You know youre a cancer patient when....
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Where's the bitchin thread??
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It's on Moving Beyond Cancer - "I'm bitchy, I moan"... something like that - I just looked at it and can't remember the bloomin name. Sigh. Great for a rant, though.
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Amen to all the mom thoughts on here. Please God, just let us live - we are needed!
And here's my take on "you know you have cancer when..."
...every person you know has told you stories (with no real details) of everyone they've ever met or even vaguely heard of who had cancer, got treatment, and survived."I haven't heard from you in a while."
"Yeah, I know. That's because I've been diagnosed with breast cancer and just had a mastectomy."
"Really? My next door neighbor's mother-in-law's hairdresser once had breast cancer, but she's still here."
"Oh. I'm glad to hear she's doing well."0 -
Not only do they tell you the stories of those people who have survived, but also the ones who died. Gee, thanks. Just wanted I wanted to hear about.
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Doesn't it bug you that when people see you now, the first thing that comes to their mind is "breast cancer." Instead of talking to me about regular things that they talk about with other people, when people see me, it is always, "how are your feeling?" Hey, people ......... my whole life isn't breast cancer!
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I think most people have a hard time figuring out what to talk about to random acquaintances, even under the best of circumstances. They will grasp for any hook, anything they can remember to start a conversation. For us, unfortunately, that "hook" is often (or usually) breast cancer. Uggh.
Maybe if we answered by saying "I'm doing great on the health front, thanks. But my real interest these days is ______ ," and the blank were something really memorable like "Rollerblading" or "Whale watching in Tahiti" or "My Star Wars action figure collection" or even simply "Raising my son, Poindexter, who is starring in the school play next week," people might change what they bring up when they talk to us the next time.
We just need to give them something to envision other than bc when they see our serene, sunlit, beaming faces. <grin>
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Good point about the "hook" windlass!! A new hook will stop people from looking at your breasts when they "click" what they know about you too!
I had met with a client for the third time and we had become close enough that I told her about my breast cancer. Her eyes stayed frozen on mine...like a deer in headlights....so I broke down and said "You can look". But then we started talking about work again, so I think I've brought her back to the original reason for our relationship.
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Leanna, I agree.
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ykyacp when mornings trying to exit the house become a time of drama and suspense--suspense about whether you can pull it off: remember to put on your wig, foobs, lymphedema sleeve, put the dog out, feed the cat, scoop the litter box, let the dog in, remember to put in your purse (by the way where is my purse?) the medication for panic attacks, dry mouth and nausea. Put dry eye drops in the eyes, draw some nice credible eyebrows on, wrap a bandaid around a loose thumbnail so it just looks like you cut your finger, check four times on account of chemobrain to make sure the stove is turned off, locate your cell phone by calling it from your land phone, when you finally find your purse(it's been on your shoulder) you remember to throw your celery phone which is beeping with the missed call in the purse, get your laptop, get your reading glasses, hunt for your sunglasses and discover finally they are on top of your wig on your head,, locate the car keys and your healthy lunch, decide to postpone lymphatic drainage massage until you hit the first red light, and make a lurching dash to the garage, start backing out before you zap the overhead door, but catch the mistake just in the nick of time in the rearview, remember to rezap the door to close it, back down the driveway, ignore the collision with the full garbage can, and as you get up a good head of steam you keep having a nagging feeling you forgot something (did I remember to lock up the house?) and sure enough, 3 miles later, the car coasts to a stop because you forgot to get gas, and you debate, as you pull your phone out of your purse and realize you didn't charge it last night, is it overload or chemo brain?
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weesa: Oh, my goodness, my goodness . . . LOL. . . have you thought about doing stand-up comedy? I love it!
Julie
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LMAO! Great job!
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Weesa, you are a hoot. I hope that didn't really happen. At least not all in the same day.
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Weesa, the funniest ykyacp I have read. After all that you'd need a nap and a glass of wine to get you down to nap time.
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YKYACPW, having a bowel movement makes your day, you finally get a good nights sleep, after 3 steroid induced days of taxol, and you get more medical bills in the mail, than actual mail!!!
have a great day ladies, i will, i slept well last night and have a hot date with the hubby!
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Weesa - too funny!
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YKYACPW you are chatting to your doc and you both laugh at the celebration of having a normal bowel movement! Yay!
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Weesa - too funny!!!
hdangel... OMG, I remember during chemo when I was so backed up I didn't think there would be any more room left, then right about the time I thought I couldn't take it anymore the opposite would take over. I borrowed the term from someone else on these boards - I referred to those times as cactus butt.
