Youse guys had a big discussion about moles last night while I was out. I made a quick comment that I thought there might be a mole here at Trooper York. I want to be clear that it is not any of the people who post comments here all the time. But there are several people who requested access who never ever post a comment. Which is fine. Just reading is perfectly acceptable. I didn't do a background check on who came in or who didn't.
There was some back and forth about it especially with MamaM. As I had said before MamaM has emailed me privately and I am sure that she is who she says she is. I know that sometimes people get rubbed the wrong way when someone has a little bit of a prickly personality. But we love prickly personalities here. We even love to have pricks comment. (That's why ndspinelli is so popular here.)
Anyhoo I was at the American Cancer Society gala last night and subject of moles came up a the table. A girl who was a survivor of cancer only found out she had it by checking out a mole that she had. By getting it checked out she ended up saving her life.
That is the kind of mole you have to worry about. Life is too short to worry about another type. The rest of it is all nonsense.
Cancer and the survivors of it give you some perspective.
48 comments:
Cancer sucks.
There, I said it.
I don't care who bashes me for it. That's just the sort of risky stand I'm willing to take.
I also accept apologies.
Moles suck. Get them checked out.
Ironically, I have never gotten into this clandestine, mole stuff. I've always found it tedious.
I hate mole also. I've tried it several times @ good Mexican restaurants but I guess it's an acquired taste.
IIRC, they have pretty good mole at Las Fuentes.
I find it puzzling that "guacamole" doesn't translate literally as "avocado mole". Instead, "guaca" has all sorts of meanings, including burial mound, treasure, and large sore.
I found the mole character in "The Wind And The Willows" endearing--along with Rat and Badger.
Remember when blogfather used to write entertaining (but controversial) fiction around "Watership Down"?
"Tails From Toed Hall" would have worked too.
There's nothing brave or risky about saying cancer sucks, because it does. Cancer sucks. I can't imagine who'd bash anyone for speaking that kind of truth.
Rachel Naomi Remen is a doctor who's recently written two books of stories* about her own journey with Crohn's disease and those she walks alongside as a cancer counselor.
She won't be Cracks cup of tea, but her words touch my heart.
*Kitchen Table Wisdom
My Father's Blessing
Cancer killed my father so I know it sucks. He led a pretty Mormon-like lifestyle too, eschewing drinking, tobacco, and even coffee. My mother smoked until she was 50 but downed lots of coffee too. She'll be 75 next month. All her siblings are dead--diabetes, heart disease, or cancer. But the thing that really sucks about cancer is that the etiology is still so uncertain.
Cancer and the survivors of it give you some perspective.
That reminded me of Dick Dale: link
My daughter had to have a suspicious mole removed, it was getting getting rubbed the wrong way when it brushed upi against her jeans. So I took her to the Dermatologist, she removed it and stitched it up, at some point my daughter did something to open up rhe wound, so careless! Since it was mostly healed I just let it heal naturally, but it left a bigger scar, now that was careless of me.
It's sort of an funny looking scar, not huge and makes her leg more interesting, not perfect, because perfection can be boring. But she doesn't hold any grudges toward me, because, she doesn't have that ugly bleeding mole anymore and I'm her Mom, she loves me!
I'm so blessed to be surrounded by people who love, laugh, fight clean, forgive, it's what makes life worth living. That and a double rum and coke watching the sun go down over the lake.
That's how we do here Allie.
One big happy fighting fueding forgiving Italian family.
(With Spinelli as the idiot cousin)
Another thought. Our discussion of malignant melanoma and sun exposure. Two of my daughters are active on a Charity here in Wisconsin, called Ann's Hope. It's founders had relatives that died of malignant melanoma, they hold a yearly banquet and auction,I got a few really neat things, but what what I always came away with was the bigger treasure, stories of hope, cures and stories of those left behind and the good advice they have for the families.
You can't go to one of these events and not see a bigger picture, one that makes our daily existence not seem extraordinarily blessed.
May 18, 2012 1:47 PM
I need coffee, I slept later than I thought after just laying back down for another half hour of sleep, before I knew it, was noon, I can't drink anymore, it knocks me for a loop.
