Cancer

Uggh. F#*k cancer. Wishing you both as easy a ride a possible. It's just one day at a time. Carefully follow whatever instructions they give to help minimize the chemo side effects, and if that isn't working, tell the docs, there may be things they can adjust in the treatment to make it easier.

Take care of yourself too. It can be hard on the family caregiver.
 
Sorry to hear this. Our daughter-in-law had breast cancer and a double mastectomy last year. Chemo for several months. She's in recovery now, with her hair growing back. Doctor says that if she's cancer free in two years she's set. If it comes back there's nothing more they can do. I hope Sharon doesn't hear this from her doctor.

Jeff is right, take care of yourself, too.
 
Damn, Greg. That really sucks. Sending positive vibes to both Sharon and you.
 
Well, I guess it’s past time for an update.

Sharon finished her course of chemo treatments three weeks ago. Pretty much routine with one exception. Part of the process was a biopsy of lymph nodes. They only needed to take one, but the incision didn’t really heal. There was concern prior to her last chemo treatment that it was infected. That would have delayed surgery until it cleared up. Turns out, it was just an accumulation of some sort of clear fluid. It was drained a couple of times and since chemo ended it is healing nicely.

Surgery is scheduled for June 11. Hopefully, she will be recovered enough to come back to Guam a couple of weeks later for the remainder of her treatments. That consists of a Herceptin treatment every three weeks for the rest of the year. After that, it is a pill a day? for the next few years, I guess.

Next update after surgery.
 
Wow, missed this, sounds like pretty good news, prayers for a full recovery.
 
We recently lost a close friend of my wife to stage IV liver which metastasized to the nodes. She couldn't hold down the chemo and the kidneys were not cooperating, so she gave up on the attempts. It was over at that point. Timeline was no more than 4 months.

All that to say, having discovered your wife's cancer early is a great thing. Keep her engaged, and positive. One day at a time as I like to say. Cancer is such a treasonous disease, lurking and hiding. Our thoughts are with you both.

I always pondered the degree of logistic difficulty of remote assignments when it comes to specialty care in later age. No doubt I don't envy you having to negotiate travel to the Western Pacific and back to North America. Proximity to care is one of the things I'm watching with my own aging parents, and my own family as we ponder retirement locations in the next two decades. It is unlikely we will stray too far from metro USA centers, at least on a part-year basis. Anecdotes such as this one are illustrations of that.

Again, much luck and health to you and your wife going forward. Thanks for the update and by all means keep us posted.
 
Thanks for the update Greg. Been wondering how you guys were doing.

Sounds like decent news!
 
We are both wishing her a quick surgery and speedy recovery, and both of you health and strength. Not sure when we’ll see you at gastons so might have to pop on over to Guam then.
 
I'm sure glad she caught it early. Best of luck with the surgery (both of you) next month.
 
Glad they got it early! Thanks for the update, Greg. Continuing to send good thoughts and hopes that the surgery goes well.
 
For those who have not lived thru this nightmare, the last thing anyone wants to hear is others bad outcomes.

Or any other fear inducing comments.

A simple negative comment can prey on the minds of those going thru this.

You are not helping when you share a negative or bad outcome. You are instilling fear. The fear preys on your mind as much as the reality of it. Suppress any thoughts of sharing a negative outcome to anyone who is going thru this horror.

I'm 6 years clear but there are still two comments made 7 years ago that rear up in my mind and bring back the gut wrenching terror.
 
Lndwarrior said:
For those who have not lived thru this nightmare, the last thing anyone wants to hear is others bad outcomes.

Or any other fear inducing comments.

A simple negative comment can prey on the minds of those going thru this.

You are not helping when you share a negative or bad outcome. You are instilling fear. The fear preys on your mind as much as the reality of it. Suppress any thoughts of sharing a negative outcome to anyone who is going thru this horror.

I'm 6 years clear but there are still two comments made 7 years ago that rear up in my mind and bring back the gut wrenching terror.
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Thanks for that. However, in our case, it was apparent early on that as far as cancers go, this one was going to be easily treated. Neither one of us have had serious concerns. But, with all things cancer, you really never know.
 
Greg Bockelman said:
Thanks for that. However, in our case, it was apparent early on that as far as cancers go, this one was going to be easily treated. Neither one of us have had serious concerns. But, with all things cancer, you really never know.
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I hope the treatment goes well and both of you stay healthy.
 
Greg Bockelman said:
Thanks for that. However, in our case, it was apparent early on that as far as cancers go, this one was going to be easily treated. Neither one of us have had serious concerns. But, with all things cancer, you really never know.
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Mine was prostate cancer, 12 years ago. Surgery cured it and I have been cancer free ever since. I'm rooting for the same for your wife.
 
Good luck Greg, Sharon is such a doll. Never could figure out why she put up with you. Early detection is key, should afford a good prognosis.
 
Well, surgery was yesterday. All went extremely well. Sharon will be released from the hospital sometime today.

She won’t be going back to Guam anytime soon as I had hoped. The reconstruction process is a little more complicated than I had initially understood. As it stands now, she may be able to go back sometime end of August. She will have to come back for some sort of procedure in October.

Anyway, as of now she is cancer free.
 
Good news, Greg. I wish Sharon an uneventful, complete, and rapid recovery!

-Skip
 
Congratulations Sharon and Greg. Being cancer free is a HUGE milestone for diagnosis. Godspeed to Sharon on the healing and any further procedures.
 
Fantastic! So happy for both of you.
 
"Cancer free" Excellent!
 
Fantastic news, Greg!
 
Missed this. Sorry to hear. Sounds like you guys are headed in the right direction.

Went through this with my wife about 10 years ago. Thankfully surgery and treatments were a success and continue to be successful.

We found out who our closest friends were, some surprises both ways.

I learned how much I appreciated my wife (took her for granted prior).

I also learned that just reaching out to those in pain, sorrow, need, etc to say “I care, I’m thinking of you” was a simple enough gesture that I always avoided until I realized what it meant to others after how people reached out to us. I’m a numbers and machines guy, usually...
 
Great news. I hope she stays cancer free. It will be the end of August sooner than you think (although right now that doesn't seem such a short time to you).
 
Superb news! Hoping for a complication-free recovery.
 
Excellent news. Continued health and happiness for you both going forward.
 
Congratulations on being cancer free. Wishing for a speedy recovery.
 
Jeff Oslick said:
Uggh. F#*k cancer. Wishing you both as easy a ride a possible. It's just one day at a time. Carefully follow whatever instructions they give to help minimize the chemo side effects, and if that isn't working, tell the docs, there may be things they can adjust in the treatment to make it easier.

Take care of yourself too. It can be hard on the family caregiver.
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Just an observation that there are still a large number of people who find this kind of language vulgar and boorish in the extreme.
 
jnmeade said:
Just an observation that there are still a large number of people who find this kind of language vulgar and boorish in the extreme.
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And there are a large number of people who've been through cancer and feel it is entirely appropriate for this particular set of diseases.
 
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