YKYACPW..........you can discuss bowel movements with cyber friends like it's a normal thing to discuss.
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When you are trying to catch up on this thread and start laughing so hard that you tinkle your pants
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YKYACPW you are talking about a friend and when you get three sentences into the conversation, you can't remember the friend's name. Really.
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You know you're a cancer patient when you can no longer fart with confidence.
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YKYCPW you start ascribing great medicinal powers to what most people would merely consider good habits. The water I now drink using a $9 Britta filter is referred to by me as my "anti-cancer water," to be distinguished from mere tap water for its miraculous cure value, presumably. My exercise classes, from spinning to weight lifting are, of course "anti-cancer" partly in that they also serve a convenient political purpose. The exercise, my cancer addled thinking reasons, gives me "deniability." My superstition, or idea, is that I can get so strong and fit that if I do get bone mets, my strong, fit, incredible athletic body that matches an Olympian's will not feel the pain of mets for years and thus I will live longer in ignorant bliss. My massive muscles will protect me. In short, YKYCPW you start encountering major flaws in your own logical reasoning.0
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YKYCPW in the weeks just following your BMX you realize that the mole that use to be situated almost IN your armpit at the top of your breast has now migrated roughly a little over 2 inches south!
It makes you happy you never got that tatoo you once contemplated when you were younger. It also makes you feel bad for those that did that are now in the same battle with BC that you are and now have yet another problem with aesthetics to deal with. Oh what to turn that half blue and black butterfly into that's now located about where the areola should be?!?!
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Athena, I hadn't heard about the miracle 'brita' water. I have been using a brita filter for at least 15 years, and still ended up with bc.
Sheila
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LOL! That's the point, Sheila! If you read further, I say:
In short, YKYCPW you start encountering major flaws in your own logical reasoning.
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HOLLY !!! That's exactly what happened to me !!! How did you nail it??? I had a reduction 25 years ago and about 10 yrs ago got trailing leaves and a butterfly on top of the scars, to make them 'prettier'. THEN I get bc and with reconstructions, YES, the butterflies are too close to where the areola should be. OMG, it was like you were reading my chart!!! YKYACP when your butterfly tattoos are mangled and misplaced and you don't have room for an areola now. I have no idea what I'm going to do~
Was there a bit of truth in your post ??
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Meesa, I love the part about drawing on reasonable looking eyebrows. That was such a challenge for me!
YKYACP when your real eyebrows grow in and you realize they are not symetrical!!0 -
Ruth, when I was younger I wanted a tatoo on my chest and ended up changing it to my ankle. When I realized that my mole had shifted about 2 and half inches the other night it hit me that I was sooo glad I had changed the location of my tat! I was 17 when I got it and decided to put it on my ankle because it would be easier to cover up if I needed to with a pair of pants or tights. I'm glad I had the forethought at 17 to stop and think about it and how it would look in the "working world" when I got older as I ended up begining to work in an office setting about a year after high school. I've always loved tatoos and have wanted another for quite some time now and have decided on my back for the next one but haven't been able to figure out what it should be. Lol, now I guess I know I'll at the very least be getting two more when I have reconstruction done, but that's not what I had in mind!
Ruth, I am soo sorry that you are having to deal with that! It definitely limits your choices. But after reading a lot of the posts on recon and failed nipple grafting, maybe just something really cool and personal is a better option than 3d tatooed nipples anyhow! Why not make a statement with it instead of trying to appear normal! Hmmm, maybe something that says F$$K on the right foob and Cancer on the left foob in a cool tribal type writing that only you really know how to read!
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Hello ladies, new here, love this thread even more that the good support/advice found elsewhere on the site! Laughter heals...
You know...when after actually making some sense of the gzillionth obscure medical study you`ve read on the net, you start to think you missed your calling and would have made a fabulous doctor.
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Holly, you made me laugh out loud! I was worried that an ankle tat would be too obvious at work (skirts and heels), so I had my Other Tat on the back of my neck. OH guess what???? My flipping hair fell out! Now THAT tat is visible to the entire world....these 3 tats were my private tats and not put on for public viewing
Now most every doctor in Orlando has seen my titty tats (sorry, couldn't resist) and I had lots of 'splaining to do...(I'm not a stripper, etc) And the rest of the world sees the back of my neck and then bolts around me to see exactly who is wearing this crazy thing! The look on their faces is hysterical! Love your suggestion...really didin't have a plan, so now I can at least think about it. The tribal 'code' would be a riot!!!
Any other suggestions ladies??????
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YKYACPW you wonder if the people at the gym notice you only have a sweat circle under one armpit...the other dry as a bone.
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