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

curl-6 on 14 February 2020

Thanks so much as ever for all the kindness. :)

Metallox said:
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.

I can relate, due to my OCD I'm quite the hypochondriac myself; if it helps what I have is very rare, and it might work out that the graft goes perfectly and my leg ends up working just fine.

Zombie9ers said:
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!

Wow, that's intense. Huge congrats on winning such a tough fight, and thanks heaps.  

JRPGfan said:
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 :)

Aw, cheers man. :) The nurses did say they're very impressed at how well my body has held up to the radiation; I think that might be cos I'm a lot younger than most; pretty much all the other patients there are over 60 while I'm 30.

It's strange, I've always thought of myself as being very fragile mentally due to my sensitivities and anxiety, but I suppose I have gotten through a fair bit in my life so maybe I'm a lot tougher than I give myself credit for. I think most people don't give themselves enough credit on handling all that they do.

Last edited by curl-6 - on 14 February 2020

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Immersiveunreality on 23 February 2020
curl-6 said:

Thanks so much as ever for all the kindness. :)

Metallox said:
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.

I can relate, due to my OCD I'm quite the hypochondriac myself; if it helps what I have is very rare, and it might work out that the graft goes perfectly and my leg ends up working just fine.

Zombie9ers said:

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!

Wow, that's intense. Huge congrats on winning such a tough fight, and thanks heaps.  

JRPGfan said:

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

Aw, cheers man. :) The nurses did say they're very impressed at how well my body has held up to the radiation; I think that might be cos I'm a lot younger than most; pretty much all the other patients there are over 60 while I'm 30.

It's strange, I've always thought of myself as being very fragile mentally due to my sensitivities and anxiety, but I suppose I have gotten through a fair bit in my life so maybe I'm a lot tougher than I give myself credit for. I think most people don't give themselves enough credit on handling all that they do.

Always having to endure that because your brains functions differently makes you stronger when other things suddenly strike you,being an autist an having ocd myself i can tell you that my biggest hurdle is living with myself.



VAMatt on 23 February 2020
Immersiveunreality said:

Always having to endure that because your brains functions differently makes you stronger when other things suddenly strike you,being an autist an having ocd myself i can tell you that my biggest hurdle is living with myself.

I think that everybody is their own worst enemy in one way or another.  We're hard on ourselves,  feel like we fail to live up to our own expectations, don't give ourselves credit for our accomplishments, think our negatives are a bigger deal than they are, while overlooking our positives, etc.  Or, we get in our own heads about stuff that just isn't a big deal, build it up into something terrible. 

These specifics may not apply to everyone all the time.  But, if one thinks most of them don't apply to them, then they're exhibiting a lack of humility that is also a way many of us stand in our own way.  

Anyway, not trying to minimize anyone's struggles.  Just sayin', for most of us, the biggest hurdle is ourself, in one way or another.  



KLAMarine on 24 February 2020

Recently had a cyst removed from my scalp. Nasty little bastard. Have stitches that are not easy to sleep with.

Also got an upcoming fine-needle biopsy. You're not alone in your medical issues, curl. Hang in there, we'll get through this!



curl-6 on 24 February 2020
Immersiveunreality said:
curl-6 said:

Thanks so much as ever for all the kindness. :)

I can relate, due to my OCD I'm quite the hypochondriac myself; if it helps what I have is very rare, and it might work out that the graft goes perfectly and my leg ends up working just fine.

Wow, that's intense. Huge congrats on winning such a tough fight, and thanks heaps.  

Aw, cheers man. :) The nurses did say they're very impressed at how well my body has held up to the radiation; I think that might be cos I'm a lot younger than most; pretty much all the other patients there are over 60 while I'm 30.

It's strange, I've always thought of myself as being very fragile mentally due to my sensitivities and anxiety, but I suppose I have gotten through a fair bit in my life so maybe I'm a lot tougher than I give myself credit for. I think most people don't give themselves enough credit on handling all that they do.

Always having to endure that because your brains functions differently makes you stronger when other things suddenly strike you,being an autist an having ocd myself i can tell you that my biggest hurdle is living with myself.

Thanks man. And yeah, my own mind is definitely my worst enemy too. I actually find I'm fine with my Autism, it's more the OCD that fucks me up, it just makes little things so terrifying and overwhelming sometimes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and the right medication help though. 

KLAMarine said:
Recently had a cyst removed from my scalp. Nasty little bastard. Have stitches that are not easy to sleep with.

Also got an upcoming fine-needle biopsy. You're not alone in your medical issues, curl. Hang in there, we'll get through this!

