Chronicles of a
Cancer Patient
A Cancer Blog About Hodgkins Lymphoma
This is the only time in my life where losing my hair is normal, gaining weight is a plus, sleeping late is acceptable, living with my parents is a good idea, not having a job is forgivable, and shaving is dangerous and ill-advised.
Every other Monday a nice nurse in a big, blue smock comes and gives me medications that will make me feel worse than I did the previous Monday. I schedule my whole life around this meeting like there is nothing more important than feeling worse.
I no longer need to be educated, or talented, or smart, or good-looking. I show up to my friend’s houses empty-handed and exhausted and they welcome me in. They entertain me and they feed me. We all laugh out loud and have a better time together than we ever did before.
What can I say about cancer? Everything is the opposite of what it should be. They say I’m making a lot of progress.
At the timberline where the storms strike with the most fury, the sturdiest trees are found. ~ Anonymous
I’ve run this by a few friends, and they don’t agree, but I’m planning on looking like Vin Diesel when I lose all my hair. I also plan on driving around in sweet cars and using one-liners that scriptwriters will write for me.
Wanted: Scriptwriters. No experience required. Must like Vin Diesel.
Snow and adolescence are the only problems that disappear if you ignore them long enough. ~ Unknown
My friend Katie is a nursing assistant in a hospital’s radiation department and teaches patients to knit hats for their cold heads. She sent me two of her finest creations. Thanks Katie!
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I think it’s easy to look at the things going wrong in your life and compare them to the things going right in other people’s lives and to sit and curse awhile. It’s easy, but I don’t believe in doing it. I recorded an old song today about that.
Now, I’m not a praying man, but I am a thoughtful man. I recorded this song today, not because of it’s religious bend, but rather, I guess, in spite of it’s religious bend.
Normally a bluegrass waltz, I wanted to slow this song down and put in some piano to make the lyrics a bit more…searing, I guess is the word.
My voice is a little shaky on this one. See, I stopped singing ten years ago, mostly because I sang out of tune and that made singing *not* fun. And for a long time now, my cough made singing mostly impossible. I always told myself that if I could ever get rid of that stupid cough, I would start singing again. But more than that, I realize now that life is short, and it’d be a waste if you didn’t spend it singing. So be forgiving, will you? I’m starting my life again here.
Farther Along
Tempted and tried, we’re oft made to wonder,
Why it should be thus, all the day long;
While there are others, living about us
Never molested, though in the wrong.Farther along, we’ll know all about it.
Farther along, we’ll understand why,
Cheer up my brothers, walk in the sunshine
We’ll understand it all, by and by.When death has come and taken our loved ones,
Leaving our homes so lonesome and drear,
Then do we wonder why others prosper
Living as sinners year after year.Farther along, we’ll know all about it.
Farther along, we’ll understand why,
Cheer up my brothers, walk in the sunshine
We’ll understand it all, by and by.
By trying we can easily learn to endure adversity. Another man’s, I mean. ~ Mark Twain
Mr. T – The Chicago native was Hulk Hogan’s wrestling partner in 1985′s Wrestlemania. Ten years later, he KO’ed T-Cell Lymphoma (fitting). Mr. T’s motto: “You’ve got to have a set back in order to have a come back.”
Junior Wells – Legendary Chicago blues harmonica player, Junior Wells died in 1998 of Lymphoma.
Jim Ryan – Former attorney general. Non-hodgkin’s superstar.
Joey Ramone – My favorite, the lead singer of The Ramones. That’s right, the funny looking guy who’s band never made a dime, never played a song more than a minute long, and changed rock and roll forever. Joey died of Lymphoma in 2001 at the age of 49.
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis – Jackie O died of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
Gene Wilder – Actor, comedian, producer, director and husband to Saturday Night Live star Gilda Radner, who died of ovarian cancer. Wilder was diagnosed with Lymphoma.
Mickey Mantle, Jr. – Never made it to the majors like his famous dad, but still a switch hitter. Died of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
Charles Lindbergh – Flew across the ocean. Lymphoma took him in 1974.
King Hussein of Jordan – Died in 1999 of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
Paul Allen – Microsoft ga-billionaire beat Hodgkin’s.
Mark Fields – Football player. I, therefore, have never heard of him. Survived Hodgkin’s.
The Lymphoma Information Network has added this site to its list of recommended websites. My thanks to the Network for the compliment, and for all the good information available on their site.
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