July 2011
Hi Lisa
I have an incurable condition (multiple myeloma) and felt just like you when I was diagnosed. That is four years ago now and I am managing to live with the condition. Some people say that their cancer has become their friend and I know what they mean.
I was extremely anxious about the test stage (bone marrow and kidney biopsies, CT scans) and remember being particularly freaked out by the CT machine which reminded me of a pizza oven. A few weeks later I read an article about a woodworker who had crafted a beautiful toy CT machine that could be used to explain the test to young children before it took place. I remember thinking what a good idea that was and how it would have certainly made a difference to my state of mind if someone had sat me down with a toy CT machine for a play first.
H
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July 2011
John Diamond is very funny and a good writer. His book is very readable and I am sure you would be able to relate to it very well. It is a serious work but it won't club you over the head.
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July 2011
and from me too. I learned how to push dialysis needles (huge!) through my skin and into veins, so that my blood could be cleaned. It took me about four weeks to get up the courage to watch the nurse pushing them in and then another four weeks before i began to do it myself. I know what you mean about it. It is a hugely confronting act.
Yes, well done.
H
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June 2011
I am pretty moved by these comments. I am not in the same position, but you are highlighting the issue I have with the constant pushing of the fight/positive/win approach. I don't understand that approach at all. I would understand it even less and would certainly get grumpy about having to put up with it if I were in your position - both of you.
I am not surviving (the best word for me, by me) because I am positive, fighting, brave, determined, inspired, heroic or any bloody other rubbishy word.
I am surviving. If I were not surviving I would want people to acknowledge that I am most likely dying.
Glad you both have stuck your heads up out of the trench... so to speak. All the best. I feel connected to you both and can't see why that won't continue.
H
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June 2011
Hey Ben
Thanks for posting that response. I have just been onto his web site and played the short film documentary and interview with him. I am keen to read his book, based on your recommendation and his own comments.
The best thing is this will be new territory for me. As you would notice from my list I have mostly been reading about the emotional and narrative aspects of illness, not so much the biological aspects. Now I can enter the fray helped by someone whom I can see is very credible.
When I posted my list I thought about how self indulgent I was being. Now I am glad that I have further evidence of the value of continuing to be so self-indulgent!
H
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June 2011
when this turns into something that someone else can participate in, let us know. OK?
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June 2011
These are memoirs and other books I've read in the last three years or so. Any favourites? Pet hates? What's missing?
Illness Memoirs
Illness: The cry of the flesh
Havi Carel
Time of my life
Joel Nathan
Bad Hair Days
Pamela Bone
Inga Clendinnen
Tiger's Eye
John Diamond
C: Because cowards get cancer too
Jean-Dominique Bauby
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Joan Didion
The year of magical thinking
Simone de Beauvoir
A very easy death
Lauren Slater
Lying
Stephen Schneider
The Patient from Hell
Assorted Others
Joseph Campbell
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Carl Elliott
Better than well
James Pennebaker
Opening up
Christina Baldwin
One to One
Elizabeth Maynard Schaefer
Writing through the darkness
H
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