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Forums - General Discussion - [Update] Officially two years cancer free

curl-6 on 23 January 2020
Officially halfway through radiation therapy; 14 sessions done, 14 more to go.
 
The medical setting does pose some challenges due to my OCD, but my doctor and the rest of the staff are really nice, as are my fellow patients.
 
The technology is amazing; they’re now able to hit the tumor with millimetre precision, with the aperture of the emitter changing shape to match the outline of the tumor as it goes around you, so it zaps the whole thing from every angle. They can also control what they call the "run up speed" so that it doesn't reach full intensity til it's passed through the healthy tissue and reaches the tumor.
 
It’s still really scary having cancer, but I think I’ve finally gotten over the initial icy shock and am focusing on working through each stage of my treatment, one day at a time.
 
I’m trying to think of it as just the latest hurdle in my life, like being housebound due to OCD when I was 18, or overcoming self-harm at 22. And if my past challenges got me to where I am today, then once I get through this I’ll be unstoppable.


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KLAMarine on 23 January 2020

Show this thing no mercy. Best of luck curl!



Alex_The_Hedgehog on 24 January 2020
curl-6 said:
Officially halfway through radiation therapy; 14 sessions done, 14 more to go.
 
The medical setting does pose some challenges due to my OCD, but my doctor and the rest of the staff are really nice, as are my fellow patients.
 
The technology is amazing; they’re now able to hit the tumor with millimetre precision, with the aperture of the emitter changing shape to match the outline of the tumor as it goes around you, so it zaps the whole thing from every angle. They can also control what they call the "run up speed" so that it doesn't reach full intensity til it's passed through the healthy tissue and reaches the tumor.
 
It’s still really scary having cancer, but I think I’ve finally gotten over the initial icy shock and am focusing on working through each stage of my treatment, one day at a time.
 
I’m trying to think of it as just the latest hurdle in my life, like being housebound due to OCD when I was 18, or overcoming self-harm at 22. And if my past challenges got me to where I am today, then once I get through this I’ll be unstoppable.

That's the spirit! Keep it up, my friend!

By the way, I don't know if I told you, but a friend of my mother had cancer last year, and she did radiation therapy too. A couple of weeks later, the doctor said her tumor got destroyed. She still have to do a surgery to remove what's left of it, though. But yeah, she's cured.

It's good to see that medicine and technology are evolving like that.



My Brazilian blog about Super Smash Bros.

curl-6 on 13 February 2020

Radiation therapy complete; just got home from my final session.

I feel absolutely exhausted, but that's a small price to pay. The cool part is that even though the treatment itself has ended, the aftereffects will continue to kill the cancer cells for weeks to come; the radiation damages their DNA so they die off over time.

They reckon it'll be about 6 weeks til I go in for surgical removal; cos they're doing a nerve graft of the big main nerve in my leg, I'll need rehab to learn to walk again and may be left with impaired limb function, but again, small price to pay, I would've been fine with amputation tbh. 

The war's not over, but this particular battle is. If all goes well, in less than two months I could be cancer free. 



KLAMarine on 13 February 2020

One step at a time Curl. Rest up and recover and take it easy.



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Metallox on 13 February 2020

I'll keep cheering on you, dude. Just a little longer. Though, I must say, reading that you could end up with impaired limb function triggers my
hypochondria to crazy levels. That's unfortunate, but yeah, small price to pay, it's for the best.



My bet with The_Liquid_Laser: I think the Switch won't surpass the PS2 as the best selling system of all time. If it does, I'll play a game of a list that The_Liquid_Laser will provide, I will have to play it for 50 hours or complete it, whatever comes first. 

GoOnKid on 13 February 2020

I hope you'll be fine, curl! Have a hug.



JRPGfan on 14 February 2020
curl-6 said:

The war's not over, but this particular battle is.

If your body's half as tough as your mental space, sounds, you'll kick this cancers arse :)



Zombie9ers on 14 February 2020
curl-6 said:

Update 14th of Feb: Radiation therapy complete. They say it'll be about six weeks til the surgery to remove it.

Update 2: Finally some good news; scans show it hasn't spread beyond the primary tumor, and I've started radiation therapy to kill that one.

Update: Turns out it is cancer. Might still be curable though, so trying to stay optimistic for a positive outcome.

Original Post: Dunno why I'm posting this here except that over the past 9.5 years VGC has been almost like a second online home/family for me, a special place where I feel accepted, and I wanted to give an explanation as to why my behaviour in this coming months may be a bit irrational or over the top.

So yeah, just got some unfortunate news from my doctor. The positive side is though,the prognosis is good; this particular kind of tumor most often turns out to be benign. Still, I won't know for sure if it's benign or malignant until they remove it, which could take a few weeks/months.

As someone with OCD and an intense phobia of serious illness, I'm under a huge amount of stress right now as you can imagine, and so while I'll still be posting here, I'm going to try not to participate in the kind of intense debates I usually get into in order to minimize this stress.

I apologize in advance if I lose my cool over the following months, I will try my best not to.

Thank you all for your understanding, and for just generally being an awesome community of people.

I was diagnosed with Stage III melanoma a little over a year ago.  Had this funky mole growing by my ear that I should have gotten checked out a lot sooner - but with everything going on at home I kept putting it off.  By the time I finally got it checked out it was so deep that they had to lop off part of my earlobe, as well as cut my throat open and rip out 6 lymph nodes. Had to get a drug infusion once a month for the past year, as well as a full body scan every 3 months. It’s been a scary ride - but I just celebrated 1+ year cancer free. Take it one day at a time, spend every second you can with the ones that you love and always keep your head up - you are not alone! Best wishes and keep up the good fight!



Alex_The_Hedgehog on 14 February 2020
curl-6 said:

Radiation therapy complete; just got home from my final session.

I feel absolutely exhausted, but that's a small price to pay. The cool part is that even though the treatment itself has ended, the aftereffects will continue to kill the cancer cells for weeks to come; the radiation damages their DNA so they die off over time.

They reckon it'll be about 6 weeks til I go in for surgical removal; cos they're doing a nerve graft of the big main nerve in my leg, I'll need rehab to learn to walk again and may be left with impaired limb function, but again, small price to pay, I would've been fine with amputation tbh. 

The war's not over, but this particular battle is. If all goes well, in less than two months I could be cancer free. 

It feels like the worst has gone. Now you just need to stay positive and finish this.

I'll keep cheering for you!



My Brazilian blog about Super Smash Bros.