April 2009
Hi Moonshadow
700 users - wow!! I had no idea that there were so many people accessing the site. That is really fantastic.
Cheers
Sailor
Home is the Sailor, home from the sea.
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April 2009
Hi Nikki
At present I don't think we collect age related information. I'll ask Qld and SA to put information on the site - they know about it.
Regards
Sailor
I must go down to the seas again
to the lonely sea and sky
And all I ask is a tall ship
and a star to steer her by
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April 2009
Hi Margro
Thanks for letting us know how you feel and thanks to all the others who have replied. Yes, I had a diagnosis of an aggressive cancer, and after the initial treatment I felt - wow! One year, two years, three years, all OK, then wham, back it came with a vengeance. More very experimental treatment, feeling good again for a few years, then back again - now with monotonous regularity - well it never actually goes away, just starts up again. Statistically I shouldn't be around, but I am, Just goes to show that statistics don't apply to the individual. I long ago got sick of everyone telling me I'll be fine - or s a friend of mine tells it 'living in the prison of the positive'. We really do get rewarded for being positive, so much so that we tend to put a positive spin on things - like Pavlov's dogs we become well trained. So I am all for being real - acknowledging that what we have may not continue so let's make the most of what we have.
Fiar winds and smooth seas to you all.
Sailor
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April 2009
Dear Artist_in_recovery
Thanks so much for sending us the url to the the video clip from your good friends website. Yes it made me smile. You and your friends are rather amazing. Humour is one of the many gifts that we are given that help us manage this thing.
Love your poem.
Cheers
Sailor
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April 2009
Hi Artist-in-recovery
You are not being self indulgent in any way. Those are huge losses that you have had to deal with. I cannot but admire you for the way you are managing and what you are doing. Wow!
All I can hope for is that as you continue to progress that you will discover some meaning from what you have been through, that your identity - who you are- will include all of that and that you will be a truly wonderful person. One of the strengths of this site is that we can tell our story, and that is not something that is fixed and unchanging, it is something that is continually changing and adapting and growing as we grow.
So grieve for what is past, shed a few tears and lament what has been, but hang in there and continue with what you are doing. You are one tough person.
Cheers
Sailor
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April 2009
Hi there,
I would be interested in peoples views on a rather morbid topic.
For the past nine years I have had lunch once a week with a friend who has a progressive and debilitating illness. Very erudite person, great range of interests, excellent lunch companion - we can talk knowledgeably about most things. Over that time he has gone from being fully independent to being confined to a wheelchair. Both of us have had to deal with elderly parents in their nineties - dementia, loss of bodily dignity, high dependency care etc., etc. Both of us have consoled each other that at least we will not put our children through that as neither of us are likely to make our seventies, let alone our nineties.
That has raised for me, at least, what responsibility I have for the future. I am involved in a number of organisations that are going through the process of looking ten years ahead and wanting to appoint senior people. I am happy to give the benefit of my knowledge and skills to this area but draw the line at trying to push a particular perspective as I am unlikely to be around to have to deal with the consequences of my actions. Am I just running a cop-out, should I be more proactive or should I take a back seat?
As I said a morbid topic.
Cheers
Sailor
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April 2009
Hi Nikki
Not at this stage. The Cancer Council Victoria runs programs for YAC's but at this stage not specific advocacy training.
South Australia and Queensland also run advocacy training - I don't have the details but can get them if you think it worth while.
Cheers
Sailor
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April 2009
Hi There everyone
Good on the Cancer Council NSW for running an advocacy skills program for YAC. Good initiative.
People might like to know that NSW is not the only state to run advocacy training programs. The next one in Victoria is run in collaboration with the Cancer Council Victoria, CanNET Victoria and Cancer Voices Victoria in May at Kilmore. Kilmore is about an hours drive north of Melbourne. Details are:
Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th May
Kilmore Trackside Entertainment Centre
Golden Reign Room
East Street, Kilmore VIC 3764
Contact: Gaël Castillo 9635 5069 or Email - Gael.Castillo@cancervic.org.au
There will be another training program on August 29th and 30th located in Carlton.
Like NSW past graduates of these training programs have gone on to be active advocates for improvement in cancer services, influence local and statewide cancer services, serve as consumer representatives on a number of state and national policy bodies and be involved in the direction of cancer research.
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April 2009
Hi Everybody
It has been a great Easter. Nothing has happened according to plan, but what has happened has been good. For the last three days I have been carrying on as if I did not have cancer at all and I haven't thought about my cancer at all. It has also meant that I have been well, things have been happening that are good for the family. Its been great.
Cheers
Sailor
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April 2009
Hi Pandora
Big Issue. There is a really great book on this subject called 'Sexuality and Cancer'. It is really upfront with lots of very practical and sometimes confronting advice. (You'll never be able to visit the plumbing section of Bunnings in quite the same way again!) You can get it from the Cancer Council and it available as a download: http://www.cancervic.org.au/downloads/brochures/cancer_types/Sexuality_cancer_08.pdf
Let's hope that this thread goes on and is a frank and upfront session.
cheers
Sailor
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