Shej

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10/10/2020 2:50 pm  #1


CJ news, all good now

From her facebook post, verbatim ---

Long story in short, I’ve had cancer. I don’t, now, and scans show I’m well and truly rid of it. Found out in February, had surgery (colon cancer), started chemo in March, and thanks to a really great medical staff and good insurance, I finished chemo successfully, had a raft of scans and another round with my excellent GI doc, and am now clean and clear—not to be cavalier about it all. Chemo is rough. It’s done a number on general strength and it does age you a bit. Or more than a bit. So I know I’ve been in a fight and I look older than I did before this started, but I refuse to settle down and act older. I’ll be exercising to get my strength back.

I owe an immense amount to Jane, who’s had to do everything from cat box to general cookery and bottlewashing and all this with the handicap of Covid restrictions, while she’s had her own issue with a ferociously painful hip problem. I’d have been in a heckuva mess without her taking care of me. Kudos to local friends who have brought us stuff and fixed stuff that was broken. Without you, we couldn’t have kept isolation and safety. One of us exposed is both of us in danger.

So Jane and I both had a forced hiatus from writing, and everything is about 8 months behind. Our publisher has been enormously understanding. We are officially getting back to work. We had the next Alliance book 3/4 finished when this happened, and we will likely be working together, too, on the next Foreigner book, just to get our heads firmly back in the game. So we’ll be late, but we do have a hall pass.

I kept this illness under wraps because there’s nothing anybody not in reach could do, and I had no ready answers to give anybody. But the outcome is the very best. And I would urge anybody out there to go get that postponed colonoscopy. This kind can be dealt with and prevented during a colonoscopy, so go do that, eh? I was lucky. Real lucky. A clinic NP, one of my regular docs and another NP combined saw my shortness of breath as, yep, something that had to be seen to. The exam? The worst is the prep drinks beforehand. The exam itself involves a dose of happy juice from which you wake with zero memory of the process. Couple of hours you’re out of it. No stress, no pain, and if they eliminate all the pre-trouble spots, you don’t get to spend six months on chemo, eh?

I get to spend the next few months with a zapped immune system, so for me and all the others in the same boat, wear those masks and know your courtesy is appreciated.

 

10/10/2020 6:59 pm  #2


Re: CJ news, all good now

This does explain where she's been of late.  I am glad she's been given a clean bill of health.


http://strengthofthehills.tripod.com/hanilanguageandculturepage/

The date I joined the original board: 12/04/2002
 
 

10/10/2020 10:13 pm  #3


Re: CJ news, all good now

Sounds like how my cancer was found: happy accident. Good to hear she's clean and clear.
 

 

10/11/2020 6:07 am  #4


Re: CJ news, all good now

I can certainly relate to the prep being unpleasant....at one stretch, I had 2 colonoscopies in a year, with a barium enema in between.  The prep is the same for all 3.  They still don't know why I'm anemic. 
Glad to know CJ is on the road to healing. 


"Those who can give up essential liberties in order to purchase a little extra security deserve neither liberty nor security." - Benjamin Franklin
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." - Marcus Aurelius
 

10/11/2020 6:37 am  #5


Re: CJ news, all good now

Read this first on FB and am so very glad that CJ and Jane are, hopefully past the worst.  
I kind of suspected something was going on, but thought it was my own paranoia due to having the same type of surgery in March (without the need for chemo or radiation) Made me suspect that anyone who was not communicating was having some dire problems.
2020 has been awful, to say the very least.. 


"You must be mad," said the Cat, "or else you would not have come here."
 

10/11/2020 6:40 am  #6


Re: CJ news, all good now

P.S. GET THOSE COLONOSCOPIES, PEOPLE!
Mine saved me a lot of grief!


"You must be mad," said the Cat, "or else you would not have come here."
 

10/11/2020 6:48 am  #7


Re: CJ news, all good now

Smartcat wrote:

P.S. GET THOSE COLONOSCOPIES, PEOPLE!
Mine saved me a lot of grief!

absolutely.  I just got my 3rd (I’m 61).  Clear for 10 years 

     Thread Starter
 

10/11/2020 8:47 am  #8


Re: CJ news, all good now

I agree about regular scanning. My husband went through the same thing six years ago. In his case, he had had a colonoscopy within five years, so that ten year thing is not always reliable. It is not a medical guideline, it is just what insurance will pay for, unless the doctor recommends a more frequent test.
so, in addition to regularly scheduled colonoscopies we must all also always be vigilant to “changes” if you receive my meaning, because they might indicate a need for a colonoscopy sooner than the 10 year guideline. My doctor says she routinely reports “changes” every three years so she can get tested as often as she thinks is necessary.
also, we females must be diligent about regular mammograms. I let mine slip for too long so I too had to go through chemo, which would not have been necessary if I had just been more responsible.

 

10/11/2020 10:07 am  #9


Re: CJ news, all good now

Oddly, I wanted one due to my situation and my doc said it wasn't worth it. Usually, it's been him wanted me to get one.

 

10/11/2020 1:07 pm  #10


Re: CJ news, all good now

Glad to hear CJ's doing well. Chemo's tough. Her lack of posting makes a lot of sense now. Her health is the most important thing. I think we'll all be happy to wait for the next book if it means that CJ will be healthy. 

Catching cancer early is critical. I had kidney cancer 20 years ago. They only found it because I had undiagnosed Crohn's  disease. I was in immense pain and they found the cancer while trying to figure out what was wrong with me. Two major surgeries two weeks apart. It took me two years to fully recover. 

Bottom line, do the tests. I've found that the hardest part is the prep. It's much, much easier if you can have a day off of work for the prep and another day off for the actual procedure. But with companies I've worked for you're likely to get fired if you try to take two days off for something like that. 

 

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