Me too. My first tattoos!
Thankfully, I never needed anything like that. I know a woman whose now-deceased husband had glioblastoma, and had to cut his hair for the first time in decades (since he turned 18!) so the mask would fit properly. There were also some masks on a table off to the side, and during my radiation, I drove a friend and her housemates to the airport and told them about it. One of them said, “I saw that on ‘Gray’s Anatomy’. I thought that was just something they did on television.” I told the radiation therapist about it the next day.
Personally? Nothing yet. But in my family - my mother had uterine cancer (while carrying me) and breast cancer. She was one of 11. Of the 11, at least 6 have had cancer. My father was a non-smoker who died of lung cancer. I’m one of 5. One sister dead from rhabdomyosarcorma. One brother with melanomas and kidney cancer. One other sister with thyroid cancer and breast cancer in the same year. We say that our family are cellular over-achievers.
StG
Meanwhile in my family it’s all heart disease. On my mother’s side most of the 10 siblings either had heart disease at death or died from it. Only two had cancer that I know of - one uncle who had heart disease for decades when he was diagnosed with leukemia, and an aunt who did not have heart disease, did have have two incidents of cancer - 50 years apart! - and died not of cancer but of kidney failure some years after beating the breast cancer.
On dad’s side: multiple early (30 or younger) deaths from heart disease. Dad’s mom had had heart disease for decades when diagnosed with bladder cancer which eventually killed her. Dad was having heart problems when he was diagnosed with the lung cancer that eventually killed him. Should I mention the 60 year smoking habit? Could be related.
Of my three siblings and I, three are still alive. Two of them have a form of heart disease that is likely to be their eventual death although a heart transplant might put that off a bit longer. Of their four children, two are already deceased from heart disease (both under 30). The two survivors have the same heart problem as their mother and will eventually need a heart transplant, if they can get one.
I always expected I’d wind up with heart disease as my big scary problem and likely death.
Nope. I got cancer. (Not that you can’t wind up with both - see above mentioned uncle, grandmother, and father)
When I was diagnosed, my sisters and I finally compiled a complete family medical history. Our Southern grandparents were from the “we don’t speak of such things” generation so it was spotty on that side. I knew Southern Grandma had breast cancer, but my sisters were in college then so they didn’t know. I didn’t know Southern Grandpa had prostate cancer because I was little when he had it. At least my niece and nephews will have a full medical history available to them.
Do you know if familial hypercholesterolemia runs in your family?
I found out a few years ago that a branch of my family tree appears to have the gene for ovarian cancer. Thankfully, I didn’t spring from it.
1999: Testicular cancer, pure seminoma, left side, contained in the testicular capsule. Left side orchiectomy. CAT scans every six months for two years showed no other tumors. No radiation or chemotherapy.
Yes. We’ve known for decades that mom had it and it’s in her family tree, accounting for why heart disease was so prevalent on that side and why it affect women just as often as men.
On dad’s side there’s a gene loose that causes fatal arrhythmia and, if you escape that, long-term deterioration in the heart.
Small update. Had my latest check up the day before Thanksgiving and my tumor markers are holding steady at 10 and they can’t feel anything during the pelvic exam, so another 3 months til my next check up.
Twice.
2005: Kidney
2019: Colo-rectal
I’ll spare you the details, since they’re mundane, albeit not pointless, since I’m still here. I’ll share some general observations, including what I think are differnce between what I perceive as how things are done in the U.S. as compared to where I live, Sweden.
First occasion was mere chance. I had kidney stones and they sent me to ultra sound to check for more. Found the tumor, slicedd me open and removed the kidney. I haven’t moticed anything different in the 20 years that have passed.
Second was a lot tougher. And resulted in me living with stoma, which is not great, but fuck it, I’m still here.
After the second time I asked the surgeon if I was some kind of cancer magnet (I was 44 at the first time and was about to turn 59 the second). Nah, he said. just unlucky. We talked about it and he said that apart from basically lung and skin cancer, where there are clear causalities, most of the others are more of correlations. So It might be a combination of excessive alcohol consumption, age, genetics, stress, diet, life style and a bunch of other stuff. The bad luck is that at times enough of them react and blam-o: cancer.
(Aside: As all my older relatives, i.e. not only all four grandparents, but their siblings and siblings and cousins of my parents, have died from cancer, I know what the reaper will use on me. I’ve come to terms with that. It sucks, but at least it’ll be - relatively - quick.)
What surpises me is reading here about so and so many percentage risk and stated prognosis of time. I’ve never encountered that here, nor has anyone I know of who’s had a bout with cancer. I’ve seen it in tv and movies (Get your affairs in order! You have at the most six months!) and thought it was just a storytelling device, not something that actually happens.
