Advanced and metastatic

So many friends lost - I would go back a bit in time and add superstars like:

Nimeniton - for his grace and his thoughtful posts

Alathays - for never accepting the limitations of his diagnosis or treatment

Spurspark - for being the early guinea pig who tried many of the treatments that we now accept as standard, even though they sometimes made him very, very ill

Old Al - a wicked sense of humour and not old at all

Andy Ripley - John still has a raggedy old PCUK t-shirt with his words on the front ....

"Dare we hope? We dare.

Can we hope? We can.

Should we hope? We must.

We must, because to do otherwise is to waste the most precious of gifts, given so freely by God to all of us. So when we do die, it will be with hope and it will be easy and our hearts will not be broken."

All my love to you, Julie, and all the other wives, partners, family members & friends who have lost someone recently xxx

Edited by member 04 Oct 2019 at 21:22  | Reason: italics needed

A few years ago I wrote a poem likening our pca journey to a train journey I am guessing that most of you haven’t read it . If you get a chance I would recommend it 🤗

A terminal diagnosis of anything is so scary because it makes us focus on Time . Making us aware that ourselves or our loved ones will only have a certain amount of time left , but each one of us with or without a terminal diagnosis only have a certain amount of time . We will all die that’s a certainty, we will all leave loved ones at some point . Trevor was given 18mths to 2 years but survived almost 5 years , he could have come out of that appointment and been run over by a bus as could have happened to myself . 

A terminal diagnosis pushes our focus on the end game until we are consumed with that thought but if you reflect on that we are all terminal, none of us will live forever just some of us are given a time frame .

so to follow on from that poem I am going to describe all of our life journeys in the form of a train journey . 

We all start our journey in life with an open ticket but no return journey 

some only make it a few stops and there journey terminates , they never got to admire the passing scenery.

for others they manage a quarter of  there journey before the ticket master says sorry yours is the next stop , these had only just managed to admire the fantastic scenery.

for those that have travelled half of the journey there can be all kinds of hiccups , leaves on the line , maintenance work , staff shortage. Some people at this point will have there journey terminated others will get a connecting train to be able to carry on there journey .

three quarters in on the journey for most of us , train travel is a nightmare cancellations , overcrowding, Travel disruptions. We have somehow forgotten to enjoy the journey we at this point are focused on our destination . We don’t see the scenery or the beauty of what’s out side the train , we only focus on the journey and the journeys end .

senior citizens rail card we can sit back smugly relishing the fact that we can’t remember where we are going or why , but we enjoy the scenery as we approach our finale destination. 

My point is along the way of our journey we get side tracked and bogged down with life’s struggles and we forget to enjoy the scenery and life’s moments when we are all travelling in the same direction.

BFN

Julie XXX

Dear Julie, 

Thanks to you and others who have posted on your thread. My husband was diagnosed a few months ago with advanced prostate cancer. We both still feel in shock but joining this forum (admittedly mainly to read) is I think going to be the best thing I could have done. 

Love Mrs MAS 

Edited by member 07 Oct 2019 at 08:03  | Reason: Not specified

Thanks for your honesty Julie. Reading your post has given me the courage to start my own conversation on a forum I never ever thought I would ever look at. 

Love Mrs MAS