This is very upsetting news to me.
There are few details, other than he apparently had surgery, attempted to continue the tour, then found that he wasn’t quite as up to the rigors of touring as he thought he was.
They are not even saying what type of cancer it is. EC would be in my top 3 list of celebrities I do not want to lose.
link
mmm
If he wants the public to know what kind it is, he’ll tell us. I had the privilege of seeing him at a solo acoustic show about 10 years ago - and the ticket only cost $11. It was great!
Sounds like the prognosis is actually pretty good, he just underestimated the post-operation recovery issues:
“My specialist called me and said, ‘You should start playing the Lotto.’ He had rarely, if ever, seen such a small but very aggressive cancerous malignancy that could be defeated by a single surgery,”
I can understand where he’s coming from.
When I was diagnosed last year, I thought I’d just deal with it and get back to my normal life. Two weeks into treatment - no surgery, just radiation and some light chemo - I felt terrible. I couldn’t eat properly for months on end and had trouble getting out of bed every day…some days I actually didn’t.
Cancer bites ass. It takes more from you than you’d ever think. It’s been more than 11 months since I stopped treatment and I still have some side effects from it.
Cancer surgery isn’t a death sentence, I think he will be OK. He is the kind of ornery tough little Irish bastard who always lives to be 99.
I also understand.
Cancer also takes a big psychological toll that many people never completely get over.
I don’t talk much about my mother on the boards, and when I do, it’s generally not to sing her praises. Some people have mother issues, and I have a fucking anthology.
That said, that 5’4" bitch was the toughest person I’ve ever met. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000. She had her surgery on a Friday (luckily, she didn’t need a mastectomy. They were able to just remove the mass). She checked herself out of the hospital against medical advice the next day. She took the weekend off, and went back to work Monday. She refused chemotherapy. During her lunch break at work, she’d drive herself over to get her radiation treatment. Then she’d go back to work (side note: if I go to the bank and the store in the same day, I need a nap). She’d go home at night and get so sick she could barely make it to the bathroom before throwing up. One night, she slept in the bathtub. Just to make sure.
She made it 15 years before a massive heart attack killed her before she hit the ground. I asked my youngest brother once (the golden child who, in her opinion, shit diamonds out of a platinum asshole) if she was ever scared of the cancer returning. He told me that, as rough as she had it post-surgery, she knew she could handle it. And that cancer was probably afraid to try to kill her again after she kicked its ass with, as he put it, “one hand [chemotherapy] tied behind her back.”
I have nothing but admiration and respect for anyone who can face something like that and come out smiling. That includes Elvis Costello and you.
I hope you are correct. It’s the “very aggressive” phrasing that concerns me.
mmm
This is scary news, but it sounds optimistic according to his surgeon, as quoted above. As for which kind of cancer, my guess is testicular or prostate cancer–on his website, he specifically exhorts “gentlemen” to be extra careful and get checked out, not to take chances.
Let’s hope all of us, including Costello and the folks here on the SDMB are well and kick cancer’s ass when it affects one of us or someone we love. (And yeah, it’s a when, not an if.)
I employ sarcasm and pathos. Hyperbole, the Lot.
Irish? Because I have explained before that dropdad would rather face German flak, which eventually shot him down, than tell Florence Jennings that he had blown next semester’s tuition on a girl at Winter Carnival. :eek:
Hope Elvis does well. 