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<p>[Cancer</a> Survivor Story Cancer Treatment Motivational Speaker](<a href=“NamesPro.ca | Register with Confidence”>NamesPro.ca | Register with Confidence)</p>
<p>Lts- Happy Happy New Year To You And Your Daughter!!</p>
<p>Thank you for the kind wishes 4Giggles and SBmom, I appreciate it. So far the year is off on an excellent note, present challenges excepting. </p>
<p>Epistrophy, that appears to be some book. I just now followed the link and read the first chapter online and I love the spirit of hope, and the fact that it’s not based in nonsense. I’ve ordered it and having it shipped to my Washington office so it’s waiting for me when I get there next week. </p>
<p>You know, I was thinking last night, I was told in the hospital (by the internist, not the oncologists) weeks perhaps, then death - that hasn’t happened. I was told to file for disability because there was no hope and I would be too sick to work (I refused to file for any such thing) - that hasn’t happened. When I explained I would simply do my chemo, then work a full day; I was told I would be way too tired and want to sleep all the time - that hasn’t happened. I was told I would be throwing up in buckets - that hasn’t happened. I was read a very long list of side effects I would experience - none of those things have happened, either. I was told that I would be on all these drugs and that hasn’t happened either; I’m not on any. </p>
<p>In fact, yesterday I did day #2 of chemo #6, then worked nine straight hours and loved every minute of it, then went to the gym and ran the treadmill, then weight lifting. Then came home and ate a huge dinner. Just like I did during the last five chemo sessions. </p>
<p>I’m torn between listening to - and believing in - the messages in my mind and the signals from my physical condition, and paying attention to what has been measured, and is real, and known (statistics and gruesome prognosis). It’s hard to know what is real…</p>
<p>What you**** are experiencing is what is real. The rest is surmised and inferred.</p>
<p>Mafool, how I would love to hold onto that, obviously. But it’s so weird to me how one universe of information can be so, well, bleak, dire, terrifying and hopeless, and the other universe of information (what I’m experiencing, at least up until now) isn’t anything like that at all. How can things be at such odds…not that I’m wishing they’d move closer to center lol…</p>
<p>A highly respected doctor - one of the most esteemed practitioners in his field in our metropolitan area - put it this way:</p>
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<p>Thank you for that, Epistrophy.</p>
<p>Those handouts with the possible side effects of your particular chemo are just that, POSSIBLE side effects. All side effects don’t hit all people. Some people tolerate different chemos awfully well. My husband, on RCHOP continued working, running, road biking (his normal 26 miles through the hills…) etc without much noticable difference in how fast he was, or how he felt, but he did lose his hair on schedule. We asked the doctors if he was over doing it, and all the doctors said if exercising, eating, or whatever makes you feel good then it’s great! Go for it.</p>
<p>Latetoschool: I would hazard an opinion. You’re health produces an absence of unhealthy affects, and health includes physical fitness, mental health, emotional stability and sanguine, fighting temperament. Maybe they just haven’t seen all these factors in conjunction.</p>
<p>I could make a list of the times I or my body reacted in ways more positive than predicted, but I don’t want to make this post about me.</p>
<p>I believe what you are experiencing is real. Getting sick is not a sign that the chemo is working. Just keep doing what you’re doing.</p>
<p>I read the intro and first chapter about the Everest climber too. There is inspiration everywhere.</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Time on Fire: My Comedy of Terrors: Books: Evan Handler](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0805050671/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0805050671/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books)</p>
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<p>[Reviews:</a> Time On Fire Book Quotes](<a href=“http://web.mac.com/evanhandler/iweb/Site/Reviews%3A%20Time%20On%20Fire%20Book%20Quotes.html]Reviews:”>http://web.mac.com/evanhandler/iweb/Site/Reviews%3A%20Time%20On%20Fire%20Book%20Quotes.html)</p>
<p>[Evan</a> Handler Website Welcome Page](<a href=“http://web.mac.com/evanhandler/iweb/Site/Evan%20Handler%20Website%20Welcome%20Page.html]Evan”>http://web.mac.com/evanhandler/iweb/Site/Evan%20Handler%20Website%20Welcome%20Page.html)</p>
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<p>[NPR:</a> My Cancer](<a href=“http://www.npr.org/blogs/mycancer/index.html]NPR:”>http://www.npr.org/blogs/mycancer/index.html)</p>
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<p>From the introduction to Debra Jarvis’s It’s Not About The Hair: And Other Certainties of Life & Cancer:</p>
