ask a cancer patient

[cartzo]

i'm sorry to hear that, what i dont get is why there isnt an insurance company espiecially for epilepsy sufferers.

As cold as this sounds, because they're too much of a liability. Same reason no sane insurance company will grant a clearly dying man a life insurance.

See, for all it's uses, insurance companies pray on the possibility of disaster, but make damn sure that possibility is only good in your head. If they think you have a very good chance of crashing regularly, they'll either refuse to touch you or hike up your rates so much you're better off buying a second house (hyperbole, yes).


As for my question: Did you ever at any point, after or during considering the doctors reassured you it would be cured, thought "Fuck... I just dodged a bullet..."? I realize you were very young at the time but, did it change anything in your life? Besides the obvious physical stuff off course.

yeah the liability thing is something that my parents have been saying alot.

in response to your question, that thought always comes after, and it tends to come in waves for about a week and then it goes away surprisingly quickly. it didnt really change anything about my life, i dont really value my life any more than i did before, which surprised me somewhat.

 

[Kasawd]

My family is riddled with cancer on my dads side. Some of them basically give up right when they hear but alot of them fight.

My question:

Did you even consider the idea of death or was it more of a straight fight for life?

Also, congrats on beating cancer.

 

[Sevre]

How did you sleep at night?

 

[Gelp]

Did you have to stay in the hospital a lot? If so then did it suck? And to what degree of sucking if it did indeed suck. Cause I picture being in the hospital to be VERY boring, unless you were able to bring your Xbox, or Play Station, or your Colecovision.

 

[cartzo]

My family is riddled with cancer on my dads side. Some of them basically give up right when they hear but alot of them fight.

My question:

Did you even consider the idea of death or was it more of a straight fight for life?

Also, congrats on beating cancer.

i didnt really consider it, and since surviving was apperantly 99.9% garanteed it was more a fight against feeling like crap all the time.

 

[cartzo]

Did you have to stay in the hospital a lot? If so then did it suck? And to what degree of sucking if it did indeed suck. Cause I picture being in the hospital to be VERY boring, unless you were able to bring your Xbox, or Play Station, or your Colecovision.

i did have to stay in the hospital most of the time, but they had ps2's in the hospital so i just brought in my memory card and games, the main thing that sucked though was the food.

 

[BaldursBananaSoap]

For the obvious Q's i had it for about 6 months, and it was non-hodgcins linthoma cancer.
(i dont know if thats spelled right or not).

Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Oh, and how long did you have symptoms before a diagnosis?

i think it was about a month or two before it was found, apperantly the tuma was causing fluid to build up on my lungs, which is why i was having trouble breathing.

Oh my god, I actually feel like I have fluid in my lungs when I cough? And I sometimes wheeze a bit, but my inhaler fixes that completely. I'm.......scared.

 

[cartzo]

For the obvious Q's i had it for about 6 months, and it was non-hodgcins linthoma cancer.
(i dont know if thats spelled right or not).

Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Oh, and how long did you have symptoms before a diagnosis?

i think it was about a month or two before it was found, apperantly the tuma was causing fluid to build up on my lungs, which is why i was having trouble breathing.

Oh my god, I actually feel like I have fluid in my lungs when I cough? And I sometimes wheeze a bit, but my inhaler fixes that completely. I'm.......scared.

fluid on my lungs, not in, it didnt cause me to wheeze it just caused me to not be able to breath in as much as i was able to when i didnt have cancer.

 

[similar.squirrel]

Did the whole experience change your perspective on life in any way?or were you too young for that?
It's horrible to say, but I'd probably kick my own bucket if diagnosed. Not much of a life fan, and to suffer the indignity of the whole ordeal just..doesn't appeal. Did you ever feel like that?Or were you too young?

 

[Rickyvantof]

How long did the chemo take and how heavy was it?
(I believe there are different grades of 'heaviness' of chemo treatments, where a heavy treatment makes you unable to do anything but stay in bed, right?)

 

[Skeleon]

I hear from a lot of patients that chemotherapy is far easier to deal with than the media always portray it (no/little hair loss, rarely nausea,...), but I want to hear about this from as many people as possible: Do you agree with that? How good or bad was the therapy? How well could you deal with it and its side-effects? What kind or kinds of therapy did you get (chemo, radiatio, targeted or anything I might've forgotten)?

 

[Mr Companion]

Does it hurt? Probably now, now I come to think of it.
Ok then... Um, how many did you have? I known a woman once that had 9. It was a shame because I really liked her. And apparently nobody ever really survives 9 brain tumours. Good news is that it turned out fine, no idea how but she survived the operation. Anyway so how many did you have?

 

[cartzo]

Did the whole experience change your perspective on life in any way?or were you too young for that?
It's horrible to say, but I'd probably kick my own bucket if diagnosed. Not much of a life fan, and to suffer the indignity of the whole ordeal just..doesn't appeal. Did you ever feel like that?Or were you too young?

i never really went as far as thinking about kicking my own bucket, but the whole thing was quite undignified. Fortunately my view on life wasnt changed and i still like sports such as rock climbing.

 

[dommyuk]

I know exactly what you've been through, I was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor last year, though I'm almost completely fine now, I just have double vision as it damaged some of my optical nerves so I have to occlude one of my eyes, which robs me of depth perception. Which makes me paranoid about driving. I'm 17 btw, hope the rest of your life goes well, as I'm sure it will.

 

[cartzo]

I hear from a lot of patients that chemotherapy is far easier to deal with than the media always portray it (no/little hair loss, rarely nausea,...), but I want to hear about this from as many people as possible: Do you agree with that? How good or bad was the therapy? How well could you deal with it and its side-effects? What kind or kinds of therapy did you get (chemo, radiatio, targeted or anything I might've forgotten)?

these patients you speak of are right, it is alot easier to deal with than the media portray it as, it wasnt radio chemo, it was a type that involved regular lumber punctures but i dont know what its called, and i remember i had to have a bone marrow transplant but i cant remember why.

 

[rokkolpo]

i must say very interesting thread.
i learn alot today.

Q, what was on your mind when you heard you had cancer?....other then fuck i have cancer.

 

[cartzo]

I know exactly what you've been through, I was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor last year, though I'm almost completely fine now, I just have double vision as it damaged some of my optical nerves so I have to occlude one of my eyes, which robs me of depth perception. Which makes me paranoid about driving. I'm 17 btw, hope the rest of your life goes well, as I'm sure it will.

woah dude i'm really sorry to hear that, strangely ive never really spoken to someone else who's had cancer, but it's nice to finally do so. i hope the insurance companies dont make it to hard for you.

 

[dommyuk]

I know exactly what you've been through, I was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor last year, though I'm almost completely fine now, I just have double vision as it damaged some of my optical nerves so I have to occlude one of my eyes, which robs me of depth perception. Which makes me paranoid about driving. I'm 17 btw, hope the rest of your life goes well, as I'm sure it will.

woah dude i'm really sorry to hear that, strangely ive never really spoken to someone else who's had cancer, but it's nice to finally do so. i hope the insurance companies dont make it to hard for you.

I haven't even gotten that far, I'm too paranoid to even take lessons.