General Chat

But there is not the fear and grimness of the treatment while it is happening.

My OH had to have neck and throat surgery for cancer a few years ago. The entire experience was -ve from the initial seriously delayed diagnosis to losing teeth (in order to allow extraction of part of tongue being replaced with an arm muscle) , use of ancient radio therapy equipment when modern ones avail (but not used 'cos of budget cuts) , abysmal post op care immediately after the op, cancellation of speech therapy (more cuts) , and so on. The loss of her head of luxuriant copper hair was the least of her problems. It has grown back but is much thinner.

She is not interested in any kind of compassion for her experiences and chooses just to "get on with it". If the GP & hospital had managed to get the diagnosis right the surgery could have been done properly in Paris as it was by the time they had sorted themselves out it was an emergency.

As to fund raising ... the modern radio therapy machines remain unused as the NHS still cannot find the money to retrain the radiographers.

good luck, every little helps I guess
<3

No doubt she is feeling pretty grim if she is at a stage where she has no hair and is seeing things from an angle that I have never been to. You, Robert, are regarding the awful events with the mellowness of retrospection i think and quite thankfully so.All good wishes to your wife.

Somebody asked me if I really wanted to lose my hair.Well of course I don't but neither did the people with cancer.

Rambling Rose raised the point when I first posted that people might think I had cancer or, indeed, was mocking those who do but I hope I am turning a negative into a positive in some way.

There often isn't a way to show compassion/sympathy to many sufferers of these traumatic illnesses... shaving ones head might be the only way, for a not very fit person to show..how they feel

Raising funds by jumping out of aeroplanes, Walking the Great wall,or bungee jumps are for the adventurous,

Bob

I have had an anonymous donation from a lady who is undergoing cancer treatment and has lost her hair.

She has brought up a point that I had never considered, never having had the misfortune to have lost my hair through medical intervention.

The point is that it is not very brave to lose your hair knowing that it will grow back thick and strong and that she wished that MacMillan had not chosen that to highlight.

I do think that, for many of us, hair loss is the only sign we see of cancer and other even less pleasant aspects are never seen. There really are no other aspects that we can emulate to draw attention and show solidarity to raise much needed revenue or I am sure that many of us would. The limit is, I am sure , the capacity of the human imagination.

I am, of course, very, very grateful to this lady and wish her so much good. Thank you, thank you anonymous lady.

How do others feel about this.