I survived prostate cancer. I was diagnosed in 2007, operated on a few months after that and I'm still around. But this picture makes me want to run as fast as I possibly can away from the term "cancer survivor."
Because the very worst thing I ever had to deal with during the whole experience was spending a week with a Foley catheter up my penis. Those things can sometimes irritate tissue so there's nothing quite like looking Down There and seeing blood dripping out. Like expecting a Chardonnay and getting a fine Merlot.
Then there was spending about a year having to wear Depends or pads but that would have been less if I'd been more zealous about doing the suggested exercises. Buying Depends or pads was never embarrassing. I just made up my mind to respond to anybody who said anything, "I'm just getting over cancer and sometimes you need these things. Is there anything else that you'd like to know?"
I guess I looked sufficiently surly because nobody ever said anything.
The meds I took never affected me the way his meds seem to be affecting this poor little guy. There was one medicine in particular that my doctor was so anxious for me to take that he literally gave me the stuff. I never paid for it the entire time I took it and it never adversely affected me in any way.
Viagra. Gets the blood flowing Down There and speeds healing.
True story.
So send up a prayer for this little guy. Send up some prayers for his family as well because I guess the only thing worse than going through something like this is having to watch somebody that you love go through it, all the while knowing that there really isn't much of anything you can do to make the bad stuff go away.
3 comments:
This brings back memories of me granddaughter and a few of the friends she made going through this awful illness at a young age. My granddaughter is still here. Three of her friends aren't. Cancer SUCKS!
The picture is affecting, but I'm ambivalent about their having issued it.
They have fairly effective anti-nausea medications now, so I'm puzzled by his distress. I have a dear cousin who went through chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1977 and 1978. Then you got the full force of the side effects.
Two friends of mine, adult women, recently went through chemo (not for the same cancers). Both suffered the side effects. Doctors worked to adjust the dosages, but it's not a perfect process.
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