Fuck Cancer

[homemadesalsa]

Jeez I feel ashamed for complaining when elsewhere in this thread there's a kid with cancer, a late stage guy in remission, MS loses his wife, and Millsie and his wife are fighting hard.

Fuck cancer.

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[~mikey b]

Lynne

Don’t feel guilty. It’s people like me who should feel bad for complaining about life.

[iceman]

I've sorta been sitting on this because of all the other stuff in this thread (and I didn't even know some of it), but since this involves somebody that quite a few people here have met, I'm gonna go ahead with it.

I was supposed to be at Solitude 3 weeks ago with my buddy Doug, who has been coming to Utah with me (and on his own also) since the powmag days. We had planned the trip before I fucked up my hip but the condo was empty and Doug had the time so I told him to go ahead and use the place. We were talking while he was out there and he was complaining about being exhausted and hardly able to tour or even go uphill at all. Doug's always in phenomenal shape and loves to tour, so obviously things weren't right.

He called his Doc who told him to go to a lab in SLC and get bloodwork done and it came back that he was seriously anemic. His Doc ordered a colonoscopy/endoscopy at some hospital in SLC and Doug had that done that done the next day. They found a bad esophageal cancer.

Doug flew back to Pittsburgh Wednesday, met with a Doctor Thursday and had surgery Friday. The Doc is supposedly one of the best in he country. They're confident (or they expressed confidence at least) that they got all of it, but they did find a couple spots away from the original tumor. He's been in the hospital ever since.

My understanding of this is very limited but apparently they had to take a bunch of lymph nodes out and for whatever reason one of them keeps draining, and he's had two more procedures to stop it, including one yesterday. I've been in touch with him a little, and with his girlfriend a bit and he seems to be keeping his chin up so far and they still expect him to be released shortly. And if he is, and they did get all of it, then the prognosis is good. So time will tell.

So, Fuck Cancer.

[powbmps]

Jeez I feel ashamed for complaining when elsewhere in this thread there's a kid with cancer, a late stage guy in remission, MS loses his wife, and Millsie and his wife are fighting hard.

Fuck cancer.

Sent from my HTC6535LRA using TGR Forums mobile app

Seconding what mikey b said. No reason to be ashamed.

Fuck cancer is right.

[Meadow Skipper]

Jeebus, this thread...

hms, no, no, no - do not feel bad. I want to hear about what pisses you off, because I've been pissed off about what I've missed. And I want to hear about you coming through and kicking cancer's ass and tell us about it here. And keep making TAR better and better, the last issue was so good. Fuck cancer.

ice, all my best wishes to your man Doug. Good to hear that his prognosis is good.

So yeah, hell yeah, fuck cancer.

[jono]

Sorry to hear about your friend, iceman. That scenario sounds a lot like the one I had, but a little lower (stomach) and in my case the anemia didn't look as bad to my doc as it felt to me (same symptom--poor aerobic performance) so we went about 9 more months from blood test to finding it and 13+ from first noted drop in performance. Good on him getting at it from the earliest possible sign!

Side effects from surgery suck, but hopefully they got it--and didn't have to mess with his valves? I had a couple of spots on my liver and swollen lymph nodes that had every doc I saw ashen-faced, but they all turned out to be non-cancerous. Hoping the same for Doug. Just looked at a 9-month scan last week and my liver looks the same as always--and no sign of disease.

Keep kicking ass in the fight, HMS! As much as any battle is tragic, every win is a win for us all. If you can get out there when the snow is good, get some! Even the shortest days of "active-standing" were huge motivators for me, and I would usually feel a little better the day after. I'm sure I got lucky in tolerating chemo relatively well, and it won't work for everyone, but in my case I could usually work up the mental game to drive up the hill before I could convince myself to walk around the block. Whatever works for you.

[Millsie1]

Jeez I feel ashamed for complaining when elsewhere in this thread there's a kid with cancer, a late stage guy in remission, MS loses his wife, and Millsie and his wife are fighting hard.

Fuck cancer.

Sent from my HTC6535LRA using TGR Forums mobile app

Please don't feel ashamed. The reason I post about we're going through is to help everyone understand what could happen and to be prepared. We were told by ortho oncologist that "Cancer sucks, you have to live your life!" Surgery and chemo are hard. Its ok to bitch. Just know you will get past this and be good again. Maybe not where you were but keep moving forward.

Ice, so sorry to hear about your friend. Couldn't be worse than finding out on your vacation.

[homemadesalsa]

Jeebus, this thread...

hms, no, no, no - do not feel bad. I want to hear about what pisses you off, because I've been pissed off about what I've missed. And I want to hear about you coming through and kicking cancer's ass and tell us about it here. And keep making TAR better and better, the last issue was so good. Fuck cancer.

ice, all my best wishes to your man Doug. Good to hear that his prognosis is good.

So yeah, hell yeah, fuck cancer.

OK I won't feel bad. In fact, today I feel great (just in time for chemo on Thursday). A 5-star workout at the gym, powder skiing on Sunday (boy was I tired afterwards... so deep). But it deeply pleases me to read your nice words about TAR. I had to jettison all my ski guiding and avalanche classes, but kept the TAR work as I am so devoted to it personally and professionally.

I want to be able to say, "today was worth living for!" every single day, no matter how many of them I have left. The recurrence topic likes to whisper in my ear at 3am, but most of the time I can ignore it.

[Meadow Skipper]

OK I won't feel bad. In fact, today I feel great (just in time for chemo on Thursday). A 5-star workout at the gym, powder skiing on Sunday (boy was I tired afterwards... so deep). But it deeply pleases me to read your nice words about TAR. I had to jettison all my ski guiding and avalanche classes, but kept the TAR work as I am so devoted to it personally and professionally.

I want to be able to say, "today was worth living for!" every single day, no matter how many of them I have left. The recurrence topic likes to whisper in my ear at 3am, but most of the time I can ignore it.

^ That. Was. Sweet.

[Hicks]

Thanks Huckbucket, MS and ArtShirk for your wishes. Best wishes for all the others affected here as well.

Daughter's surgery went well and we are carefully optimistic for a positive outcome. If it stays like that then it's the family 2 Cancer 0. Keeping fingers crossed....

[Hicks]

Today is the first day I have been really grumpy about not skiing and fighting cancer instead. 12" of new at Targhee and still snowing 2" an hour. Hubby just got picked up to head up the hill. I've been gracious and accepting (for the most part), but today I am just plain pissed. Even without the cancer problem I still need a knee replacement, which was supposed to happen this April, now put off til god knows when.

Fuck cancer. Fuck winter.

Best wishes for a positive outcome.

[zion zig zag]

The whole "possibility of recurrence" thing is freaking me out a little bit. Life is short, folks, enjoy every minute.

That's got to be the toughest part, keep your head as busy as you can and find ways to relax when you can't.

Holler when you come back up to the tetons.

I will for sure. Hoping for a corn trip this spring.

[BigKuba]

Ugh, my turn. Found out this morning that one of my and my wife's best friends got bad news in a regular scan. This is the second time her cancer has returned, and this time it's in the liver and bones. She's been crushing it over the past ~3 years despite the setbacks, and had a clean scan as recently as November. Hers was already an uncommon type of cancer, so now she's in clinical trial territory. I can't even comprehend, just have stared blankly into the screen at work all day. God Mother Fucker.

[Dantheman]

Oh man, that is not good. My Mom has already lost one dear friend to cancer, and has another that is borrowed time right now.

[Millsie1]

Ugh, my turn. Found out this morning that one of my and my wife's best friends got bad news in a regular scan. This is the second time her cancer has returned, and this time it's in the liver and bones. She's been crushing it over the past ~3 years despite the setbacks, and had a clean scan as recently as November. Hers was already an uncommon type of cancer, so now she's in clinical trial territory. I can't even comprehend, just have stared blankly into the screen at work all day. God Mother Fucker.

So very sorry, Kuba. In the liver is never good.

[Meadow Skipper]

BigKuba, that's rough - I'm sorry to hear that. Words aren't enough, but I really hope it turns out well.

[Hicks]

@BigKuba
Vibes to your friend. Can relate because another of our female friends got terminal cancer as well.

Here's to a positive story, my daughter got her cancer entirely removed it seems so indeed family 2 cancer 0. Can't wait for the family Easter skiing trip and celebration to come.
Fuck cancer!

[Meadow Skipper]

Excellent news about your daughter, Hicks!

[Dantheman]

Great news!

My SIL was having some kidney issues a few years ago so they did an MRI. They found a huge malignant tumor on the other kidney. Removed the tumor along with about half of the kidney and she's remained cancer free since. Renal cancer is pretty much a death sentence if it spreads. She was so incredibly lucky.

[wyeaster]

@BigKuba
Vibes to your friend. Can relate because another of our female friends got terminal cancer as well.

Here's to a positive story, my daughter got her cancer entirely removed it seems so indeed family 2 cancer 0. Can't wait for the family Easter skiing trip and celebration to come.
Fuck cancer!

glad to hear it, hicks.

[gravitylover]

What a range of emotions this thread stirs up...

[Danno]

Always happy to read positive news in this thread!

[Millsie1]

Fantastic, Hicks!

[muted]

I mentioned a year ago my SIL had cancer in this thread, she died this summer. Her family is not well without her. She was in some bands in Savannah before she had her daughter, there is a nice write-up of her career: https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/articl...d-flying-fists

My sister got diagnosed with colon cancer this summer, she has already done radiation and almost all signs are gone already. So she did kick cancer's ass pretty damn good. Highs and lows, such is life.

Sorry for you loss, MS.

[Meadow Skipper]

muted, I'm sorry about your SIL, she sounds way cool.

My best wishes for your sister, and everyone in your family,