I never said this before but may have at TOP.
I had cancer in 2002. I was 31. Did chemo for 10 weeks, never lost my hair though. I was never sick from it either.
Going in to chemo was tough though. I thought it might be a private affair but I walked into this floor where everyone was getting chemo. And it was all ages, colors and sex. Some were doing work while hooked up, we had tv's, family and friends were with them, and the really bad ones would be wheeled in who were in the hospital.
There were probably somewhere between 50-60 people in this room. It was a square room and you could see people across from you as well as both sides of you. For some reason Price Is Right was the popular show to watch. Everyone of my family members came to one of the sessions. Except the last one which I did alone-at that point I was much braver.
The most amazing experience though was the people that worked there, from the hospital staff, to the old lady volunteers who had all kinds of food that they made and walked around serving everyone. They were incredible.
I am fine now, so no "oh titus"
Just thought I would share.
Cancer isn't always the end of your world, just a small bump.
My father has Alzheimers.
He is doing ok.
My mom is a very private person and is afraid that some of her friends know, she doesn't want people to know.
But their friends do know. You couldn't not know if you spend any time around him.
One thing she has said is that "men" don't know how to deal with illness. My dad's friends don't call him anymore or see him and when they are in a social setting don't know how to react to him. Maybe not all men, but she thinks men from his generation.
I don't necessarily agree with that statement but that has been her experience.
Sickness and death level the playing field, eh?
OK, won't say Oh Titus, but I'm so sorry to hear about your Dad's condition. Im sure you know I worked on Alzheimer Dementia units for several years, it was heart wrenching, tough nursing, I saw families leave the floor in tears when their Mom or Dad or husband didn't know who they were anymore. I'm sure you and your sisters are supportive of your Mom, she will need all the you all more and more as it progresses. I wish I could say something hopeful, but you deserve the truth.
And I'm glad you're here!
Need you all more and more.
My wife's grandma had Alzheimers. It doesn't run in my side of the family as far as I know. Do people die of Alzheimers or is it just a complication?
The grandma was a German woman from the Ruhrgebiet who moved to Utrecht in the early 1940s and married my mother's grandfather. There was a lot of animosity against Germans in Holland then(there still is). The Dutch sat out WW I and wanted to do the same in WW II until Hitler bombed Rotterdam and said fuck you, we need that port.
Growing up, my wife's parents would fly back with their girls--they needed to keep the Dutch heritage alive. It must have cost them an arm and a leg each year, but my wife developed quite an attachment and the grandma was the quintessential doting Dutch/German Oma. I did meet her late in her life--in 1990--when she already had Alzheimers. She didn't recognize her grandaughter, but she was stuck by me and the large red parka I wore--she dubbbed me grote rode which means "big red" in Dutch. In Holland, end of life care involves assisted living in what we'd call a nursing home. It's all very modest and usually a family member lives nearby.
I thought spinelli was a prickly dick who fell off the Pritikin diet and was mightily pissed.
The hardest thing about cancer, aside from the death fears, must be people beating themselves up for what they did wrong or didn't do right to get the cancer when apparently cancer strikes randomly. Two of the people I admire most on the internet, John Derbyshire and Laurence Auster, are both finishing or finished with chemo right now and I think, not sure, both are in remission but without illusion about having beat their respective cancers. And both have written great articles and essays while undergoing the chemo. The courage of people is astounding.
Cancer does suck. And Amen to checking your moles!
Titus, I'm sorry to hear about your dad. Alzheimer's is a cruel disease to both the afflicted and their loved ones.
Without meaning to force my beliefs on anyone, I would like to offer that I believe God provides gifts throughout the suffering. I believe I felt/saw them several times during my mom's last years.
On one occasion, when my mom barely knew me anymore but I was visiting, she said to the caregiver: "They tell me that I've forgotten things, but I can't remember anything I've forgotten!"
I couldn't help laughing at that and my laugh made my mom laugh (as it often did when she still knew me) and we continued to laugh so hard and then giggle for a while. I had an instant of remembrance of us - like we were - and maybe she did too, but in any case, it was a gift that still makes me smile to recall.
