Celebrate?

[boyce]

All,

Wednesday is 1 year since I was diagnosed.(And what a year, right?!?!) Maybe you all can help resolve an issue (one of few) on which Margaret and I disagree:

Margaret is a celebrator. You all see her enthusiasm and joie de vivre every day here. I am Not a celebrator. (So she celebrates for herself and her stick-in-the-mud husband.

I definitely want to do something for my urologist wo diagnosed me (in less than 1 minute- real time) and saved me. Any ideas? I was thinking the old standby the Big Cookie! (Thanks for the idea M.)

So for those of you who are longer term survivors than I am, did you recognize in any special way the diagnosis date, or did you use end of chemo, or all clear or some other day as a marker?

Interested in your input here, as we all should take some time to appreciate the victories that we have.

[Margaret]

I just want to openly say honey that you are honestly one of the most graceful and toughest fighters I have ever known. You endured many brutal days and never complained once. I was humbled watching you battle and so proud that you were able to handle so many obstacles. When I was certain I would crumble under the stress, you (the sick one) always picked me up. How can we NOT celebrate such commitment? You are worth celebrating.

You had balls..mmmmmm...ball of steel! Karen, are you going to kick me out for saying that?

Love,

m (aka proud wife)

[Karen]

We let the "impressive size" it got post-surgery slide. However, if you posted the photo you took THAT would qualify for deletion

You have to celebrate...all of life's achievements need to be celebrated! At each "all clear" we get a bottle of wine or chapmagne, write the date on the cork and save it. I have a nice collection that I look forward to expanding! Sending something to the doc is a good idea but we haven't done that yet.

[MRMRSU]

we all should take some time to appreciate the victories that we have

CELEBRATE? Absolutely We celebrate you, your sweet wife Margaret and your adorable son Allen! And victories, no matter how small should always be celebrated.

After our last discharge from the hospital, during a follow-up visit, I happened to ask one of our urologist's nurses what kinds of things the good surgeon might possibly enjoy. Could you believe that this Harvard-educated guy enjoyed the simple things in life - he loved coffee and wanted a travel cup for it!!! So we got him a gift card from Peet's Coffee, a cool travel mug, coffee-flavored snacks, the works! It went over very well and he mentions it every time we see him.

[Fed]

I absolutely think you should celebrate it. It's quite a milestone. It's the day you actually began the fight and became a cancer survivor.

I myself am doing two things. First, my GP is getting a huge bouquet of flowers. Thanks to her and the urgency in her voice, I dragged myself to the ER to be diagnosed. Just by telling her my symptoms over the phone she had the foresight to be adamant about going to get checked out ASAP. Second, since my one-year will actually be on Thanksgiving Day, I'm going to do something I have wanted to do for a long time: I'll be making Thanksgiving dinner myself, and I will make a tur-duck-en. I enter into a "Zen State" whenever I cook, and I always find peace in that. Making the tur-duck-en will definitely keep me busy, but at peace with everything.

[jaybird]

Fed you just made me hungry for Thanksgiving!

I have always celebrated the end of treatment with my mom b/c we went through the experience together. The end of treatment is also a few days before my birthday so we do it up double time.

[Scott]

Hey, Boyce, I hope you become a celebrator! I believe in celebrating at every opportunity. I recognize the anniversaries of both my orchiectomy and L-RPLND.

[dannysbrother]

Hey Boyce,

I think I kinda know what you mean... I can see the 1 year anniversary being something of a bitter-sweet thing. It's the first time that you really stop and take a look behind you at the havok that was the past year. So understandably, you might want to take some time that day for looking back and reflecting... BUT THEN TURN AROUND AND LOOK FORWARD BABY!! Smile, relax and enjoy the view!!!

And have a beer for me!!! (never really liked the taste )

I'm with MRMRSU... We celebrate YOU! And your spectacular wife!! And your wonderful family.

lots of love from NYC,
Michael

[dadmo]

Yes celebrate. Celebrate everyday that you are given, and kiss your children every night.

[Russell's Mom]

Hi Boyce,
One idea would be to call his nurse and ask what he likes. She has probably seen him receive gifts before and will have an idea of what goes over good.
Russell's diagnosis was made on July 13, last year. Simply stated, Russell will have a bar-b-que with his friends. I am going to wedge my way into the crowd for a few minuytes in the afternoon. I have a painting for him. He has made it pretty clear that it is a friends kind of day. It is very good that he is standing tall, pushing Mom back a bit. Lift off for "celebrate" will be difficult for me. My gratitude is laced with grief. We spent the morning together today....just cleaning his car.....I cherished ever moment!
Let us know what you end up with!! Russell's Mom, Sharon

[AdrianB1971]

.

I'm remaining a little moderate even after 2+ years. I still have a floating fear about TC and i don't sub estimate it's power of return. Maybe ill feel this way whole of my life.

[drom]

We sent a catered lunch to our family doctor's office and also to the Chemo center.

After the last surgery was done we had a big party to celebrate! We called it F-Cancer and we invited all the people both medical and personal who helped us survive the worst nightmare of our life.

Listen to Dadmo, kiss your children every night and hug them every morning!

Celebrate.

Domenic

[mstlyn]

I just want to openly say honey that you are honestly one of the most graceful and toughest fighters I have ever known. You endured many brutal days and never complained once. I was humbled watching you battle and so proud that you were able to handle so many obstacles. When I was certain I would crumble under the stress, you (the sick one) always picked me up. How can we NOT celebrate such commitment? You are worth celebrating.

You had balls..mmmmmm...ball of steel! Karen, are you going to kick me out for saying that?

Love,

m (aka proud wife)

awwww how sweet!! how can anyone kick you out for something like that? LOL

Too precious

[Margaret]

Well tomorrow is the big day and I plan on dragging Boyce into my celebration for him! I have ordered a giant cookie with "Thank you for saving my life" written on it with icing. All 'thank you's' seem more sincere when attached to a big, warm cookie..don't you think?

We are going to take that to the doctor's office so that everyone, nurses and staff, can enjoy it. AT the 6 month mark we sent flowers and candy and they liked that too.

We are going to go out to dinner...eat some yummy food, have some good wine and maybe a few mini surprises. I hate to say it but maybe in some ways I need a celebration too...not for what I did, because in the big picture I did very little, but I need to remember how far we have come. I would not want to go back a year ago and do it all again, that is for sure.

Happy 7-11 tomorrow!

[Lori]

My husband and I were just talking about what we should send to our docs, so thanks for all the great ideas. As for celebrating...I try to do some sort of celebration after each test, which basically has been each month since our blood work and CT scans are not yet on the same cycle. We mostly resort to a great dinner out and a good glass of wine. I agree with what someone else said, celebrate every day!