I can only tell you my story and what I went through. Each person and each cancer will be somewhat different, but the main processes are about the same.
The day you learn you have cancer is nothing less than devastating at the very least. We all believe that cancer is our death sentence and that there is little of no hope that we will see our next birthday.
In some advanced cases it is sad to say that is true.
At some point no matter what stage of cancer you have or what type of cancer you have, you have to come to terms with the fact you have cancer. There are many great web sites out there that help with every step of cancer. I will list a few that I visit at the bottom of this posting.
You will also have to make the decision on your plan to fight cancer (or not). You will be overwhelmed with information from your doctors, who will probably what to start chemo, radiation, or surgery within a few days.
You’re family and friends will have stories and web sites for you to visit, that if you lived to be a 1,000 you could not read all of the information out there. Remember that these people love you and only want to help.
You can choose to follow the traditional plan to fight cancer which would be surgery, chemo and radiation treatments. You could follow non-traditional that would basically in some form change your diet, or you could do a combination of both. Only you can and should decide this after listing and studying the fact with your doctor, spouse and family. It will be the most important decision of your life.
If you are lucky enough to have a support system as I did in my wife and family you will have the best research team assembled on the planet for fighting cancer. Most of what I know about this disease I have learned from my wife and my mother, who have spent hours doing research and reading.
For me surgery was the first step to this process. As my family doctor stated “you have a billion plus cancer cells in your colon we need to get out.” I agreed that we needed to get the source of the cancer removed.
Within a week I was in surgery. I have had surgeries before so knew that process for getting ready for the surgery, but did not know the aftermath of this. Loosing 2/3rds of you colon is tough to recover from. I lost about 40 pounds during this event. My stomach was not like if used to be for sure. If there was a symptom you could have with your stomach I had it. Still to this day I eat much less than I use to and deal with an upset stomach on most days.
It took 8 full weeks to recover from this surgery, by which time I started to feel better. But as you will learn you get better just in time to get your back side kicked again. More of what will follow in my next posting.
But for now I would like to share happier things and we all need that. If you would like to smile if only for a moment drop me your email address and I will send you a link to a beautiful slide show of our world. You can always reach me at rwp1958@gmail.com
I also watched an interesting movie with my wife the other night; “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. I will not tell you the story of the movie and ruin it for those who have not seen it, but I would recommend you rent it and watch and listen. One statement in particular stuck with me; “ It’s never too late to start again.” Benjamin goes on to say if you reach a point in your life and you are not happy with your results “I hope you have to strength and courage to start again.”
Each day I try to “start again” and see the beauty of this day and this moment. Though there are many, many things I still want to do and learn in my life, I know now to “Enjoy the Day!” I’m making time to learn and do things that I use to say “someday I would like to…”
If you’re saving those crystal glasses, or that special trip, or a phone call to a friend for a special occasion, this is it. Every day is a special occasion.
WEB LINKS I VISIT:
http://www.cancercare.org/
http://www.mdanderson.org/
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp
http://www.ravediet.com/
I also understand that there is a new book out (http://www.newstimes.com/ci_12284439) "Fighting Cancer With Knowledge & Hope: A Guide for Patients, Families and Health Care Providers" that sounds interesting. I have not read this book yet and as I stated in my earlier posting I’m not recommending any of these books or web sites, they are places I have been and I hope they can help you. I will post more of what I hope will be useful information in the future.
Till then ENJOY THE DAY, no matter how good or bad you feel, this is your day.
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