courage!

Rick

Everything for a reason
Getting all spiritual on you and stuff here, lol, but I truly believe that part of the gift of becoming a well known human being, for your talents, has a give and take aspect to it. The take is of course all the celebrity perks one attains but as well (and much more importantly) all the joy that a celebrity receives when he/she can give of themselves for public service. I believe that celebrity status is so important to raise awareness of whatever the disease that they are dealing with so that all of us 'commoners' out here, lol, can be made of aware of the diseases treatment options and see someone who seemed untouchable deal with disease as well - thereby inspiring us. Some of this of course doesn't make sense at the root of it, we are all people regardless of position in life, but our society has a way of elevating some to star status so why not use that elevated platform for the common good as well? I can understand Nancy Reagan's stand though as well, it's a personal choice but man if she had come forward it would have been a huge boast for cancer indeed. I'm not judging, I just would hope that celebrities would think to use their celebrity status to encourage and relate to others in their battles with cancer as well. Blessings, Blueroses.

Dreamdove

terato said:

Concealed courage
Dream,

Nancy Reagan hid the fact of her double mastectomy from the public, believing that this was preferable to a lumpectomy and follow-up radiation.

''I couldn't possibly lead the kind of life I lead, and keep the schedule that I do, having radiation or chemotherapy,'' Mrs. Reagan said in an interview with Barbara Walters. ''There'd be no way. Maybe if I'd been 20 years old, hadn't been married, hadn't had children, I would feel completely differently. But for me it was right.'' At the time of the surgery, many physicians and women's groups said Mrs. Reagan's choice of more radical surgery might scare other women, who could safely be treated by lumpectomy, from seeking treatment for breast cancer. As Ms. Walters reminded her in the interview, Rose Kushner, the executive director of the Breast Cancer Advisory Center in Kensington, Md., went so far as to say that Mrs. Reagan's decision ''set us back 10 years.'' 'I've Made Up My Mind'

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=940DEFDF1E31F936A35750C0A96E948260

"Going public" with their own case histories is the best way that celebrities can educate the general public concerning the realities and options of their respective malignancies. There, but for the grace of God, go any of us.

Love and Courage!

Rick

Wish my mother would have had a celebrity role-model
My mother had a double mastectomy also even though she could have gotten by with a lumpectomy. This was back 20 years ago when she was 62. I remember asking her about that. I felt that the mastectomy was too drastic and I felt she was, in a way, mutilated. She was a widow and after the mastectomy she would not date because she didn't think she'd be "enough" for a man. Maybe it was an excuse, I don't know. She had an unhappy marriage and my father never showed her any affection. She had it with men. Also I think she was scared that the cancer would more likely return, which statistics show it doesn't come back any more with a lumpectomy than a mastectomy if you have chemo afterwards. Maybe she was right about getting the double mastectomy. Afterall, it didn't come back. At the time there really weren't any celebrity role-models with breast cancer. And cancer wasn't out in the open as it is now. So maybe she didn't feel there were any options. Maybe her doctor pushed for it. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.