kim951's Cancer Blog
January 4, 2010
Hi All! Happy New Year! Wishing you all the best of health in the New Year!
Just a quick update….felt good enough to return to work on November 2nd. My energy levels were pretty low during November, however noticed that in December my energy has returned almost to normal (note – taking vitamins perhaps has helped). One of my docs said it can take 6 months to a year post treatment for energy levels to return to normal, thus I think I’m a bit ahead of the game. As of Jan 4th I’m about 4.5 months post treatment. My first PET scan came back clear of cancer…woot! My next one is in Feb. For those of you wondering what’s on the menu these days….I can eat most foods now. Spicy still bothers my throat a bit, chips bread etc. are do-able, however due to the dry mouth aren’t comfortable to eat in great quantities, sugar can still be a bit of a shock to the chompers so I just don’t eat sugar at all. I think my eating habits are better than they were pre-diagnosis. :) Also, I don’t eat as much food due to my dry mouth and I have to brush after eating anything….thus eating has become more of a chore these days….lol.
My post-feeding tube stomach has never been quite the same as it was pre-feeding tube. Sometimes a bit sore on the inside still and acidic at times (I take medicine for the acidic issue). My weight has remained at about 129 or so, thus, I’m still down about 15 – 20 pounds…which I like very much. :) About 80% of my taste has returned. All in all I’m doing pretty well.
I suppose my biggest challenge now is like many of you here….figuring out how to move forward with life with the knowledge of a potentially terminal illness looming in the background of day to day activities. I’m much more intrigued by the small things in life these days. Alot of stuff I worried about at one time I don’t even think about anymore….seems very trivial now. Sometimes the reality of this disease feels like alot to bear…not even so much for my own life, but when thinking about the lives of others. When I came back to this site and noticed a few people had passed away from cancer, reality truly sets in. There will be some, that no matter how hard they fight, or what treatments they take, will pass away. My heart breaks for these wonderful folks and their families who have lost their lives and loved ones to this disease. It seems so wrong and unfair. We deserve a cure, we need a cure….like yesterday!
On a separate note, for those of you who are on Facebook, I’ve listed the link to my Facebook page on my blog here under my “home page.”
I hope this year is one filled with love, happiness and good health for all of you. Not only do I hope this for each of you for THIS year, I hope this for each of you for MANY MORE years. :)
Posted on Hi Kim
Happy New Year!...Good to hear from you…...Sounds like you are doing well…...My treatments are finished and now I just wait for all my follow up testing next week….......Like you, I’m finding it challenging to get back to “normal”.......Today is my first full day at work since last April…....and I’m loving it!.......Looking forward to many more…...Wishing the same for you…..
Take care…
Jeanne
Hi Kim-
Glad to hear you are doing so well…awesome! Thanks for the update. :o) I added you on FB.
Monica
Posted on Hi Kim,
It was great to hear from you. I loved reading your latest blog. It is such a great feeling knowing how far you’ve come and how you seem to be almost at the norm. This is awesome. We started this journey together and I always like to compare notes (Its a learning experience)
Yeah I ended up needing the disection after all. And I believe my huge setback was all the drama with the feeding tube. I think had that not happened I mighta been a little ahead of the game in the healing dept. Having no food supply that last 1.5 months was a real danger to me. But Anyways thats behind me now. I got a new tube (lol) and Im appreciating every minute of it. Im gaining weight and strength by the day.
Im unable to eat (mouth) yet. Doc doesnt want me using my throat at all due to the pnemonia. He wants the disection to heal and then we will work on my swallowing—Its all good.
Other than being frustrated thatIm NOT healed yet. Im grateful for my “LIFE” I try not to think that this disease ever coming back to me. I simply will go for my PETS and in my heart Im gonna believe ITS gone for GOOD..
Well God Bless ! I wish you the best always.
Love,
Elena
Posted on Hi Kim,
Happy New Year! Great to hear that you are doing well and on the mend. Sounds like you are progressing well ahead of schedule!
Your post rings true on so many notes. If we were to pose the question “Have their been any positive impacts cancer has had on your life” I wonder how people would respond? For me, I would say the positive impact has been that I can see things for what they are, minuta has no place in my life anymore. It is not worth the energy to sweat the small stuff. When you look at the big picture of life, it is much better to move on and leave the crap behind!
I know this new year has many new meanings for you. I am wishing you much good health and happiness for all the days forward.
Happy New Year,
Bo
Hey Kim,
What a positive, upbeat post. You are doing an excellent job and kicking your cancer’s butt!
It’s funny what a slight shift in perspective will do, isn’t it? I, too, find that I just don’t worry about the same things anymore and I’ve found that there really is a lot that’s so trivial out there that tends to consume us pre-diagnosis.
I’m glad you’re healing and you’re finding your way.
You’re an inspiration.
Jill
Posted on Hi Kim,
I am one of the newer people here,Stage 4 tonsil cancer. Your post is very inspiational to me as I am just in the beginning of all this. I will be going to the cancer institute on friday to discuss m y treatment program. I have chosen to do the surgery first, and then treatment.I will be having surgery within the next 3 weeks .
Like I said I am just starting out. I really appreciate reading blogs like yours, keeps me so possitive,and focused on the task at hand.
