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My dad died from the same cancer about a year before McCain was diagnosed. Terrible, terrible thing to go through. I feel bad writing it out, but it gives me a
by war1025 8y ago
My dad died from the same cancer about a year before McCain was diagnosed. Terrible, terrible thing to go through.
I feel bad writing it out, but it gives me a bit of comfort to know it isn't something that could have been managed with the added resources of someone on the national stage like McCain.
The first surgery is pretty amazing because they can get almost all of the cancer out, and all the weird behavior just disappears and you have a normal person back. And then you have a year or so to swallow that fact that it's all going to come back and you've been handed a death sentence. Since the cancer is in your brain, they can't be as aggressive as they are in other parts of your body. Also, the cancer cells worm their way into all the cracks and crevices, so what started out as one tumor turns into a whole pile of tumors the second time around.
Probably the most painful memory I have is we were watching a movie and my dad didn't believe me that it wasn't a movie about my life and he thought I was lying to him when I said it was just a movie we were watching. Seeing someone you respect laid low like that is rough. Sort of like a very fast moving alzheimers.
Puts life in perspective though. Dad died at 58. I'll be 30 this year. Halfway to the grave. No time to waste putting things off till "later".
- thsowers 8y ago> No time to waste putting things off till "later". As someone going through something similar (for the second time), thank you for sharing this.
- jabl 8y agoLost my mother to the same. Doctors gave her a year, but in the end she died less than 5 months from the diagnosis. She was 62.
- baxtr 8y agoI had a similar experience. My mum had cancer, they gave her “good 7-10” years, she died after 3. I don’t get why they not say instead: “we don’t know. Say everything you want to say, do everything you want to do. Quickly. Be greateful for every (additional) day.”
- jabl 8y agoI guess it depends. I prefer to be given the available data, even though there are large variances attached to the estimates. So no, I'm not bitter at the doctors because my mother didn't "beat" their estimate. Not everyone can reach the average. Sadly my mother was one of them, but that's just how things go sometimes.
- hi41 8y agoI lost my mother when she was 61. When she got admitted to the hospital she put her age as 62. I think she miscalculated her age as her birthday was going to happen in a few months. She died of cancer too. Few years before that my father passed away due to complications from diabetes. She used to ask me such hard questions - "your dad was walking and talking all along and he is gone now. where do you think the soul goes after a person passes away". I understood the grief she was going through. of course I had no answer to her question. In in the day of scientific enlightenment we still have no proper answers. All the religions give such contradictory answers.