Cancer Selfies

Pre-paliative CT scan #2

I have a CT scan in an hour.

I've had anxiety about CT scans before. But treatment reduced or eliminated symptoms, so in my memory I wasn't too worried.

I have no confidence about this one. Symptoms are tolerable, but measurably worse. And the source of the agonizing pain, the primary symptom that told me something was wrong, has been eliminated perminantly twice over.

I'm in the dark. I don't talk to my oncologist until after Thanksgiving.

I'm tired. I don't want to be a professional cancer patient anymore. I just want this to be over.

But that's not available to me.

From the comments

James Petrosky: Thanksgiving is October 9fh. I see my oncologist on the 11th.

James Petrosky: It went fine. My physical reaction to the machine and the contrast was the same as always. I think my anxiety spike is getting worse each time, but I don't really remember the scan I had in the spring very well now, and my anxiety has been much worse post surgery.

The narratively correct ways to die of cancer

Boy do I have a lot of feelings about the Terry Fox Run, F🎗️ck Cancer bumper stickers and the like, and the way the media talks about cancer patients. But it really is a lot lot of feelings, and I haven't been able to articulate them in months, so I guess this is all I'm capable of saying to mark the 42nd Terry Fox Run.

From the Comments

James Petrosky: The man did great things, but it sure would have been nice if we, as a society, hadn't decided that running across the second largest country in the world was one of the proper ways of dying of cancer. It's an impossible standard to live up to.
Nobody dare say you don't hold me to this standard. Just don't.
I know you, individually, don't. But I've been scouring the news for months and it is absolutely how we, as a society, feels.
The actual requirement to die this way correctly is to pick a physical feat that a regular person would recognize as difficult and also something they'd never do. Journeying across the country is the best possible choice. The country is fucking huge. Across a province, or a long trail system also work for less physically capable people. Going from fat pre diagnosis to running marathons also works. The important thing is that you have beaten cancer, and are taking a victory lap (and telling society that you care about your health now, because did you really do everything in your power to avoid cancer in the first place?), or are the general, getting yourself ready for the final showdown (you were going to die either way, in the case, but at least you tried by doing something that was never going to affect the outcome)

James Petrosky: I am not about to go policing how any cancer survivor, family member, or terminal case relates to, and talks about, the disease. If you're thinking of a fuck cancer sticker for my benefit, don't. I hate them. I don't need the constant reminder, I already know it's a pretty shit disease. But if it helps you, have at it.
This is complicated by the juvanile jackasses who broke out the Fuck Trudeau signs days after his election. Whether any of us like it or not, a comparison is being made. What was once a flippant say of saying "ugh, this giant class of diseases, right?" now is forever tied up in conservative grievance politics and the fascist trucker convoy. They made a statement against a disease into a statement in favour of another one (that would fuck me up beyond fixing if I got it again)

James Petrosky: Devoting your life to something important to you is one of the three correct ways to die of cancer. The second is to deny the situation, seek out experimental treatments, and fight (because cancer is a battle, and when you lose a battle, you are at least somewhat at fault (unless your a World War 1 general)). So, really, if you don't fight, how can you be upset about dying?
Again, I don't need to hear that you don't think this about me.
Of course it's really complex in reality, most experimental treatments don't work because that is the stage of research they're at. It showed promise in a dish, let's see how it works in a body. But side effects exist, especially on treatments that haven't been proven to work yet. So, really, the treatment probably won't do much good, it's almost certain to leave you with vomiting and constant diahrea. But you're still the general, and it's still your battle to lose.

James Petrosky: The third proper way to die of cancer is only available to people much older than me. 50 is young in a lot of cancer circles. People 65+ can be praised for dying in their beds, surrounded by friends and family, reflecting on a life well lived. I'm 36, so I haven't lived enough. I just get to die an illegal death from cancer.

James Petrosky: Non Canadians. Terry Fox was a young man who died of cancer while trying to run across the country. He started on the east coast and made it to Thunder Bay, Ontario. He's probably the person you can get the most Canadians to say was the Greatest Canadian.

Anxiety: "You aren't dying right"

Extremely bad news to all my anxiety friends! You're going to spend the whole time you're aware that you are dying (and I don't mean in the sense that death is the only birthright of any living thing, I mean in the active sense) worrying that you're doing it wrong, that maybe you should be spending more time tidying so that you can look like your holding together (which obviously has nothing to do with how much dust is on your bookshelf, but fuck does it feel like it should).

From the comments

James Petrosky: I think this is the unpleasant death subject I think about most. My sincere belief is that I made a todo list of mostly just weird junk to occupy time and give me enjoyment. But another valid interpretation is that it's an act, intended to fool me and everyone else, into thinking I'm processing things well, when really I'm so fucked that I can't even be honest about my own motivations.
I think I'm doing trips because I experience genuine joy from them, but I haven't figured out how to tell for sure.

James Petrosky: Tidying and cleaning is a really, really big one for me, because it's something I've always failed at. So, naturally, if I can keep my apartment in order, then I'm doing fine, and since it's a fucking disaster around here (asside from the litter box and toilet), I'm not fine. (Specifically do not want offers to help, holy shit the only way to make this worse is to have to admit I'm no longer capable of maintaining my space, even if it's true)

James Petrosky: My thoughts are very fragmented here, I should have probably let this one develop a little longer. But the take away is that there's no right way to die, there are probably wrong ways but if you aren't doing colonialism looking for the fountain of youth, you're probably okay.

Oncologist panic

<! --I reflected on this on September 1, 2023 -->

Given that there are fewer than 24 hours until I meet my oncologist, I'm going to go back to the CUTE ANIMAL PHOTOS well because holy fuck I have an anxiety disorder and I didn't understand anxiety could be so bad

The comments comtain dozens of posts featuring people's pets and wild animals