Saturday, September 25, 2010

Oh, and lest I forget:

I ran into my friend Willie outside the used bookstore today. He came up to me, looked at my chest carefully, and then said warily, "That's a funny shirt."

"Not really" I replied.

He stuck his hand out. "I got diagnosed with prostate cancer last Thursday."

"Welcome to the club!" I said.

Then he said this: "I don't know what it is, but I have just been exhausted since my diagnosis. I'm so tired all of the time, and so depressed. Even though my doctor says my cancer isn't any big deal, and I can put off surgery, I'm just so *tired*."

At that point, I just gave up and hugged him and said, Me Too, Oh Boy Holy Crap.

Today I had a good five hours of not thinking about cancer, cancer, cancer. And I was still exhausted by the end of it, though not as exhausted as I have been when people have been asking me to *talk* about it all the time.

They really ought to warn you. Seriously: If you get a diagnosis of cancer, the first thing the doctor ought to say is, "Listen: you're fine. You've not got anything wrong with you that's gonna kill you in the next week. That's not how you'll feel, though. So, if you feel like you have the flu, and you just want to sleep, that's okay. It's normal; it's just stress."

I feel so much better now. And Willie and Joann are fine, and Willie will be fine after his robotic whatchamacallit, and all will be well.

And you know what? It *is* a funny shirt. Especially with my boobs, considering it ain't boobinoma.

7 comments:

Pam said...

Ok, so I totally want to see the shirt!

Joy K. said...

If you meet a person with something like toenail cancer, (Extremely rare!), do you have to give them your shirt?

Crazed Nitwit said...

That summed it up nicely. IMHO. It's a club no one wants to join, but I bet it's nice to share with others.

Albinoblackbear said...

That is an AMAZING shirt! Love it.

I also love the "Fuck Cancer" slogan, my friends bought out the store's entire stock in Victoria when our friend Jody was diagnosed.

And from then on it was "canser" cuz we didn't give it no respect.

Love and prayers--they keep heading your way from the Emerald Isle.

Anonymous said...

Just in case Willie would qualify for, but doesn't know about proton beam therapy, it's worth looking into, and is available in several places; Loma Linda is one, and they are incredibly supportive to both patients and families. (My husband was treated for prostate cancer there a year ago. Great PSA scores since.)
No scars; significantly less collateral damage than from conventional radiation; a comparable success rate.
If I were diagnosed with almost any kind of cancer, I'd check with them first; they treat brain cancer, etc., etc., etc.

Anonymous said...

Humour is one of the strongest antidotes to stress. Wear them with pride.

Barb

Jenn said...

That is an awesome shirt. Humor is the best medicine, so feel free to disrespect cancer and belittle all you can with humor because frankly you are bigger and better than it.