Wishing you all the best mate, and thank you. I try to remember that we're lucky to live at a time where medicine has come so far, treatment is just so much more effective than even a few decades ago, in my lifetime.



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Immersiveunreality on 05 March 2020
curl-6 said:
Immersiveunreality said:

Always having to endure that because your brains functions differently makes you stronger when other things suddenly strike you,being an autist an having ocd myself i can tell you that my biggest hurdle is living with myself.

Thanks man. And yeah, my own mind is definitely my worst enemy too. I actually find I'm fine with my Autism, it's more the OCD that fucks me up, it just makes little things so terrifying and overwhelming sometimes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and the right medication help though. 

KLAMarine said:
Recently had a cyst removed from my scalp. Nasty little bastard. Have stitches that are not easy to sleep with.

Also got an upcoming fine-needle biopsy. You're not alone in your medical issues, curl. Hang in there, we'll get through this!

Wishing you all the best mate, and thank you. I try to remember that we're lucky to live at a time where medicine has come so far, treatment is just so much more effective than even a few decades ago, in my lifetime.

I would be fine with my autism if i was not forced into a certain lifestyle and social interactions that are not of my choosing just to sustain myself and i have to shedule everything i do and make social sacrifices just to maintain a seminormal lifestyle,yeah treatment now is so much better and seeing how my sisters kid that is also an autist does get support does make me happy for those kids.

I myself never got support as a small kid and later on school was not kind to me, as an autist i was good at observing people and knowing how to act being social but badly at it whenever being stressed out and to top that of i was the smallest kid in the class and also the only one that looked like a foreigner in a fully white school.

That did develop into an extremely dark/bad self imprinted image of the world,crying myself to sleep for years and all that depression caused me to develop different personalities of myself as a way to survive without killing myself.

The first time i was shizophrenic it was like having a dream and i woke up on the bus going home while being absolutely confused about what i did before that and to this day i'm so confused about it,now i hope that never happens again because it broke me.

As of today i'm slowly still crawling up and the next step should be getting the right medication to block to flow of information going to my brains,so that is the plan for this year.

I do look up to you(and i'm happy to not always feel alone with my way of thinking)

Last edited by Immersiveunreality - on 05 March 2020

curl-6 on 05 March 2020
Immersiveunreality said:
curl-6 said:

Thanks man. And yeah, my own mind is definitely my worst enemy too. I actually find I'm fine with my Autism, it's more the OCD that fucks me up, it just makes little things so terrifying and overwhelming sometimes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and the right medication help though. 

Wishing you all the best mate, and thank you. I try to remember that we're lucky to live at a time where medicine has come so far, treatment is just so much more effective than even a few decades ago, in my lifetime.

I would be fine with my autism if i was not forced into a certain lifestyle and social interactions that are not of my choosing just to sustain myself and i have to shedule everything i do and make social sacrifices just to maintain a seminormal lifestyle,yeah treatment now is so much better and seeing how my sisters kid that is also an autist does get support does make me happy for those kids.

I myself never got support as a small kid and later on school was not kind to me, as an autist i was good at observing people and knowing how to act being social but badly at it whenever being stressed out and to top that of i was the smallest kid in the class and also the only one that looked like a foreigner in a fully white school.

That did develop into an extremely dark/bad self imprinted image of the world,crying myself to sleep for years and all that depression caused me to develop different personalities of myself as a way to survive without killing myself.

The first time i was shizophrenic it was like having a dream and i woke up on the bus going home while being absolutely confused about what i did before that and to this day i'm so confused about it,now i hope that never happens again because it broke me.

As of today i'm slowly still crawling up and the next step should be getting the right medication to block to flow of information going to my brains,so that is the plan for this year.

I do look up to you(and i'm happy to not always feel alone with my way of thinking)

I forget the exact quote but there's a famous saying about Autism; that Autistics don't suffer from Autism, we suffer from society's attitude towards Autism.

I'm sorry to hear you had a really rough time growing up; I did too, I wasn't diagnosed until I was 19 so I got no support in school either, also developed a very negative view of myself and the world. I really do wish you all the best, you seem like really great person and the fact that you got through all that shows you're also a very strong person. I enjoy your contributions here on VGC and it's nice to know another Autistic on here.



curl-6 on 05 March 2020

More fantastic news!

Just got my latest batch of scans back and:

- It still hasn't spread beyond the primary tumor.

- Radiation therapy worked; the tumor has been shrunk significantly.

Next step surgery, and adios ya little bastard!



Signalstar on 05 March 2020

Good for you man!



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Alex_The_Hedgehog on 05 March 2020

Awesome news! I'm very happy for you!



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