It is so good to hear that you are almost back to “normal” I look forward to reading more blogs from you and will read all your past blogs. Thank you for them Hugs Val
Posted on Hey Kim!
You were the results of my first web search for “the feeding tube.” I discovered this site through you. What a great first discovery. Thank you for all the great info, the humor, and the feistiness.
Paul51
Posted on Thank you so much for sharing your journey. My sister has stage 2 throat cancer. Had a tonsillectomy, and has just begun her radiation (35 treatments) and chemo (7 treatments?). She’s not a computer person, but I am glad to see how the journey may progress and how I can encourage her with your story. I pray you are completely healed and will not have to travel down that path again!
October 16, 2009
It’s interesting to me how there seems to be ideas in our society about what someone who has cancer looks like. A few times during my treatment, I got the “you don’t look like you have cancer” type comments. I found this a bit amusing and surprising because I hadn’t really thought about how our society has ideas of what we (cancer survivors) look like. So this post is dedicated to the folks who aren’t sure “what a cancer survivor looks like” (or perhaps they are sure, however, are incorrect in their assumptions). :)
We are old, we are young, we are middle age. We have hair, we don’t have hair (or in my case thinning hair). :) We are male, we are female. We are your mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmothers and grandfathers. We are your friends, co-workers and neighbors. We are the stranger walking down the street, the person next to you on the train ride to work everyday, and the person who serves you coffee in the morning at your local cafe. We are from every cultural, ethnic, religious and political background. We live in mansions, we live in apartments and everything in between. We shop at Tiffany’s, Target and Walmart. We are a very wonderful and diverse group of folks with much in common.
We all share the common bond of having a disease that we would prefer not to have. We didn’t sign up for cancer and would very much appreciate if it would simply go away. We want to live with love, laughter and dignity….perhaps more than anything…..we want to live. We all hope for the day when there is a cure. We deserve a cure.
We are all of these things and so very much more. The face of cancer is so much more than what some folks imagine it to be.
Hope all of you are doing well these days. Take good care.
I stopped in at a friends office yesterday. She wasn’t there but her sister-in-law was. We started talking and she said, “You’ve lost a lot of weight, you look great.” I said, “Thank you.” Then she asked, “How did you do it?” My answer, “Cancer.” Her jaw dropped and then she asked for the whole story. So what Kim says above is so true. I just had to share.
Sending hugs and prayers to everyone.
-Kathy
Posted on “But you look great!” That’s what I get all of the time, often said with an accusatory tone, like what they mean is that I should look like the poster child cancer picture. Well, with the wig…you don’t see my bald head and the bangs hide the no eyebrows, and I do wear glasses so you don’t really notice the alien no eyelashes either.
Watch out “others”,,,we’re everywhere!
Great post!
Teresa
Posted on kim…
wow…i was very moved by what you wrote..
you have an amazing and wonderful gift of putting things into words…and what you wrote was so true
god bless…
dennis
Posted on My very good friend (who only came to see me once in the first 5 weeks) caught me out geting fresh air at the beginning of fifth week of treatment. He said, “How many weeks has it been now?” My answer was just starting my 5th week. He said, “Wow, it is just flying by!” My answer was Is it really? He then realized what he said and apologized. He called me 3 -5 times a week after that to check in and we laugh about it now.
My wife then found a great book, 20 Things That People with Cancer Want You to Know. It helped us feel ok about our feelings and more comfortable with how some friends were handling my cancer. The author started the book and before finishing she unfortunately was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Finally, glad to hear from you. I followed your posts closely as you started the journey about month before I did. Hope you doing well. I still low on weight and strength, but feel good.
Thanks for your really well written thougths.
Mark
Posted on hi, kim. i got a chuckle out of your post. it is so true. i remember telling people at work about my diagnosis and i felt like they would stare at me, trying to see how the cancer was affecting me. hello, it was in my uterus! even now, i feel like people still stare, trying to see visually what cancer does to a person… how it changes them. i guess that is just a natural reaction. kinda funny, i think. great post. keep hanging in there and as always, keep the faith. debby
Posted on Hi Kim..
Sounds like you are doing well…...I was wondering about you and waiting to see a post from you for an update….....As for how you look with cancer….people kept telling me I looked great….like I didn’t even have cancer….now I am almost bald so that changes everything…..I feel like a neon sign flashing cancer….chemo….cancer….chemo….....but I just throw on my baseball cap and a little makeup and face the world….with a big smile….....
take care
Kim, loved your post. Especially the part about the stranger walking down the street. One of the many realizations I’ve had since Jim’s diagnosis and spending so much time in the oncology waiting rooms is how cancer doesn’t have a face and it is not prejudice at all! It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white, old or young, rich or poor. It holds no hostages and it takes where it can. Every different walk of life can be found in a chemo lounge or in an oncologist’s waiting room. I no longer get pissed off by someone who cuts me off on the road, or cuts in front of me at the store. They, or a loved one, may be going through cancer treatment. I cut others more slack and give the benefit of the doubt more often. Cancer realization has made me a better person. There you have it, my one positive comment about cancer.
Glad to read that you are doing better each day. Keep it up and thanks for your post.
Gina
Posted on 
08.04.09 
Thanks for your support - 
