BLOBBY'S BLOG

Cancer

I have one post out there that is seemingly more popular than the others.

Don't get me wrong, it's not getting 1000s of hits per day....or even a 1000 hits, period. Total. It is just one of those posts from the almost 1400 I have done, has risen to the top of the pile - and what a pile it is.

The post title, Diagnosis, is two and one half years ago and documented how and when I found out I had cancer. I tried to balance the facts, the seriousness of the situation along with humour. Let's face it, I'm all about the humour. And yes, I did find things and ways to laugh about the situation.

Chondrosarcoma (or Chondrasarcoma - not sure why the spelling differs now and again) isn't a horribly well known cancer. We have no celebrity advocates having walks, swims or telethons for it. Bronson Pinchot! Where are you when we need you?????

Hell, we don't even have a cool web site with any flash properties.

I also followed up the diagnosis post with one regarding of my surgery and rehab - it was called Bones. That post doesn't even fall in to my top 10 posts. You'd kind of think that one would be of more interest to folks who are researching the disease.

Of course, I'm assuming people finding these posts are not your medical community doing research. They are looking at academic sites......I would guess. No, I would think that these are everyday normal folk who have just found out about themselves or a friend/loved one/co-worker who has been told this news.

It is because of that, and the pseudo-popularity of these posts, I have to say one thing somewhat surprises me a bit: not one comment has been attached to either post. Not one email has been sent to me via a reader who has gone out of their way to do a search on the disease, found these links and then still clicked on the post. I kind of thought someone would have questions I didn't address in those writings. I guess I'm wrong. No biggie.

Clearly, I'm no expert on the disease. Just a survivor. But sometimes that's all you can ask for - right? Mine was the luck of the draw. Truly luck.

Today is 16 years to the date from my surgery (yes, Tornwordo, it's that memory thing of mine again. no, I didn't have to look it up, I just know.)

I always wanted to post pics of my scar - and now I am. I wish I could get you the pics of my x-ray, but you can't do that on a standard scanner, and if you really looked at it, it might not be suitable for work.

I can't say my father was thrilled, but I made him take this top picture of me. The leg is still quite swollen, but the bruising was not nearly as bad as it had been. It is hard to see, but running up the leg are 27 surgical staples.

This is me a few weeks later. Swelling is down even more. The staples are out - obviously. But they leave cool marks, huh? The extra two marks are from the drain that was in my leg. The hair is beginning to grow back too - which was another pain altogether.

The scar is still there. The plate is still there. The nine pins are still there. I'm still here.




Song by: Joe Jackson