Morbid Sense of Humor
Sparky looks at me and says, "I've heard Leukemia is the way to go...if you had a choice of cancers, that is."
Then I said, "Yeah...a walk in the park, really. You just lie about all day watching Andy Griffith on TV...barely even know you're sick."
The nature of our dead pan and sarcasm was unfortunately lost on the group we were with who just stared at us in disbelief, but their reaction is not really what I'm trying to get at with this story.
I've noticed over the years that I have developed a sort of dark sense of humor when it comes to having dealt with cancer - I routinely tell people I'm not afraid of relapsing because cancer is a lot like lightning...it never strikes in the same place twice (both of which aren't true). I once told a cop the reason I wasn't wearing my seat belt was due to an irritable bowel condition linked to my chemo (that got me out of a ticket and I had a good laugh from it) - and this morbid sense of humor has lead me to develop a mantra a sort of mission statement I've come to live by:
If you can't laugh at your cancer...what can you laugh at?
My question is this...is there anyone out there that uses humor as a coping mechanism like me, and if so, does it border on morbid like mine?
Comments
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me too, ross
I have been a cancer survivor for 22 1/2 years (sorry for barging in on the 'young survivor' group).
I also look for ways and means to laugh at cancer and all the issues connected to it.
For example, not long after loosing my second breast (I chose no reconstruction), there seemed to be an explosion of public service announcements on tv concerning the absolute necessity of getting regular mammograms. Now, don't misunderstand me, I agree with the idea of being vigilant in taking steps to protect ourselves. But to me PERSONALLY, it was just a hoot to have someone telling me to get a mammogram. Sooooo, whenever I saw one of those announcements I would announce in stricken tones, "Oh, no, I am wayyyyy overdue for my mammo!!!", especially in front of people who knew about my 'breastless' condition. I got some shocked looks, then bursts of guilty laughter.
Also, I am fond of saying..."I lost my hubby to cancer....I got cancer and he got LOST!" You can hear a pin drop.
Both laughter and tears are escape valves which keep us from exploding. I choose laughter whenever possible.0 -
Humor is great!
Humor has certainly helped me get through this past year. I'm sure to those who haven't experience cancer, it may seem a bit morbid, but not to me.
A couple of examples:
In preparation for my bilateral mastectomy I came up with a top 10 list (David Letterman style) of things to look forward to after my surgery. My #1 was something like: This may just be the thing I need to improve my golf game.
My kids like to talk about molecules...I'm not sure why. Months prior to my cancer diagnosis, they were discussing who had more molecules...mommy or daddy. They decided I had more molecules in my body because I had more hair and more breast tissue than their daddy. After my chemo and surgery, it was unanimous....daddy had more molecules.
Is that morbid? Not to me. It's making light of a very difficult situation.
Thanks for your post!
Chelle0 -
ditto
I personally feel that in all bad situations your only two choices are to laugh about it or cry about it...and let's face it, laughing is just more fun.
For my friends and family and I, joking about it is a way to make it seem less serious and scary. My friends and my brothers make cracks about it all the time...I have one friend whom I allow to call me "cancer chick" just because I know that that's his way of coping and being concerned and that he's not trying to be offensive. But that's been a lot of peoples' responses when they find out, probably because I'm usually not a very serious person and they're more comfortable responding to me that way. And I don't mind.0 -
Cancer Buddy
I work with a girl who had cancer in her uterus, and we like to joke a lot. She always tries to maintain that her cancer was more serious than mine, and I always tell her that her cancer didn't even involve losing hair, so I win. I also refer to her as my cancer buddy.0 -
My cancer buddy and I went
My cancer buddy and I went to a Look Good...Feel Better class together. We were the youngest in the room by far, but enjoyed the company of all the other ladies present. At one point my friend was talking about her sister...
"Oh, she's got EVERYTHING. She got the pretty looks, the red hair, the nice figure..."
One of the ladies across the table asked, "Well, does she have cancer?"
"No," said my friend.
The lady respond, "See, she doesn't have EVERYTHING!"
Oh, we just laughed and laughed and laughed.0 -
This morning I had my RAI
This morning I had my RAI (chemo-ish) treatment, which involved meeting yet another specialist for the first time (I think this is the fourth now?). They all, of course, explain to me up front the basics of my cancer each time. The first thing this one said was: "Now I'm sure you know that you have thyroid cancer, right?" and so of course I replied,
"OH MY GOD!! Are you SERIOUS??"
and he laughed and went, "Oh good, those are my favorite responses."
Thought maybe you'd all appreciate that.
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my friends and i had an ideaerolyn said:This morning I had my RAI
This morning I had my RAI (chemo-ish) treatment, which involved meeting yet another specialist for the first time (I think this is the fourth now?). They all, of course, explain to me up front the basics of my cancer each time. The first thing this one said was: "Now I'm sure you know that you have thyroid cancer, right?" and so of course I replied,
"OH MY GOD!! Are you SERIOUS??"
and he laughed and went, "Oh good, those are my favorite responses."
Thought maybe you'd all appreciate that.
my friends and i had an idea to make a sketch comedy show. we're always coming up with different ideas for sketches. anyway, we were going to do a sketch where me and another friend are sitting in chairs and we're getting ready to explain my appearance. it went something like this:
FRIEND: Many of you have been tuning in now, and so Ross and I thought we'd take some time to clear up some confusion. Many of you have probably noticed that Ross looks a little different than the rest of us. What you don't know is why he looks different. For that I'll let Ross take it away.
ME: Thank you. A year ago a T-Rex attacked my town. It's rampage lead to the destruction of many homes and the deaths of many people. Powerless to thwart this threat, the police in the town looked to me to help. They knew I was an expert dinosaur hunter, and knew I could easily contain the menace. I tracked and fought that dinosaur for...
FRIEND: Ross? Sorry to interrupt you there, but what are you doing?
ROSS: Telling the people out there how the dinosaur maimed me.
FRIEND: That's not what happened, and you know it.
ROSS: I think I know my own life, thank you, and that's what happened.
FRIEND: If you say so...but it's not.
ROSS: Alright, if you're so smart, then you tell the people what happened.
FRIEND: Ross had cancer when he was a kid.
ROSS: I WHAT?!!??!?!
The sketch ends with me yelling that last thing in disbelief.0 -
t-rexrossgipson said:my friends and i had an idea
my friends and i had an idea to make a sketch comedy show. we're always coming up with different ideas for sketches. anyway, we were going to do a sketch where me and another friend are sitting in chairs and we're getting ready to explain my appearance. it went something like this:
FRIEND: Many of you have been tuning in now, and so Ross and I thought we'd take some time to clear up some confusion. Many of you have probably noticed that Ross looks a little different than the rest of us. What you don't know is why he looks different. For that I'll let Ross take it away.
ME: Thank you. A year ago a T-Rex attacked my town. It's rampage lead to the destruction of many homes and the deaths of many people. Powerless to thwart this threat, the police in the town looked to me to help. They knew I was an expert dinosaur hunter, and knew I could easily contain the menace. I tracked and fought that dinosaur for...
FRIEND: Ross? Sorry to interrupt you there, but what are you doing?
ROSS: Telling the people out there how the dinosaur maimed me.
FRIEND: That's not what happened, and you know it.
ROSS: I think I know my own life, thank you, and that's what happened.
FRIEND: If you say so...but it's not.
ROSS: Alright, if you're so smart, then you tell the people what happened.
FRIEND: Ross had cancer when he was a kid.
ROSS: I WHAT?!!??!?!
The sketch ends with me yelling that last thing in disbelief.
haha that totally just made my day, thanks 0 -
I try to show my sick sense of cancer humor by what I wear.erolyn said:t-rex
haha that totally just made my day, thanks
I have a cap that reads "Does this hat make my head look bald?" and an "I love the smell of chemo in the morning" T-shirt. And now that my eyebrows and lashes are falling out, I can't wait to wear my "Ask me about my eyebrows" pin.
PS: I'm too old to be posting here, but just checking on you kids! You all sound like you're getting by just fine.
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Cancer humorlindaprocopio said:I try to show my sick sense of cancer humor by what I wear.
I have a cap that reads "Does this hat make my head look bald?" and an "I love the smell of chemo in the morning" T-shirt. And now that my eyebrows and lashes are falling out, I can't wait to wear my "Ask me about my eyebrows" pin.
PS: I'm too old to be posting here, but just checking on you kids! You all sound like you're getting by just fine.
The standard treatment for thyroid cancer is RAI, which is radioactive iodine 131. Now, depending on the dose and regulations in your state, you have to be quarrentined, very limited or no human contact, sometimes in the hospital, some times at home, and you get a list of things to do and not do, since anything you excrete, waste, sweat, saliva is radioactive for about a week. Well, there are lots of jokes about glowing in the dark, a friend in my support group said her nurse penciled in on her check list of to do and not to do, "Get up at 3 am, go into bathroom, don't turn on light, examine self in mirror to see if you glow." And I laughed when the radiologist was going over the list with me and talking about how my body would get rid of the radiation and almost forgot to mention my saliva, "Oh yeah, and your spit will be hot too!" And one of my friends who just went through RAI got some great shirts, one read "I'm so HOT!" and the O in hot was a radioactive sign. And another one that said something like "Kiss me, I'm radioactive" I also refer to my thyroidectomy scar as my knife fighting scar. Thanks everyone else for your posts on here, they all made me smile.0 -
RAI jokesflygirlc said:Cancer humor
The standard treatment for thyroid cancer is RAI, which is radioactive iodine 131. Now, depending on the dose and regulations in your state, you have to be quarrentined, very limited or no human contact, sometimes in the hospital, some times at home, and you get a list of things to do and not do, since anything you excrete, waste, sweat, saliva is radioactive for about a week. Well, there are lots of jokes about glowing in the dark, a friend in my support group said her nurse penciled in on her check list of to do and not to do, "Get up at 3 am, go into bathroom, don't turn on light, examine self in mirror to see if you glow." And I laughed when the radiologist was going over the list with me and talking about how my body would get rid of the radiation and almost forgot to mention my saliva, "Oh yeah, and your spit will be hot too!" And one of my friends who just went through RAI got some great shirts, one read "I'm so HOT!" and the O in hot was a radioactive sign. And another one that said something like "Kiss me, I'm radioactive" I also refer to my thyroidectomy scar as my knife fighting scar. Thanks everyone else for your posts on here, they all made me smile.
