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COdogman

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I’m a pretty private person - I am way happier asking other people about their lives than I am talking about myself. Over the years I have met so many people whose lives and families have been changed by cancer. I always did my best to offer help and words of encouragement but you really never know exactly what to say because words don’t change anything.

That dynamic changed for me last year when I ended up in the hospital for emergency surgery because a tumor I didn’t know I had on my small intestine ruptured and caused severe internal bleeding. I had lost enough blood the team actually had to do a massive blood transfusion and I was very near death from that alone! A week later I found out I had a pretty rare form of cancer called GIST (Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor). I had never heard of it before that day and now I was diagnosed with stage 4. The surgery removed the largest tumor that had started bleeding (along with 8 inches of my small intestine), but they found several other smaller tumors that were inoperable.

There is no cure for GIST unless they can remove all of it via surgery - traditional chemotherapy and radiation do not work on these tumors. There are some oral chemo drugs that are fairly effective against it and as of now I have been taking the first line drug for a year with good results. There is no way of knowing how long that will last, but I’m not worrying about that yet. One day at a time as they say!

So now I’m one of the people everyone tries to find words of encouragement for, which is very uncomfortable for me. I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me and I’ve honestly lived a very full life so far at 48. I plan to keep trying to do that for as long as I’m able. I was actually back at work 2 weeks after getting out of the hospital because this all happened right before a busy holiday season at our business. Not ideal, but I’m glad I did that - I didn’t give myself the chance to stop moving and living life.

Buying my R1T is a bit of a YOLO purchase for me, as I’ve never been one to spend that kind of money on myself. It’s certainly hard to justify as anything other than a “want”, not a “need”…. Don’t get me wrong - I plan to enjoy every second of it!

If there are any other cancer patients, survivors, family members who want to share their stories or need a virtual hug or high five, please feel free to do so here. If you would rather not share that here then just know you aren’t alone! If you see me out and about in CO definitely say hello - I’m the guy with the “fuck cancer” tattoo on his forearm:)

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jebinc

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Stay strong and positive! Also, enjoy the "F" out of that R1T! My son had cancer when he was only 9, and that was quite traumatic for him and all those around him. The positive news is he is now 34 and cancer free. The experience caused him to pursue a PhD in Bio Chemistry and he works for the UW (Seattle) as a research scientist leader - Protein Design Institute. They do some amazing Cancer and virus research there! All the best on your journey, and I endorse your tat!
 
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State11

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Thank you for sharing and starting this thread. I'm sorry you are having to go through this, but glad to see such a strong approach you have to cancer. It's incredibly timely to me, I lost my sister yesterday morning to colon cancer. She fought so hard for 8 years. As your tattoo, says fuck cancer! Keep fighting & drive the hell out of that R1T!!
 
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COdogman

COdogman

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Stay strong and positive! Also, enjoy the "F" out of that R1T! My son had cancer when he was only 9, and that was quite traumatic for him and all those around him. The positive news is he is now 34 and cancer free. The experience caused him to pursue a PhD in Bio Chemistry and he works for the UW (Seattle) as a research scientist leader - Protein Design Institute. They do some amazing Cancer and virus research there! All the best on your journey, and I endorse your tat!
Your son turned that experience into something great! So glad he is around for your family AND for those of us who depend on his big brain to help us!:D
 

dp351

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I’m sorry to read about your diagnosis and I wish you the best. You seem to have the right attitude to fight it. Get your R1T and enjoy everything it has to offer.

I’ve been fighting Lymphoma for the past two years, with all kinds of chemo, radiation, and a stem cell transplant. As of now it looks like I’m winning with a clean scan one year past the last treatment. It takes hard work, perseverance, a positive attitude, great doctors, and some luck to fight off this killer.

As much as it sucks, cancer can be a blessing. Being a survivor means enjoying life, even when work, traffic, money, kids etc make it stressful. Buying a Rivian is a YOLO move for me too, which probably wouldn’t have happened without cancer.
 

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COdogman

COdogman

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Thank you for sharing and starting this thread. I'm sorry you are having to go through this, but glad to see such a strong approach you have to cancer. It's incredibly timely to me, I lost my sister yesterday morning to colon cancer. She fought so hard for 8 years. As your tattoo, says fuck cancer! Keep fighting & drive the hell out of that R1T!!
I am so sorry about your sister. 8 years is a long time to fight that fight! She must have been tough as nails. Keep her memory alive by sharing her story with others. You never know who it might inspire.
 
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COdogman

COdogman

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I’m sorry to read about your diagnosis and I wish you the best. You seem to have the right attitude to fight it. Get your R1T and enjoy everything it has to offer.

I’ve been fighting Lymphoma for the past two years, with all kinds of chemo, radiation, and a stem cell transplant. As of now it looks like I’m winning with a clean scan one year past the last treatment. It takes hard work, perseverance, a positive attitude, great doctors, and some luck to fight off this killer.

As much as it sucks, cancer can be a blessing. Being a survivor means enjoying life, even when work, traffic, money, kids etc make it stressful. Buying a Rivian is a YOLO move for me too, which probably wouldn’t have happened without cancer.
Congrats on your clean scan! That is huge! I get that “scanxiety” every 3 months when I go visit my local imaging lab.

This experience has definitely changed my perspective on life already. I am acutely aware of people wasting my time and definitely don’t worry about smaller, dumb things I might have fretted over before LOL.

You deserve that Rivian! I hope we cross paths out there on new adventures some time;)
 

PappaBolt

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Your post is a master class in bravery, vulnerability, and compassion. I’m sorry about your diagnosis and appreciate your zest for living fully each day.

