Old Posts

RickMurtagh said:

Misread
You know. I read your post and read, "how fast a persons life could be changed" as "how a fat persons life could be changed.". I thought, what an odd thing to say, but while thinking about it, I thought to myself, you know it might be true, but how odd. I have lost about eighty pounds while on my cancer journey. That and the cancer have BOTH really changed my life. Then I reread your post, not being sure why you would reference "fat people" so bluntly. Well now I have the advantage of thinking about my weight loss (I am almost the weight I was when I moved here to NJ) AND about my cancer journey. I will have to get to looking back later - we just returned from my youngest son's wedding. Bitter sweet - he was the last and this week my daughter is moving Colorado. But life is good AND I get my opium today - no more diarrhea (hopefully).

Take care Brooks, you continually encourage and inspire me. I think I even named some of my better stools after you. Some of the bigger and better formed ones, to which I had a fondness - quite an honor really.

Weight
Hehehe Rick... I have to admit, as scared as I was when first diagnosed and all the things I was going through with the surgery and first hearing about chemo, etc.... the one thing I held on to was the positive and that would be that I would lose weight. Granted, this is not a recommendation for those who need to lose weight but we all know that people with cancer lose weight. So I figured this would be the one positive that came from this horrible thing called cancer. Well, Murphy's Law... wouldn't you know it that I would be the only one who would go through all this trauma and not lose a pound???!!! If anything, since I had to have my right adrenal gland removed when it was found to have a malignant tumour on/in it, I gained more weight... and this is for someone with a small to no appetite. Sometimes life just isn't fair!!!

But yes, I do remember when I first stumbled upon this forum. I read lots and lots of posts before I ever posted my first entry. I was such a relief to actually stumble across a forum of people who all either had been or were going through the same thing I was. Don't get me wrong, I have the most amazing support group of family and friends... it's actually quite mind-boggling. Friends put together a "Celebration of Life and Friendship" night for me where well over 200 people showed up and all pledged to be there for me if every I needed anything... and then they put on a "Revue Show". I'm so glad someone thought ahead of time to bring a video camera and video it... so I also have that to watch if ever I get hit with the Chemo Blues.

It's wonderful to have this huge support group with friends, but it also is just as wonderful to have a place to come to, on the computer, and get strength from talking to others who know exactly what you mean when you talk about the Blues, or a particular drug, or how you find something funny even if it's not appropriate to be laughing. There does come a time when you can actually find something funny about your journey but others are aghast that you would/could make fun of something so serious and, well, terminal. But hey, if one can't find the good along with the bad, then it will be a real rough journey!

C.