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Four years ago today I wrote this blog post about doubling over in pain and ending up at the hospital, only to be told I had gas and be sent home again. Well, most of you know the story by now. After two more emergency hospital visits they finally admitted me for testing and then raced me over to the general hospital for a life-saving operation that involved removing an obstruction and about half my colon.
And that wasn’t the end of the story as I ended up having two more operations and being on chemo twice, finishing at the end of July 2009. Since then I have been miraculously cancer-free according to the PET scans I’ve been having twice a year. The next one is due in September. And for the most part I feel good, though I still get abdominal discomfort from time to time. Oh, and there was also that freak emergency op last summer, which thankfully didn’t end up being cancer-related.
And so I wonder why I am still okay while my friends Pat and Jed are not. And I wonder how long I’ll be okay. Four years ago I’d gone to the Feria in Jerez the weekend before all this started and saw this graffiti on a wall near the train station that said “I have cancer”. I don’t know what moved me to take a photo of it, but here it is again, slightly – but importantly – modified. I hope I never have to remove the “no”.
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Well, there is no accounting for these things, as you know only too well, some people stay well, some people get sick and there is no link between who “deserves” what. Also, there is not much link between who does “battles” and who “accepts”.
I can now have perhaps slightly more understanding of the randomness of this than I did. I was taken ill after an exercise class last Monday evening and it transpired I was having a heart attack. I had amazing treatment and was home in a couple of days – and the process of recovery is under way.
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Yikes! How did you know it was a heart attack – did you go to emergency? What does the “process of recovery” include? (hmmm… maybe I should get those pains in my left arm checked out?)
Very random, Johnny, especially as you are a fit guy, eat well, exercise and all that. I’m so glad you’re okay.
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I didn’t know it was a heart attack, but I more or less collapsed with the “head-rush” type symptoms of having stood up too quickly. Fortunately one of the guys from the class was there and made sure a first aider was called, who fairly quickly called an ambulance. I had none of what I think of the classic symptoms – crushing chest pain, pains in the left arm etc. I just couldn’t quite breathe deeply enough to clear the dizziness I was feeling. The ambulance crew sent an ECG to the local Cardiac Care unit who “confirmed that I was having a heart attack” – that was the scary bit really, I was half expecting to be told that I had had one, but to be told that I was having it . . !
Had two stents fitted on one of the arteries supplying the heart. Further investigation is needed on a narrowing in one of the others.
Recovery = rest, gentle exercise and whatever else I am told to do by the local cardiac re-hab nurse once I speak to her this week.
I would say, get anything checked! But I did have an ECG last year when I was going to be a stem-cell donor (admittedly not an exercise ECG) which showed no issues.
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My friend’s sister has just been diagnosed with colon cancer which has already spread to her liver … she is being operated on tomorrow. It was picked up through a regular home bowel cancer test kit which you receive in Wales every so many years after the age of 60 – I’ve just done my first one but thankfully all was ok for me.Megan feels perfectly all right so it was a total shock. I have told her about you, Shawn, to give her some encouragement.
Hope you make a speedy recovery, Johnny.
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Thank you!
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A home bowel cancer test?? One shudders to think…
Wishing your friend’s sister the best. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about all this it’s that there are no rules.
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Az! 4 years! That’s an olympiad, a presidency, a bachelor of arts degree.
Indeed by the power vested in me I declare that you have fulfilled all of your requirements and obligations to cancer. Congratulations, graduate! I wish you luck and success as you go forth into the world to use the valuable knowledge for which you have sacrificed. I hope you’ll remember, forget, and remember to forget the time you spent earning your degree.
As for me, yes I do have cancer, no denying, and ongoing chemo as far as the eye can see. But I also have a great life, which I hope you’ll share with the tang of a rioja and not the pang of a worry. Emily Dickinson would have said that if she’d ever had a good rioja. xoxox. Jed
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You! Making me laugh and cry at the same time.
Still waiting for the Wine and Tapas Cancer Cure book offers…
xxoo
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I like your style, Jed.
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Are you the one who modified that sign? If not, it would be interesting to find out who it was. My doctor said that thanks to modern medicine we’re all living long enough to get cancer nowadays, whereas before we would all have died prior to getting it. In a way, that’s progress, as long as there are cures.
The end of May is also the anniversary of the death of my friend Derek K. Miller, penmachine, whose last blog post created a posthumous sensation. Thanks to his blog his kids have a college fund and his wife has a book deal for the collected posts. Always remember that leaving a written record of your experience is worthwhile and creates hope and inspiration in places you will never even know about.
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We’re currently going through some of the emotions mentioned above. Something’s causing my husband pain, and they’re still searching. So far they’ve found two lymphoma, one of which will be removed for examination. He is very scared because this is exactly what happened before his dad was diagnosed with non Hodgkin lymphoma. http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/Non-HodgkinLymphoma/DetailedGuide/non-hodgkin-lymphoma-what-is-non-hodgkin-lymphoma
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