Cancer and a wake up call.

[suckseed]

I've been on the phone with a few of my friends for the last few hours. I got a phone call from an old bandmate of mine, who told me that one of the other guys in the band has been through quite an ordeal lately. He couldn't keep any food down, thought he was depressed, and saw a therapist, who told him to see a doctor. Turns out he had really bad stomach cancer. They told him he had six months. But he happened to get pulled aside by another doc who told him to go to Houston. They removed his spleen, half his stomach, most of his pancreas, part of his colon and part of his esophogus.

The funny thing is, he was always the healthy guy in the band - never smoked cigs or pot, did no drugs, worked out and ran constantly. He could drink like a champ, but could also be a teetotaler. He's gone from 190 to 130 pounds. His wife told me that his spirits are good and he's running at least a mile and a half a day to prepare for chemo next month.

Anyway. I called him and we talked - it'd been two years. We'd had an altercation when the band broke up, and musically I always bonded more with some of the other guys...but as a person he's a tremendous guy.


He was always the most concerned about money - at thirty he had enough invested in the stock market that he was considering retirement. His wife had just changed jobs, and the benefits were slow going through - bottom line - he was dropped by the insurance company and they're paying this bill themselves. I asked him what he thought about that, and he said in the beginning it pissed him off, but after the surgery he said, "Fuck it. I'm alive."

I wanted to share this, just as a reminder to appreciate every day. Don't put off anything you want to do. Cheers.

[whatsupwithat]

Thank you for posting that. I needed to read something like that today, something to put it all into perspective. Thank you.

[suckseed]

My pleasure. I almost wrote earlier that the guy had a physique like you

[odelay24]

That's crazy.

The American health care system is just offensive by the way.

[whatsupwithat]

My pleasure. I almost wrote earlier that the guy had a physique like you

My mom and dad both died of cancer long ago. I've had a very long history with it and know tons people battling and living with it now. It's amazing how they change, how they look at the world differently. Like your friend said, "I'm alive!"

Thank you, again. I really did need to read something like that.

[hwbs]

3 weeks ago my grandfather was diagnosed with cancer..he didnt even make it 24 hours....atleast he didnt have to suffer....cancer has hit my family very hard in the last few years...i have had 5 friends or family members besides my grandfather that have been diagnosed...thank god all but 1 are in remission...

[suckseed]

Wow. I'm sorry to hear that , man. My condolences.