Silly Yes it is ongoing from that cancer. Just had to get another one to start off the clock again ... never mind, lets hope this one is as kind to me as the last. :) Julie ... View more

Hi Alan I have just finished reading Jim Styne's book and found it an amazing book to read. Very emotional of course and should be sold with a box of tissues. He had such an amazing attitude throughout his ordeal and unfortunately, as you most probably know he didn't make it. He talked a lot of "hope" and that is what we have to hang onto and I truely believe that. There most likely will be times when hope gets a little buried but we need to dig deep then and bring it back out to the fore again. 24 years ago I was diagnosed with amelanotic melanoma in the lymph glands, unknown primary. It was not a great diagnosis to get, except that it is an unpredictable cancer. I was told to go and live my life like I had a month to live - guess I got the "X" amount of years instead. Julie ... View more

Hi Rescue It's not easy being different and it must be difficult to have a cancer that is not mainstream. Tough enough gig to do cancer anyway, neverlone have nobody else close that has gone through what you have been or about to go through. If you don't find anyone on these boards I hope that it at least gives you some support to know that there are others travelling similar paths. Julie ... View more

Hi Caroline I am as fair dinkum as they get. hehe Roll on the arrival of your passport, I still operate under a UK one and have never been naturalised. In some ways I don't feel it is necessary as I have lived in Aus longer than I did in the UK. Of course the powers that be don't always see it the same way. It is normal to feel apprehensive before an operation. I felt that way and was just plain scared pretty much all the way through. Of course I had periods of normality to ensure my sanity remained somewhat intact. Good for your son for being able to keep his studies up. My son wasn't able to do that unfortunately. Perhaps your son will learn to cook a few things ... could be part of distraction therapy for him. Most kids eat what is put in front of them at that age and are often bottomless pits. I hope his exams go well for him and that he isnt too distracted. There are things that you can do if that does occur and we have a couple of teachers on here that could tell you about that. I hope your mad dog appreciated his walk! 🙂 I have a slightly eccentric smart lamb who can open fly wire doors. His name is Sid and he likes chocolate and he is a bit of a fatty poomba. In fact he just likes food fullstop! He plays footy quite well and can headbutt the ball with the best of them. Ok, I have a day off today and I should be doing things that are more productive like cleaning ... not sure I can get motivated but I should try. Talk to you later. Julie ps Hiya to Kasianne too .... you and Caroline have a lot in common being relatively new to aus ... :) ... View more

Rubes 24 years ago I was given a month to live. :) Julie ... View more

Hi Caroline I have been here since 67 being a ten pound pom!! 🙂 I found chemo not too bad either. I hope that round 4 is as good to you as the others have been. Not uncommon these days to hear of people having chemo before operations to remove tumours. Sounds like a big sleep for you. I don't remember how long my op was for my first cancer. It was a fairly major one so I guess it took a while. Must try and find out. I did have a giggle at the escaping tassie devils as I had this image of these snarling furry things conspiring together to hide out before they got caught. I believe the facial tumours is a real problem and they have a breeding in captivity program to try and preserve the species. I could be remembering totally incorrectly though. Hope your dinner was ok I am avoiding doing that here and might try and talk my son into cooking something. Take care Julie ... View more

Hi Tassie Devil Welcome to the site and I hope you get what you need out of it. 🙂 I am originally from the UK (many moons ago), ex Brightonian here. Have you finished treatment yet? Oh, incidentally we had some tassie devils that escaped a zoo about 50km up the road from me. They managed to recapture them all. It had me giggling a bit as they got two and one was still on the run. haha Alas, he got caught aswell and they are all back in the zoo. Julie ... View more

Hey Daniel Good on you for having a great outlook. I figure that here today I am alive and I am not going to let cancer rob me of this moment. Of course there are times when I naturally am not so positive, however, I always try to return to the happy place. Works for me. :) Julie ... View more

Hi Rich What a wonderful attitude you have towards your situation. It is tough to have to share such things with kids but they are far better off knowing than not. We can always put things in age appropriate terms and until children reach a certain age they simply do not understand death at all. If anyone is in doubt I would urge them to contact a child psychologist or someone who at least has some formal knowledge in this area. I have almost finished reading Jim Stynes book and it was for me a wonderful read and the way he handled everything is the way that I have always hoped that I would be able to do things should things turn a bit nasty on me. Julie ... View more

fraginapani I am sorry to hear of your loss. Such a shock for you all and I hope that you are travelling ok. My thoughts are with you and your family. hugss Julie ... View more