"My cancer diagnosis"

[babylonsister]

No, not mine, babylonsister's, thankfully. Not this time.


My cancer diagnosis
Until last week, it was the best summer of my life. Then my doctor gave me the news I dreaded
By Mary Elizabeth Williams



On Monday, Showtime's series "The Big C," about a middle-aged woman with life-threatening melanoma will premiere. On Wednesday of this week, I learned I was living it.

It started with a bump, a little scab on my head that wouldn't go away. I can't remember the exact day I first noticed it, but it was early summer. It was on the part of my hair, right near a scar from a childhood injury. I just figured I'd dinged myself up somehow and all my sun and swimming and hair care products were preventing it from healing properly. I hypochondriacally Googled "infected cuts," never guessing for a moment I was chasing the wrong search term.

Then last week I went to the dermatologist. I figured I'd get some antibiotics and ointment. Instead, when she looked at my scalp, she gave a little involuntary sucking-in of air and said quietly, "That looks like cancer."

That's how your life changes, in four words.

Even then, however, I didn't fret. The doctor scraped my head to run a biopsy, and I assumed I'd come back in a few days for a minor melanoma procedure. My Facebook status update was "Best summer ever." And then, at 10:15 Wednesday morning, my phone rang. "I'm sorry," the doctor said. "It's malignant."

more...

http://www.salon.com/life/life_stories/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2010/08/13/mary_beth_cancer

[mwdem]

1. Good article.

I'm watching The Big C, even though my friends don't understand why. My sis in law died of melanoma 12 years ago, at 42. She had it for nearly 14 years. I just got back today from my onc. 4 years after diagnosed with breast cancer, mastectomy and chemo, everything looks great. Meds for another year. Went through uterine cancer the following year, now they say colon cancer could be next. I just do what I have to do to skate through all of this. It's so much a journey, and I can't be scared of cancer anymore.

[madmax]

2. At first I couldn't watch The Big C

now I do but, it's not high on my list. I love Dexter, Empire Boardwalk and a few others. I don't focus on it anymore. If I did I'd go crazy and I always was a little OCD. I'm even getting to the point that I don't live from scan to scan.

You're doing good, another figher :hug: