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The Room of Hope
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The Room of Hope

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  • Post
    • January 25, 2013 at 4:40 pm
    TAC
    Participant

      Haven't been here in quite a while. Am Stage IIIb and have been for almost 12 years in spite of 6 recurrences..all surgically removed..all on the skin or just underneath. Have had 8 surgeries, 4 skin grafts, 2 sentinel node biopsies, chemo (interferon), radiation, a vaccine and then Leukine for 8 years. Fortunately none of the recurrences were in organs. I did have renal cell carcinoma (kidney removed) and in 2008 had adenocarcinoma (lung cancer and upper left lobe removed….I don't smoke). Been quite a journey in the cancer world but so far so good.

      Haven't been here in quite a while. Am Stage IIIb and have been for almost 12 years in spite of 6 recurrences..all surgically removed..all on the skin or just underneath. Have had 8 surgeries, 4 skin grafts, 2 sentinel node biopsies, chemo (interferon), radiation, a vaccine and then Leukine for 8 years. Fortunately none of the recurrences were in organs. I did have renal cell carcinoma (kidney removed) and in 2008 had adenocarcinoma (lung cancer and upper left lobe removed….I don't smoke). Been quite a journey in the cancer world but so far so good.

      Chicken Soup for the Soul was soliciting stories for their Cancer Book. So I submitted a story called The Room of Hope, my story in the chemo room. It was included in the book. My view of the chemo room was and is that it is a place where Hope lives so I wrote it from that perspective. If you are interested in reading many good, hopeful and yes, sad stories, get the Chciken Soup for the Soul – The Cancer Book. My story is one of them.

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    • Replies
        • January 26, 2013 at 3:20 am
        kylez
        Participant

          gonna put this on my reading list.

          • January 26, 2013 at 3:20 am
          kylez
          Participant

            gonna put this on my reading list.

            • January 26, 2013 at 3:20 am
            kylez
            Participant

              gonna put this on my reading list.

              • May 19, 2013 at 12:44 am
              kylez
              Participant

                Al, I got this book finally on interlibrary loan. It was an excellent read. The main problems is I mainly read over lunch or on the bus, and I would choke up with almost every story. Especially the parts where someone finds out they have cancer for the first time. It was enlightening to hear so many different points of view on the impact of cancer and the different ways people respond to it. Your story was great too. I've been in an infusion room exactly 4 times (IPI). I don't think I thought of it as the room of hope at the time. But given that I probably had a good response to IPI (knock on wood), and after reading your storyI think I could see it that now.

                Great book.
                – Kyle

                • May 19, 2013 at 12:44 am
                kylez
                Participant

                  Al, I got this book finally on interlibrary loan. It was an excellent read. The main problems is I mainly read over lunch or on the bus, and I would choke up with almost every story. Especially the parts where someone finds out they have cancer for the first time. It was enlightening to hear so many different points of view on the impact of cancer and the different ways people respond to it. Your story was great too. I've been in an infusion room exactly 4 times (IPI). I don't think I thought of it as the room of hope at the time. But given that I probably had a good response to IPI (knock on wood), and after reading your storyI think I could see it that now.

                  Great book.
                  – Kyle

                  • May 19, 2013 at 12:44 am
                  kylez
                  Participant

                    Al, I got this book finally on interlibrary loan. It was an excellent read. The main problems is I mainly read over lunch or on the bus, and I would choke up with almost every story. Especially the parts where someone finds out they have cancer for the first time. It was enlightening to hear so many different points of view on the impact of cancer and the different ways people respond to it. Your story was great too. I've been in an infusion room exactly 4 times (IPI). I don't think I thought of it as the room of hope at the time. But given that I probably had a good response to IPI (knock on wood), and after reading your storyI think I could see it that now.

                    Great book.
                    – Kyle

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