<p>[Debra</a> Jarvis - Home](<a href=“http://www.debrajarvis.com/]Debra”>http://www.debrajarvis.com/)</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> It’s Not About the Hair: And Other Certainties of Life and Cancer: Books: Debra Jarvis](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Its-Not-About-Hair-Certainties/dp/1570615365]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Its-Not-About-Hair-Certainties/dp/1570615365)</p>
<p>epistrophy, I had mentioned this book a while back… It is a winner and very funny.</p>
<p>SB Mom:</p>
<p>Great minds, etc.</p>
<p>Here’s more from Debra Jarvis: [NPR</a> : Commentary: Haiku for a Cancer Patient](<a href=“http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1969630]NPR”>Commentary: Haiku for a Cancer Patient : NPR)</p>
<p>LTS, I am glad you are doing so well with your chemo. I don’t post often, but want you to know that you are always present in my thoughts and prayers.</p>
<p>Over a year ago, when I first “met” you online, I told you that you were an inspiration and a testament to what an individual can accomplish through wit, determination, and just downright hard work—and that opinion has only been strengthened. Listen to yourself; no one else knows you as you do.</p>
<p>The just published *New Granta Book of the American Short Story<a href=“edited%20by%20novelist%20and%20short%20story%20writer%20Richard%20Ford”>/i</a> contains an amazing story that’s set in a world of just diagnosed cancer (in this case, it’s an infant who is diagnosed; the story’s main character is his mother). It’s by Lorrie Moore and is titled “People Like That Are the Only People Here: Canonical Babbling in Peed Onk.” It first appeared in the New Yorker, then in Moore’s collection *Birds of America<a href=“one%20of%20my%20all-time%20favorite%20short%20story%20collections”>/i</a>. It’s funny, often bitterly so, and very moving, without ever turning sentimental.</p>
<p>A tiny excerpt:</p>
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<p>[Amazon.com:</a> The New Granta Book of the American Short Story: Books: Richard Ford](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Granta-Book-American-Short-Story/dp/1862078475/ref=ed_oe_h]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Granta-Book-American-Short-Story/dp/1862078475/ref=ed_oe_h)</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Birds of America: Stories: Books: Lorrie Moore](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Birds-America-Stories-Lorrie-Moore/dp/0312241224/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199911115&sr=1-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Birds-America-Stories-Lorrie-Moore/dp/0312241224/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199911115&sr=1-1)</p>
<p>Espistrophy - you are amazing; relentless with your searching for appropriate links. </p>
<p>Don’t post much; nothing new to say. But think of you often, LTS.</p>
<p>I too am amazed at Epistrophy. It is a welcome break for me because then I do not have to go drilling for things, and then in the process read about all of the people who have my diagnosis who are dying. </p>
<p>Very good week, busy with work. Found a clinical trial that might just be perfect. Washington presents many distractions so for sections of time I can live normally, work happily, and forget that I have cancer. Today was very hard; two people I have been following died; one was 34 years old and also a never smoker. The other was a very active middle aged adult and incredibly enough was riding his bike 10 miles a day up until a few weeks before his death. Then, the five year survivor in Texas had his six-month brain MRI come back “iffy”. His doctors don’t think it’s cancer again but they want him to return early February for a new MRI. He isn’t worried about it and he told me that these scans often come back “goofy”, but, it upset me, as it’s the survivors who give me hope - or they’re a huge component of sustainable hope, anyway. So, today was challenging. But the day isn’t over and I’m going to turn it around.</p>
<p>Thanks for checking in, LTS…I was thinking about you today…Sending positive vibes your way and hoping that your day ends on a high note!</p>
<p>How is your daughter enjoying her travels?</p>
<p>thanks for the update LTS! I was in DC over the last blustery week wandering around with my '05 son (who is now a junior in college, returned from an amazingly well-used semester abroad) and a friend of his from over there. Isn’t it great when your children show you new worlds?..DC was quiet and the hotels were half empty bargains for those who could stand up to the wind. At least there were blue skies.</p>
<p>I am saddened today to hear from you about valiant and vibrant people you are following not making it. It is so completely not fair and incomprehensible.</p>
<p>But also excited you located a clinical trial worthy of your attention. </p>
<p>do hope your girl is having a great time on her trip.</p>
<p>PS totally a Richard Ford fan…looking at my postcard of him on my computer bulletin board…any man who dedicates all his work to his wife time and again is great in my book…also Lorrie Moore is indeed the hilarious caustic tonic for the thinking woman.</p>