I hope the days ahead bring insight, adventure and improvements. Enjoy the vehicle, keep your friends and family close. I sense there is much we can learn from you. All the best to you.
 
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COdogman

COdogman

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Your post is a master class in bravery, vulnerability, and compassion. I’m sorry about your diagnosis and appreciate your zest for living fully each day.

I hope the days ahead bring insight, adventure and improvements. Enjoy the vehicle, keep your friends and family close. I sense there is much we can learn from you. All the best to you.
Thanks for the kind words PappaBolt!
 

sierraskier

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Cancer sucks big time, I'm sorry to hear about your battle. But you should know that cancer is beatable... I've been in remission for ~30yrs from Hodgkin's lymphoma (I'm 50 now). I was super lucky I caught it early and Hodgkin's is super curable, but of course I'm at a much higher risk for follow on cancers because of radiation therapy. Not to mention that my Mom passed from colon cancer 2yrs ago and my dad has Stage 4 melanoma (at 91)...so I guess we have the cancer gene. Although these days it sure feels like everyone does and it's just a matter of how far you go on the timeline before the genes end up being expressed. I think we will find out eventually that there are significant environmental component(s) and eventually isolate what they are. Cancer puts things into perspective real quick and makes you realize what's important in life. Hang in there, stay positive, stay active and most importantly, live life accordingly! The vast majority of people kind of go through the motions day to day and don't truly understand what it's like to live life with the realization that you could be gone tomorrow, so you can kind of be thankful for your heightened sense of reality
 

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a tumor I didn’t know I had on my small intestine
So all this time dogs have been sniffing your butt and you just wrote it off as normal dog behavior? 😜 I admit to letting my dog sniff my pee in case it suddenly strikes him as being different/bad. They're supposed to be able to smell out cancer if trained properly, but I think all I've done is train my dog to like pee even more than he already would have. Sigh.

I wish you less existential drama and more adventure in the future! Spring can't come soon enough 😊
 
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COdogman

COdogman

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Cancer sucks big time, I'm sorry to hear about your battle. But you should know that cancer is beatable... I've been in remission for ~30yrs from Hodgkin's lymphoma (I'm 50 now). I was super lucky I caught it early and Hodgkin's is super curable, but of course I'm at a much higher risk for follow on cancers because of radiation therapy. Not to mention that my Mom passed from colon cancer 2yrs ago and my dad has Stage 4 melanoma (at 91)...so I guess we have the cancer gene. Although these days it sure feels like everyone does and it's just a matter of how far you go on the timeline before the genes end up being expressed. I think we will find out eventually that there are significant environmental component(s) and eventually isolate what they are. Cancer puts things into perspective real quick and makes you realize what's important in life. Hang in there, stay positive, stay active and most importantly, live life accordingly! The vast majority of people kind of go through the motions day to day and don't truly understand what it's like to live life with the realization that you could be gone tomorrow, so you can kind of be thankful for your heightened sense of reality
Thank you @sierraskier - you are so right about that. Even if you are a person who tries to appreciate life each day (like I thought I did before last year), nothing makes it real like a true test of your mortality. I’m so glad you survived your first and hopefully only fight with it in your life.

I agree that it sure seems like a combination of genes, timing, lifestyle and environment that have caused this to explode the way it has. It’s sad that after so many years and so much money spent we still don’t have the answers we need, but there are some very smart people trying to solve these puzzles. I am hopeful that in our lifetime they will have better answers🤞🏼
 
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COdogman

COdogman

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So all this time dogs have been sniffing your butt and you just wrote it off as normal dog behavior? 😜 I admit to letting my dog sniff my pee in case it suddenly strikes him as being different/bad. They're supposed to be able to smell out cancer if trained properly, but I think all I've done is train my dog to like pee even more than he already would have. Sigh.

I wish you less existential drama and more adventure in the future! Spring can't come soon enough 😊
Yes, I think you may have accidentally trained your dog to be an unlicensed pee inspector:CWL:

It’s really funny when I go places outside of work. Dogs just walking by will pull over to smell me and say hello. My first thought is that I didn’t shower well enough and I still smell like a million other dogs. Then I try to convince myself that it’s just because they know I’m a “dog person” LOL.

I’ll just go with that….
 

jebinc

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Thank you @sierraskier - you are so right about that. Even if you are a person who tries to appreciate life each day (like I thought I did before last year), nothing makes it real like a true test of your mortality. I’m so glad you survived your first and hopefully only fight with it in your life.

I agree that it sure seems like a combination of genes, timing, lifestyle and environment that have caused this to explode the way it has. It’s sad that after so many years and so much money spent we still don’t have the answers we need, but there are some very smart people trying to solve these puzzles. I am hopeful that in our lifetime they will have better answers🤞🏼
It seems like companies are more interested in solutions that manage the disease than they are of curing it. Take diabetes, for example. My other son has T1. Companies make more money selling insulin, pumps, test strips and more than they would if they released a cure. Sad, but true.
 
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COdogman

COdogman

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It seems like companies are more interested in solutions that manage the disease than they are of curing it. Take diabetes, for example. My other son has T1. Companies make more money selling insulin, pumps, test strips and more than they would if they released a cure. Sad, but true.
It sure seems like we should be much closer to curing some of these things than we actually are. I would hope that $ would not prevent that from happening if it was attainable, but like you I am eternally suspicious of the pharma companies and even the medical establishment as a whole. I take my pill every night like a good boy because I am not crazy enough to think that simply eating better or other natural “cures” will work alone, but I don’t trust any of them to be honest. Plus I ate healthy before this happened to me:confused:
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