Thank You Modern Medicine
Offline I haven't been on here much recently because my surviving Grandma had been diagnosed with breast cancer a couple of weeks ago. My family has just gone through a year of my mother battling cervical cancer. Already, after only two weeks my grandma has had a lumpectomy and there are no traces of cancer in her lymphnodes. She is expected to have a full recovery without complications.
It has been a long year for my family with first my mother and then my grandma and I want to extend my thank you to those who have actually earned it and saved their lives. Thank you to all the people who designed the screening technology, the treatment techniques, and of course to those who devoted their lives to medicine and treating people who are often ungrateful and pass their thanks to some deity. You saved the lives of two people who are very important to me, and for that I will be forever grateful.
If, if a white man puts his arm around me voluntarily, that's brotherhood. But if you - if you hold a gun on him and make him embrace me and pretend to be friendly or brotherly toward me, then that's not brotherhood, that's hypocrisy.- Malcolm X
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That's great, Beyond, it sucks your family had to go through that in the first place, but I'm glad things are better now.
Everything makes more sense now that I've stopped believing.
Well, I am sorry to hear about your family. That and happy for the fact that you have found a few more years with them.
I lost both of my parents to cancer over a decade ago but under differing circumstances.
My mother found her first cancer early enough to get it out of her before it spread (she came close though). She was not sick for a bunch of years after that but in the end, once the damage is done, something will get you. That and the fact that old people are at reduced risk of being hit by a bus, so cancer becomes a greater risk.
My father also had his cancer successfully treated the first time. However, he needed followup surgery to clear out the scar tissue from the first operation. He never woke up from that.
So my mom ended up using up all of her benefits and spent a bunch of years dealing with experimental treatments. It is no fun to watch someone go through that. However, I had many more years with her than I would have had if things had gone down differently. She was able to see me build my life from the mess that I made of my early years to a point of being at least somewhat successful.
My dad stuck around long enough after that to see me go a deal farther on that road. In the end, he went quickly.
I can tell you that both losses were bad. There is no point in trying to compare them. A loss is a loss. Slow or fast are both painful. Both suck.
Spend as much time with your family as you can. One day, you will not have them. I don't expect that you want to deal with that fact but ultimately, you have no choice. One day, things will suck more than they did the day before.
Also, don't get past the first thinking that you were not ready for it and are now ready for another. You will not be. This is how the world happens to work.
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Good to hear things worked out for your family. My mother died from cancer in '05.
I thank modern medicine for the Tysabri I take to hold off further attacks of multiple sclerosis. The MRI scans used in diagnosing and tracking my condition are pretty damn cool too. The MRI only goes back to '85, and the first MS therapy drug only became available in '93, but there's more coming out of MS research all the time. I do wish stem cell research were not so impeded by religious idiots worrying whether a little ball of cells has a 'soul', though. I don't know what else could repair central nervous system damage that happened before I began treatment. Still, I can deal with my vision and walking issues; I'm just happy the Tysabri seems to be doing so well at keeping me from getting worse.
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It is never easy to see a loved one have health issues. Glad that things are going better for you now.
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I understand what you're going through. Both my mother and grandmother are breast cancer survivors, and they are only in that camp due to modern medicine. Good luck to you and your family from me and mine. Remember, all we have in this life is each other, and that social solidarity goes a long way.
Our thoughts (prayers? XD) are with you! Give your family our best wishes, and from me, I wish you the best!
"This may shock you, but not everything in the bible is true." The only true statement ever to be uttered by Jean Chauvinism, sociopathic emotional terrorist.
"A Boss in Heaven is the best excuse for a boss on earth, therefore If God did exist, he would have to be abolished." Mikhail Bakunin
"The means in which you take,
dictate the ends in which you find yourself."
"Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government! Supreme leadership derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony!"
No Gods, No Masters!
Wow. It's great to read about another success for modern medicine.
I have my own personal reasons to thank the doctors and scientists - not to mention the nurses and technicians, etc. for the great care I received when my aorta dissected. (Titanium doesn't rust, does it?)
Good on Grandma!