Thanks all for your perspective on your personal battles and triumphs. Your courage, perseverance, and fight are awe inspiring to me.
Joe, reading about all the challenges that are ahead of me as I go through surgery, recovery and survival; it looks daunting. I can not put into my mind how tough it will be. I do have a similar attitude as you described. I will not quit not only because I want to beat this cancer, but I want to enjoy my life and the life of my family and friends. I have always thought I would have done anything for my family. Now will be the time to step up and prove it.
Holly, thanks for sharing the idea of the “just in case box”. My brother in-law (46 years old) who just loss his wife to Cancer told me and a friend just the other day that if all of us could do something that would be valued, it would be to write down things about your love one. He was hardly ever away from his wife so there were very few letters written. The ones he does have, he re-reads over and over again.
I tell my kids stories of my childhood all the time. Last year I started writing these stories down. I will now make sure I write stories about my kids and wife too.
Wendy, when I go from thinking I will live to be a really old man, to 78% chance of surviving 10 years; it still seems like a delayed death sentence. However, it is easy for me to focus on the battle and not the end. The kids had been looking at the 10 years and started calculating what I could miss out in their life. We now look at what I will be enjoying in their current and near future life. This is has been the difference in them not worrying. We have spent allot of time lately talking about my daughter’s high school graduation in June, My son’s college baseball games and classes, my other son’s track and transition to high school next year, and my two young girls trying to teach me some clapping and singing routines. It is allot easier when this time is not considered “dad’s Cancer time”. Oh and by the way, my wife loves that the chores she traditionally does, are done by me before she can get to them.
Rick