A thing that might be universal is the reaction I got. I was fairly flippant when I was out of the woods (the one in '19 was two surgeries, radiation and preventive chemo, hospitalized 31 days). I was tired but OK. When asked I said: “I’ve had cancer.” “Oh my god. Are you OK?” “Yeah, I got better, no big deal” which I noted didn’t fit with the way I was supposed to act. I think that it actually them projecting their own fears on my circumstances. But I was fine. It wasn’t me fighting the brave fight. I was a package, expertly handled and released to get on with my life. No reason to ruminate.
Another thing. When I had done two annual check ups, my doc said that he didn’t see a reason to keep going to that five year mark. I asked him if it was to save money. He gave me a long look and replied that they’re surgeons, money saving happens to other doctors.
But, he also said that he put me in the system up to my 75th birtday and if something felt wrong, I should go directly to the E.R. to get admitted ASAP, instead of going the GP route. And I figured that if that’s the perspective they have, I might as well do the same.
A thing that really annoys me is when people say: "I'm not going to a doctor. What if they find something!?" Yeah, dumbass. Early detection, as in both cases I went through, saved my life. If there's nothing, great. If there's something, you're better off if it's early. AIUI, the deadliest form is now pancreatic cancer, because it stays hidden so long that when a person finally shows symptoms, it's often too late. The statistics I've read is that only five out of hundred live one year after diagnosed. If something feels wrong or weird, go see a doc.
Had another follow-up CT scan today. In many ways I don’t worry about it, assuming it will be good news. Which it probably will be. Except maybe it won’t be good news.
Should get the verdict tomorrow when I see the oncologist for that follow-up appointment, and also meeting in regards to the clinical trial I’m involved with.
I’m trying to keep all my doc appointments in just 1-2 days a month because I don’t want to feel I’m always going to the doctor. But it does make for a busy couple of days.
I’m a little annoyed because of medical silos - the oncology folks really only care about oncology (duh!) but there’s the rest of me to take care of, which I feel has been largely ignored this year. Well, yes, I did need to do the cancer treatment, but now that I am ostensibly “cured”/in remission shouldn’t I be back to maintaining the whole of me? I’m still hoping for another couple of decades and if so I want to be healthy enough to enjoy them.
I wish you Good luck for your impending news.
And yeah, I try to force all my appointments of any month into one half of one week. Lest they be something seemingly every 4th business day all year long. Ugggh.
And yes, the silo-ing is infuriating.
As a retired primary care physician, I always saw my role for my complicated patients who needed multispecialty care as being that of a synthesist (i.e. someone who creates a unified, complex result from separate parts, merging styles, ideas, or disciplines). My job in those situations was putting together the disparate diagnoses and treatment plans of the specialists and making sure said plans meshed. All too often those plans clashed, or did not truly cover all needs.
But today’s medical industrial complex doesn’t seem to truly support such roles, nor reward those who try to take on such tasks.
That reminds me - I really do need to check in with my primary GP in the new year.
Anyhow - most recent scan shows no sign of cancer - the doc said the scan looked “gorgeous” - my bloodwork is fine, and apparently I am in remission. Yay!
Excellent!
Double yay!
And three yays for the trifecta!
Woo hoo!
Unfortunately, I understand that feeling, but I did get a clean bill of health a couple weeks ago myself.
I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in mid-2023 after a slightly high PSA (4.8), an MRI indicative of a cancerous tumor, and a biopsy confirming it (3+4 Gleason in one site). I’m younger, 50 now, and elected active surveillance for the first year, then elected for surgery after another biopsy indicated a 4+3 Gleason tumor. Had my surgery on November 4, and am recovering about as well as possible. Only issue is more frequent urination as my bladder heals. Last night was the first night since I got the catheter out a month ago that I got five straight hours of sleep – normally I wake up every hour to hour and a half.
It’s weird, because I don’t think of myself as a “cancer survivor.” This whole process seemed pretty routine for me, and after getting over the shock of the initial diagnosis, I had plenty of time to live with it and forget about it. Post-op pathology revealed no cancerous cells in my lymph nodes or vesicles; the prostate cancer itself was downgraded to a 3+4 after the gland was examined. My relatively young age for this and early diagnosis, I’m sure, helped a lot. Here’s fingers crossed that the news continues to remain good.
Yes, I get that.
My initial treatment was surgery followed by surveillance as, for most people with my initial presentation don’t need more than that. I was just in the unlucky 10% that wind up needing chemo.
Initially, despite requiring surgery that removed several internal organs I felt I had had cancer on “easy mode”. Sure, major abdominal surgery, but being post-menopausal I wasn’t using those bits any more anyway.
In some ways I still sort of feel that way - apparently I tolerated chemo a lot better than average. I’ve been a real mix of lucky/unlucky with this.
Maybe it’s because I’m not the stereotype of the frail, dying cancer patient? I doing my best to get on with my life (in between doctor visits).