May God bless you and your family.
Chickie, they die of complications from the brain shrinking more and more each year. Mostly their demise is because of nutritional issues, they won't, can't eat, difficulty swallowing, then effects of the poor nutrition, heart attacks, strokes, etc.
Falls are also a factor, broken hips, skulls, etc. nowadays in nursing homes restraints chemical or physical are not allowed and it's incredibly difficult to keep these patients safe.
Darcy, I didn't know your Mom had Alzheimer's, so sorry. I'm glad you had some good moments during those years.
Titus, Your old man and family are in my prayers.
What Blake said.
D - That brought tears. Thank you and bless you.
*Group hug*
*Hug back* :)
Can I get in the hug circle?
My uncle has it now Titus. He has had it for the past five years. He lives with my Mom and she takes care of him with the help of health care worker.
He talks non-stop but he doesn't remember anybody. But he loves cake. So every week I come over and bring a big cake and me and my mom and my uncle all have a big piece. And he loves it.
Sometimes the little things are the only thing that gets through.
You Dad and especially your Mom are in my prayers.
Have had a number of cancer deaths in my family. Vascular disease is big, too. My brother and I have been dealing with high blood pressure this year. We are having a contest to see who can get their B/P lowest, fastest. Two of my brothers already won that contest - they got theirs to zero over zero. We declared them winners.
My mom died about a year and a half ago. She was 90. She had Alzheimers. I hope this doesn't sound crude, but when she finally died it was a blessing. Nobody should have to live like that. She would look at you when you walked into the room like she recognized you, but then 5 second later there was nothing. Glad you beat the C Titus. Awfully young to have to go through something like that.
My girlfriend died of brain cancer, I took off of work to care for her. Ended up losing my job, but sometimes there are more important things to life. I lost half my retirement pay. I have no regrets.
Sixty, well keep on taking those anti hypertensives. I still have to take my Cardizem, tried weaning myself off of it cause my BP was getting on the lowish side, but the damn palpitations came back! So now I drink half caffeine, had decaf coffee, and take my Cardizem, lower dose though.
That heart attack I had many years ago, when pregnant with my 31 year old daughter may be causing some arrhythmias.
Magnesium also helped a great deal with the palpitations.
I don't take any meds. I just watch what I eat and exercise.
I changed my diet, again, and lost 10 points on each number. At Christmas my B/P was 110/73 or so, so I attribute the rise this year to stress and too much salt. Stopped stressing and reduced sodium, and it's creeping back down. My brother is on his own path. I always wanted to be an only child, in any case.
After a long struggle with it, I've relented and decided that I'm going into the hospital next Tuesday for penis reduction surgery.
It's drastic, I know, but there comes a time when the line at the door gets too damn long. We're not spring chickens any more. Plus, it's trouble finding a pair of pants that fit right.
DONT DO IT, Michael!
Phew! I'm sure glad that I don't have Haz's problem.
Allen, yes, there are more important things, for sure. And no way does it sound crude, when you see that kind of suffering, it is a blessing to be released from it for both the sufferer and the family, loved one.
When I would care for a dying patient, elderly ones, or those that had long drawn out illnesses, it was almost a uplifting experience of sorts. Sounds strange I know.
It was finally a positive thing, a transition from endless suffering to the next world, almost like the birth process, that culminates with a new life.
We had great docs and hospice teams that ordered all the meds, that we needed to keep the patient from suffering.
I remember asking a distraut daughter what I could do for her, she asked for a beer, after running from floor to floor I finally found her a real beer, she was so grateful and sent a beautiful fruit and chocolate bouquet for the unit as a thankyou gift! Families were wonderful in most instances.
Allen, you went beyond the call of duty for your lady friend.
Sorry, couldn't stand seeing my bad spelling in that comment.
I'd rather see your bad spellings than the comment deleted.
I've said it before, but I agree with Allie, Allen. And I find your story just so touching and amazing.
Was happy to see all the hugs!
Time to go Mole Hunting!
Moles are not attractive.
Ew, that mole is getting pissed off, look at those teeth and claws!
Mexican mole, anyone?
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