July 21, 2008

• Shit. Sorry to hear that. I've not head of any veggie stuff, but a FOAF of mine had the cancer quite bad, and she subsequently added goji berries to her diet and has remained healthy. I tried them myself but they made me feel a bit billious. Broccolli is also meant to be very good. However, for me, they happen to be one of the foods that chemo has completely turned me off. Just the smell of it makes me retch now. HMMV, obv. Sorry it's not much to go on. I, apparently, had one of the better cancers, so they kept telling me!
• *hugs kitfisto* So glad you're better, kit. Is it in total remission now? Got a little more data from FOAF. She's in a very small town, apparently, near LA. So I guess she should be able to hit the shops at LA. I'll clue her in on the goji berries. You mean these right? (aka wolfberries, aka boxthorn, aka western snowberries, aka Gou Qi, etc...)
• Yep, their the little buggers. You can have them on cereal etc. Quite easy to get hold of in health food / 'ethnic' food shops. Aparently, 'remission' is an empty term, according to my oncologist. I'm basically tumour-free now and will be checked on regularly for at least 5 years. Only if I get that far without the vulgar little chaps making a comeback will I be tentatively declared 'cured'. But the operation and chemo did its trick, so there is hope for this lady.
• They're my favourite kind of berry! I have them dried as snacks, in my tea, in my soups, fried with veggies and many other ways. Not tried them with cereal yet though, but I expect they'll taste like dried cranberries do. Many thanks, kit. We'll keep rooting for you.
• *hugs kit* Don't know any veggies, Neddy, but I do know that positive support really does help. So you're doing something for your FOAF already.
• *Hugs kit, too* My dad had cancer a few years back (bladder, which is supposed to be one of the "better" ones, but which required quite a lot of "redecorating" on his insides) and his doc suggested having a glass of red wine every day to "build up the blood." My dad didn't drink at all prior to this, but now enjoys the wine which he puts over ice... you can tell he's not a drinker and is in really good health. If nothing else, it can be relaxing. Have you seen the doc Crazy Sexy Cancer? It goes into some of the options for a healthy "cancer diet," and may be a supportive thing to watch (hopefully). My best to your friend -- I'll send good thoughts her way.
• *piles onto kithug* My doc also recommended wine, meredithea. It also helps the appetite. kit, I know just what you;re talking about with the tastes and smells. I couldn't eat anything with a strong ginger taste for a long time, and I had to give up my favorite olive oil soap for a couple of years.
• Yup. Some foods are now just branded 'cancer' foods and I can't bear them. And I've never liked red wine. Do you think lager works the same?
• Ben Goldacre doesn't think red wine prevents breast cancer...
• Nonetheless, I am still supportive of red wine and healthy breasts. Both conjure up fond thoughts, and what's wrong with that?
• I think lager works wonders. I just recovered from my own bout with testicular cancer, and I owe it all to beer. And radiation. And getting a nut chopped off.
• Go, 'nads, go!
• It went.
• Off to play in Gonad Land with mine. Between us we can rustle up a decent pair.
• Ok, the queue for giving kitfisto hugs goes here... *places velvet rope* And the queue for hugging Nickdanger goes here... *places more velvet rope* Get in line, people, we don't want to suffocate them. *steals a few more hugs before the crowd builds up*
• *hugs and medical marajuana to all (if requested)*
• I actually am qualified for medical marijuana under New Mexico state law. Unfortunately, the application procedure is a pain in the ass, and even more unfortunately the distribution system for legal marijuana is completely non-existent. Still, getting the ID card would have been awesome and I really should have harangued my doctor to sign me up.
• Nick, gimme a hug, too! I am tired of monkeys scaring me! NO SICK!!!!
• Thanks, everybody! Glad to hear you're doing well, kitfisto. Sucks that you had to go through chemo, I got away with just surgery and radiation. Regardless, I think we're both lucky, as you undoubtedly know. Cancer center waiting rooms are remarkable at reminding you just how good you have it.
• I know, the sights I saw... Yes, I got a secondary tumour as well as the bollock one, thus the lovely chemo. Oh well, I got a new haircut out of it - I'd been meaning to shave my head for ages!
• Nick & Kit: how did each of you find out that something was amiss down there? I'm curious because although it seems somewhat common, it doesn't get discussed much. Especially in terms of self-examination and what not... And big hugs to you both.
• Congrats to Nick and again to Kit.
• I'm a remorseless self-fondler. There was something... weird. A little lump, kind of hard. Asked my wife to double-check (bonus!) and she also thought it was odd, so I went to the doctor the next day. They had the damn thing chopped off within a week. I was lucky in that it was an extremely early catch, and it hadn't yet spread beyond the testicle, hence no chemo for me, just daily radiation for a few weeks. Gentlemen, touch your balls. Touch them often.
• Thank for being so candid, Nick (as much as I grimaced at chopped)! Good to hear that you were lucky to catch it so soon. I'll leave the tagging for GramMa...
• Kit was so sick of hearing about my medical problems, he actually WILLED himself to have cancer. Can you believe it?? What an attention whore. Didn't shut me up though.
• Kit, Nick and TUM, you are heroes....
• Nah, all I did was lie there and not die. My family are the real troupers.
• Hey: keep not dying. That's one of my favorite traits.
• *Offers kit and Nick a (manly) hug and a snack*
• I am tired of monkeys scaring me! NO SICK!!!! Damn right. I am so sorry I left you out of the hugs, TUM. *hugs*
• I too discovered the lump myself, during an early morning self-examination (so they really are worth it). Went the doctors, had an ultrasound, had it chopped off. Then once I was over the op had a another scan which found the secondary (the size of a Malteser, on a lymph node) so had 9 weeks of chemo. Doesn't sound like much, but by god it seemed like forever. And yes, I only did it because there was no way koko-pops was going to out-sick me. Rank amateur.
• Really sorry about your friend, Alnedra. My grandmother died of pancreatic cancer. As far as we were told, there wasn't much we could do: there's tons of stuff we don't understand about the pancreas, and that means we don't know how to effectively fight cancer there. Or at least it meant that in 2001.
• Yes, no more getting sick, and that's an order! You know you all want to obey Mistress meredithea... *Hugs all 'round*
• I dunno if they understand the pancreas any better now, Richer. Very sorry for your loss. My FOAF had her pancreas taken out, so now she has to take certain enzymes to help her digest food. Poor lady.