About Sailor

Sailor

Hi There 89nicole What's in a name? Everything is in a name - who we are, how we are known, how we are remembered. The Cancer Council used to have a statement which I have not seen around for a while. "Cancer is a word, not a sentence". That is just it, it is not a name, it is a word that describes something that has happened to cells in our body. What we do with that word is our choice. We can reject it, we can accept it. We can own it, we can disown it. We can deny it, we can acknowledge it. All of those are up to us. What we have to accept is that the is a mass of cells, our cells, that have got out of control and are growing within us, threatening to spread throughout or bodies and screwing us up physically and psychologically (possibly financially an socially as well!). It doesn't mean that we cannot experience all the emotions we are used to and perhaps a few that we are not used to. It doesn't say that we have to stop being happy or fulfilled. It doesn't mean that there is not a lot of help out there for us. There is all the medical, skill knowledge and technology that can be marshalled to get those cells back under control. There is all the supportive care available, although sometimes we have to hunt a bit more for that. There is all the support offered through this site and the Cancer Helpline 13 11 20. It is never our choice, or any other persons for us to get cancer. The more I understand about this disease the more amazed I am that cancer is not more common and it is a tribute to evolution, creation, design, or whatever you wish to call it, that each day billions of our cells can replicate, die, be replaced, without mistakes occurring that lead to cancer. There is a Cheers Sailor As we sail thru life, don't avoid rough waters, sail on because calm waters won't make a skillful sailor. Anonymous

Sailor

ADT, morning sickness and Complementary Medicine? Well I have done it - I am now using complementary medicine. Not actually for cancer, after all I have some standards! In the first couple of week of Androgen Deprivation Therapy, you go through side effects similar to early stage pregnancy - I think it is all aimed at getting us recalcitrant males in touch with the feminine sides of our nature. So food fads and nausea. I couldn't look at the usual fare for my regular Friday lunch with a colleague. Had to have fish and that meant white wine not the usual half bottle of red medicine. Also have had the low grade nausea since this morning. So I'm on ginger. I believe there have been some clinical trials on the effectiveness of ginger, so at least there is some evidence for it. Now you can take ginger in a number of ways. Get fresh ginger from your fruit and vegetable store, grate it finely, pour on hot water and drink the infusion. You can use it in cooking with all sorts of fruit and meat dishes. You can have ginger marmalade on your toast. You can buy crystallised or natural ginger and eat it as a snack. You can pour Stones Green Ginger Wine over ice cubes and sip it. You can make a Whiskey Mac - one third Green Ginger Wine, two thirds Scotch Whisky, ice optional. Those latter two sound like complementary medicine to me - definitely in favour. Cheers Sailor Boats, like whiskey, are all good. R. D. Culler

Sailor

Terrible traffic! All those school mums in mega-sized four-wheel drives picking up their progeny from exclusive private schools. Their erratic driving being between my oncologist and Dorovitch. Would I make it to the Dorovitch blood suckers before their due closing time of 4 pm. A quick glance at the back of the request form reveals that Dorovitch does not seem to inhabit the inner suburbs of Melbourne. Middle eastern suburbia here I come, if the mega-sized shopping buggies and school pick up conveyances will allow. First Dorovitch, five minutes to go and no staff - they have packed up early. Second Dorovitch, closing half an hour later, crowded, all clutching a number, all looking as if getting even a drop of blood from them will take forever. Fifteen minutes later the bleeder appears with a sign saying closed - loud murmur of protest produces the response - "I'll see all those with numbers". Another fifteen minutes and I am in, forms filled, Medicare slip signed, blood taken and out as the mobile protests with the Chief of Domestic Operations enquiring if I am OK as I was expected home long ago. Just to get a baseline blood result! I drive out into peak period traffic, well behaved and crawl home. Earlier that afternoon there was the unanticipated visit to the oncologist. Vague pains at midnight two week before had turned into serious pain at three in the morning. Last visit blood levels had come down so it was a case of review in three months. I have a habit of doing things like this - blood levels go up, start to come down and then the monster returns with a vengeance. Last time it was more androgen deprivation therapy then experimental radiotherapy. More Radiotherapy is out of the question now, so it is just the ADT. Another Zolodex implant. Blood tests today then again in six weeks, just to be sure it is still working. Review in three months, probably another implant then. Summer is a great time to be having hot flushes and mood sings. Menopause here I come again! (Here’s one for Harker - my spell checker want to change Dorovitch to Doro itch!) Sailor 20/10/2010 It is found that anything that can go wrong at sea generally does go wrong sooner or later Alfred Holt 1877

Sailor

Fantastic news! As long as it is just a little it of weeding required that is OK. It is when the megalitres of RoundUp are required that we need too worry! cheers Sailor Have you stood by the ocean on a diamond hard morning And felt the horizon stir deep in your soul? Eric Bogle, Safe in the Harbour

Sailor

Hi carelin4 It might be an idea to get onto the website of CARTwheel; www.cart-wheel.org. It is the Centre for the Analysis of Rare Tumours, based in Melbourne, and provide information about rare tumours but also the ability of link with others with rare tumours. Cheers Sailor An Estimated Position is better than no EP, even if you are not there. Anon

Sailor

Hi Samex My recollection is the suggestion of a T shirt with on one side "My Urologist takes the Piss" and on the other "My Gastroenterologist gives me the Shits". Sorry abut the language but sailors have a reputation for being bawdy. Cheers Sailor What can be more difficult than to guyde a ship engulfed, when only water and heaven may be seen? Martin Cortes, 1551

Sailor

Hi Samex I spent several hours yesterday searching for some documents regarding a regular evening meeting I thought I was at last year. Eventually I decided that: a.) the documents were not on my computer; b.) I didn't have them in hard copy; therefore I could not have been at the meeting. Why not? So I dug out last years diary - there it was colonoscopy the following day. Clearly you want to forget it so quickly you just forget about a week each way. Empathy is about all I can offer. cheers Sailor All loose things seem to drift down to the sea, and so did I. Louis L'Amour

Sailor

Hi Samex Fantastic news! As you say soon you will be living outside the five year square. Go for it! Cheers Sailor Ah to throw off the shackles and fly with the seagulls To where the green waves tumble before a driving sea wind. Eric Bogle, Safe in the Harbour

Sailor

Hi Via.lost Maybe a bit of counselling might help - you can get it on medicare. See your GP and they can arrange it. cheers Sailor

Sailor

Hi Collie You do need a bit more information about your cancer and perhaps have another talk with your doctors about it. You say that it was a squamous cell carcinoma and yes that type of cancer can occur in a variety of places. It is one of the more common types of skin cancer but can occur in many different places and organs, including as you put it, 'girlie bits'. Whilst there is a squamous cell carcinoma of the prostate (it doesn't produce PSA!), it is not what we usually call prostate cancer - that is adenocarcinoma of the prostate and can be monitored with PSA. However, the nurse may well have been referring to the skin burning side effect of your treatment being similar to that men experience with radiation for prostate cancer. Most people who experience radiotherapy will get skin side effects - like a bad case of sunburn, and it can be in those parts the where 'the sun don't shine'. It is often an individual thing with some people getting it far worse than others. Talk to your nurse about ways to make life easier until everything repairs. After my last lot of radiotherapy, I didn't get burnt, but for months later you could see where they had zapped me as a result of skin tanning. Take care and take it easy. Sailor I realize that the old salt’s of tomorrow, start out as the beginners of today. John Jack

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