I had/have Thyroid also. My friends and family and I had tons of radioactivity jokes after/during my RAI. My personal favorite were the baby ones. My endo told me not to get pregnant for 9 months after treatment, to avoid exposing a fetus to radioactivity. I'm 21 and NOT planning on having a baby anytime soon, so I thought this was kind of funny, and starting discussing with my friends what would happen if I DID get pregnant and gave birth to children with superpowers.
Also my brother put biohazard signs on my bedroom and bathroom doors...that was pretty great.0 -
Seriously...do you know howerolyn said:RAI jokes
I had/have Thyroid also. My friends and family and I had tons of radioactivity jokes after/during my RAI. My personal favorite were the baby ones. My endo told me not to get pregnant for 9 months after treatment, to avoid exposing a fetus to radioactivity. I'm 21 and NOT planning on having a baby anytime soon, so I thought this was kind of funny, and starting discussing with my friends what would happen if I DID get pregnant and gave birth to children with superpowers.
Also my brother put biohazard signs on my bedroom and bathroom doors...that was pretty great.
Seriously...do you know how many superheroes got their powers from radiation?
Spider-Man...bitten by a radioactive spider
Hulk...gamma radiation
Fantastic Four... "cosmuc radiation"
How come we never have this luck?0 -
Discussion board on Cancer Jokes!ARobben said:Seriously...do you know how
Seriously...do you know how many superheroes got their powers from radiation?
Spider-Man...bitten by a radioactive spider
Hulk...gamma radiation
Fantastic Four... "cosmuc radiation"
How come we never have this luck?
I came on here today for the first time to get some insight into depression and cancer and after reading this string of humorous interpretations on reallity I realize what I really needed! Seriously can we get a whole board with jokes and links to great t-shirts and funny personal experiences! Lately when my bff gets a tummy ache... she says i gave her cancer even though she knows mine is related to chemo and not contagious! And I swear I saw this mosquito's sucker fall out after attacking my chemo-laden body yesterday! Please post more funny things! I love it!0 -
sense of humor!
Just love your posting! I am a 7 yr lung cancer (diagnosed w/2 wks to live) survivor, and I do not know how I would have made it through without a similar sense. Everything from the dog chasing me around the house w/fake wig(he must've thought it was alive) to trying to glue eyelashes on. Someone should write these things down & share. I know they always made me feel better so laugh on! God bless! Purpleeins0 -
most definitely.
It's a sick, twisted game I play, but I always joke about having cancer to see how people react. When I first went back to high school after finishing treatment, me and my friends were doing the whole swap-your-senior-pictures thing. Someone said I was glowing in mine. My response - "Oh that's just a lasting side effect from the radiation." Everyone looked so uncomfortable, except for one person, who started laughing hysterically. Five years later, she's still my best friend.0 -
When I have to go into the
When I have to go into the store I have to wear my mask and everyone stares at me like I broke out of the zoo. Now it doesn't bother me too much and I really prefer some one ask me why I wear it because I'll answer loud enough for others to hear. But every once in a while it really bothers me and I happen to be in the produce section I'll fake having a coughing episode in front of them. I know its wrong but i really cant help it.0 -
Moonwalkcgarr71 said:When I have to go into the
When I have to go into the store I have to wear my mask and everyone stares at me like I broke out of the zoo. Now it doesn't bother me too much and I really prefer some one ask me why I wear it because I'll answer loud enough for others to hear. But every once in a while it really bothers me and I happen to be in the produce section I'll fake having a coughing episode in front of them. I know its wrong but i really cant help it.
Michael Jackson made mask wearing cool and stylish. I think its time for a moonwalk in that produce section! Make sure you're wearing white socks and black shoes though. Maybe a glove for the extra touch?
I have a prominent limp when I walk. I wish I had a dollar for everyone who's asked me why I walk this way. I'm thinking about telling them I'm a veteran of the war against cancer.
In all seriousness, I know its hard to receive these messages. I had chemo when Synead O'Connor was famous and, yes, I was bald and only wore a hat. A wig just wasn't me but I caught a lot of flack for it. People actually thought I shaved my head, when I was a good 20 pounds under weight and frail looking. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.0 -
Tumor Humor
I tend to have a morbid, dry sense of humor so I usually curb it until I feel the person I´m with is truly ready. What does it have to do with this discussion. Not much. I have a cancer-kid. I seriously used to call her my little tumor because she was so attached to me. Then I found out she has a wilms tumor. When I have tried to tell this very ironic little story to folks most don´t know how to respond because they don´t get it. I do not think its funny that my child has a tumor, AT ALL but I can find a little humor somewhere to help me survive the situation.0
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