 Senior Patient Advocate Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Sep 2006 Posts: 8,311 | It is truly hard to educate those that have never experienced what we went through. All (me included) typically get sick for a week or two and then one day we feel better and the next day we are finished with our "recovery" and back to normal and we soon forget how bad we felt. We (us), on the other hand, recover over years and we seldom forget how bad we felt. That's something you can't expect anyone to understand, nor do we really want them to if it means they have to go through what we did.
To this day, every time my wife sees a picture of a person with cancer who is skinny with a sunken face, etc, you know what I mean, she quickly says "look...that's what you looked like for about a year'. I know I was skinny but it really hits you harder when you see someone else look that way and think others took pity on you for looking that way to.
David
Age 58 at Dx, HPV16+ SCC, Stage IV BOT+2 nodes, non smoker, casual drinker, exercise nut, Cisplatin x 3 & concurrent IMRT x 35,(70 Gy), no surgery, no Peg, Tx at Moffitt over Aug 06. Jun 07, back to riding my bike 100 miles a wk. Now doing 12 Spin classes and 60 outdoor miles per wk. Nov 13 completed Hilly Century ride for Cancer, 104 miles, 1st Place in my age group. Apr 2014 & 15, Spun for 9 straight hrs to raise $$ for YMCA's Livestrong Program. Certified Spin Instructor Jun 2014.
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