Cancer Survivors?

[JohnRushing]

I was just setting around and got to thinking about cancer survivors. This led me to wondering how many cancer survivors there are here on TPF. How long and has it been?

Also got to thinking maybe we should try and have a little get together, share our story and our triumph. Somewhere like the Stock Yards in FortWorth of the Zoo?

I'l get it started. I was diagnosed in 2005 with testicular cancer. So far so good. I was one of the lucky ones and it turned out to be sanoma which is more treatable. I was also lucky because I knew something was wrong but waited over a year to see my doctor about it, guess my wife is right about me being hard headed. I was lucky that it hadn't spread more than it did. They found a two small spots on my lung but with treatment they seem to have been taken care of.

[JohnRushing]

Should have also said dirrect family members of cancer survivors also since it effects them almost as much. I know my wife and kids went through as much if not more hell than I did.

[drgibson]

I had a bout with malignant melanoma last year. I was lucky enough that I only had to go as far as Sentinel Node biopsy.

[CaptainTom]

I know that in the scheme of things my cancer is pretty low on the importance list, but since it is so recent I'll mention it here.

Last Thursday the dermatologist did a Mohs procedure on my nose and excised the cancer cells found there a few weeks before.
On Friday the plastic surgeon took a graft from my cheek near my ear and placed it over the new hole in my nose.

About three months down the road I will go back to the surgeon so he can take some ear cartilage and place it inside the site on my nose so there won't be a major indentation.

The best news is that the Mohs procedure is about 99 percent successful.
I'll know in about three weeks if I am in the majority or that select 1 percent.

[johnastovall]

My wife is a survivor and goes back Monday for a quarterly check up and testing.

And John, you are so right about it's affect on the family as well as the patient.

[Breezy]

My sister is a lymphoma survivor, She was diagnosed in 05. It was bad it was the size of a softball growing out of her bone. So far so good.
Both of my grandmothers have had cancer, one skin and the other was in the throat and never smoked. The throat one was in 94 I believe. The other was maybe 99.
My Grandfather had prostate cancer, this was in 00.
One of my uncles had melanoma too
And my MIL had skin cancer on the nose too. This was in 03
I told dh I am glad we don't live there any more cause I seriously think there is something there. I mean like 1 in 3 people there have some form of cancer.
Glad all of you are doing well

[JohnRushing]

Tom it doesn't matter what type or size , cancer is cancer and nobody want's to hear they have it. It's great that it wasn't any worse than it was but still when the doctor told you I'm sure it still had an impact for you. I remember when the doctor met with me to explain what he had found and how it would be handled. I listened to him talk about the test they performed and what they saw. When he finally came out and said you have cancer it was like the volume had been turned off. I could see his mouth moving but I swear I couldn't hear a word he was saying. The main thing that kept oing through my mind while he was talking was whats going to happen to my family? Whats oing to happen to my kids? It took a few minutes for my cage to stop rattling and then I had to start sorting things out in my head. The main reason it hit me so hard was because i had lost both of my dads to cancer (I was adopted so I had two dads) and also two close friends and my grand mother. I made my mind up that I wasn't going to just set back and give up so I did every search on the internet that I could think of. I tried everything I found out about to beat this stuff and did everything the doctors told me to do. It still might get me one day but thats not in my hands.
It's hard for someone diagnosed with cancer to realize how it effects their close family at first. I didn't tell my kids about my cancer until after the surgery and even then I didn't want to because I didn't want them to worry. It's a hard choice to make, tell them up front and have them worring the whole time or wait till things have settled down. I don't know if there's a right answer when it comes to that area, just have to do what you think is right.

Cancer's not something any of us want's but we are in our on little club, not one to brag about but when you survive it is one to be proud of.

I'm sure there's some other survivors out there. What do you all think of a little get together one day this summer. Have breakfest and lunch, do some shooting, talking and just enjoy the day? Got any ideas of a good spot? i haven't been to the Stock Yards in a long time, Heck I haven't been much of anywhere since I started school again.

[Cope]

Originally Posted by CaptainTom

I know that in the scheme of things my cancer is pretty low on the importance list, but since it is so recent I'll mention it here.

Last Thursday the dermatologist did a Mohs procedure on my nose and excised the cancer cells found there a few weeks before.
On Friday the plastic surgeon took a graft from my cheek near my ear and placed it over the new hole in my nose.

About three months down the road I will go back to the surgeon so he can take some ear cartilage and place it inside the site on my nose so there won't be a major indentation.

The best news is that the Mohs procedure is about 99 percent successful.
I'll know in about three weeks if I am in the majority or that select 1 percent.

My wife had the Mohs procedure 5 years ago for a Basal Cell Carcinoma on her face. The surgeon said that for a Basal Cell to be a future danger, there would have to be several things working against each other, including the victim being an organ transplant recipient. Hers was small enough that no plastic surgery was needed, and is on the smile line, and is hardly noticable.

[JohnRushing]

It's great to hear about surivors of any type of cancer. It shows that this stuff can and has been beaten.

[AndrewCCM]

My mother had cancer back in 1987. I'll never forget taking her every afternoon after High School to Ft. Worth for radiation treatments. I remember always trying to keep her spirits high and try and make her laugh. Very trying time in our lives. Since then I have lost several members of my family to various forms of cancer. Most recently 2 weeks ago my Aunt. But I am happy to say, here it is 2007 and my mother is cancer free and doing quite well. She still has some effects (lymph nodes) from the treatment, but she's still around to enjoy her first 2 grandchildren and I thank God for that every day.

Happy Easter!

[CaptainTom]

I am up for any sort of get together.

[JohnRushing]

How about sometime this summer, between semester for me. Know any good spots or any events that would be interresting? Like I said I haven't been down in the stock yards in a long time but everyone else may be bored with with it and would rather spend the day somewhere else, anywhere is fine with me.
I'm planning a trip sometime this summer with my son but not sure exactly when. We don't even know for sure where we're going, just going! We plan on heading down to Big Bend then Carlsbad, up to the Grand Canyon and maybe even as far as Mount Rushmore. We're just gonna hit the rode and drive for two weeks!

[prairiefire]

Cancer clean since 2000 -- thanks to 40 Proton-Beam radiation treatments at Loma Linda University Medical School; great people!

Don't even think about it -- but do wear my Lancelet, often.

[Jim Neely]

I had a parotid tumor removed in '91. It took a while for the lab to get a cancerous result, but it was. (The parotid gland is one of the salivary glands and is slightly in front of the ear. There's an indentation where the tumor was, but the surgeon did a great job of hiding the scar.)

I had radiation therapy for several months and had to stop therapy for a while so the radiation burn on my face could heal.

That was '91 and I've had a clean bill of health since.

Good luck to all who have to go through these procedures or support those who do.

jn

[Tom]

When I came back from spring break 97, I found out that my dad had throat cancer and it had spread to his lymph nodes. He had it cut out. Doctors gave him 6mo and suggested chemo. He said that if he was gonna die, he wasn't gonna go through the pain of chemo just to die. He did allow radiation therapy.

Ten years later the old man is still kicking alive and kicking.


And still smoking. :(