I want to thank everyone

I am so glad for this message board.  Its makes me feel not so alone in my struggles.  When we go out to eat, I have to ask for extra sauce or extra butter, I feel like noone understands what it is like to have a dry mouth.  At times I feel alone, my friends have gone on their own ways, because I am damaged now.  So, I just want to thank everyone for not making me feel so alone. 

Sincerely,

Paula

bootsy,   You are not alone and I think that your friends are missing out on a great opportunity to show what a real friend is. I have been fortunate to have my christian friends stick by me and pray for me. I have Stage IV renal cell and am doing great with hydrogen peroxide therapy. Google Dr. David G. Williams and read what he has to say about this alteernative therapy.

                                   Praying for you,  Artieboy

Bootsy,

I hear you loud and clear on the extra sauce. I have to admit, that I have been very fortunate to have good waiters and waitresses whenever we eat out. They make sure my order is to my liking.

All of our friends understand my eating issues and are never in a hurry to rush me. If I do see that I am taking longer then normal, I ask to have a box to take my meal home after I have eaten about half of it.

My Best to You and Everyone Here

On May 12, 2011 11:04 PM bootsy wrote:

I am so glad for this message board.  Its makes me feel not so alone in my struggles.  When we go out to eat, I have to ask for extra sauce or extra butter, I feel like noone understands what it is like to have a dry mouth.  At times I feel alone, my friends have gone on their own ways, because I am damaged now.  So, I just want to thank everyone for not making me feel so alone. 

Sincerely,

Paula

Hey paula,

hey, you are never alone!!!!!!!!!

Keep making new friends but don't give up on your old friends....

You have been thru allot-like a military person coming back from Iraq or Afganistan etc....they may not know what to say..always give them the benefit of the doubt......their lives move forward as well, so we too need to keep up with their lives, which is no easy task while fighting or surviving cancer-but a sense of gratitude is contagious and your friends will love it..........

Also, make sure you don't get depressed, and if so, seek treatment via all the depression drugs....you may not even know it sometimes so talk to a family doc.....

Dry mouth is a tough battle that takes allot of tricks, and some day they will find a solution-science and technology are amazing....but carrying a water bottle, small bites etc-you just gotta keep fighting thu the chalenges....one day at a time..no more...no less.....

So keep working hard to ,maintain yourself physically, mentally, spiritually, and socially.....you simply have to fight off that "I am damaged now"..how about I am a seasoned warrior now...or I kicked the Big Bully with a small c's butt.....or I have a unique experience to share with old and new friends...or, I am more interesting person now...or I see the world uniquely differently now etc...so you are never alone...we are all here, but keep challenging yourself to create, renew and build old, new and ongoing relationships.....you are going fantastic-keep it up-you are young, you have many great decades of life ahead...

Oudave83....

Please pray for me as I will pray for you...... .....  

My dad has been using fresh lemons to help keep his alkiline level up and other things. He has had about 200 lemons in the last 4 months.  I have seen the hydrogen peroxidde while researching. Dad hasn't tried it yet.

Dad has been off chemo since Sept 2011. Today the doctor asked dad what he was doing . He told dad whatever he was doing to keep doing it.

On May 13, 2011 2:09 AM Yaziza wrote:

My dad has been using fresh lemons to help keep his alkiline level up and other things. He has had about 200 lemons in the last 4 months.  I have seen the hydrogen peroxidde while researching. Dad hasn't tried it yet.

Dad has been off chemo since Sept 2011. Today the doctor asked dad what he was doing . He told dad whatever he was doing to keep doing it.

mistake in date: off chemo since sept 2010

On May 12, 2011 11:04 PM bootsy wrote:

I am so glad for this message board.  Its makes me feel not so alone in my struggles.  When we go out to eat, I have to ask for extra sauce or extra butter, I feel like noone understands what it is like to have a dry mouth.  At times I feel alone, my friends have gone on their own ways, because I am damaged now.  So, I just want to thank everyone for not making me feel so alone. 

Sincerely,

Paula

Paula,

I can only repeat what Oudave83 said and stress every word.  You are not "damaged" as a result of having cancer!!  You are better!!  You are wiser, you are stronger!!

I know what it is like to have "dry mouth" because I have it.  I wouldn't pick to have it but it is so much better than what a lot of others have to deal with. 

As for your friends abandoning you...I wonder if they really have.  I found that a lot of people I know didn't know what to say and were frightened by a reminder that cancer can turn up anywhere....seeing me reminded them it could turn up in them.  If you can make jokes about your current difficulties rather than being hurt by them, I think you will be reminding your friends that not only did you have cancer, but you survived it and you are continuing on with your life...a positive attitude is contagious and it makes every one feel better.

Will keep you in my prayers.

Karie 

Paula -

You are NOT damaged. Not in any way. Are things different? Yes. So we adapt. In fact, lucky we are to get older - and as we move along, we'll have to adapt to changing bodies, sensations, and changes in desires and movement. But not damaged. Not at all. Just different.

The difference - I think - between friends and family you have, and the friends and family you've found here, is knowledge and empathy. You can't read a textbook or a magazine article or listen to an Oprah interview to truly understand the entire experience of cancer. But someone who has gone thru the disease and treatment gets it and feels it immediately. That's why we're all here and stand for each other.

Hang in and hang on. When you're on the road, sometimes you just have to keep on looking back at the map to see where you are...

- Jeff

Yaziza, I have been on the maintenance doses of the hydrogen peroxide for about a year now. I initially took 7 treatments IV infusion. I have Stage IV RCC and am feeling great and doing great. I have gained weight and have gotten all my strength back. Google Dr. David G. Williams and read what he has to say about the hydrogen peroxide.     Artieboy

I know exactly what you are going through... even though I don't have the same symptoms as you. My best friend is no longer my best friend after everything I went through and it is very sad and can make you feel so alone when it wasn't your own fault. But don't ever give up and keep looking for new friends. My mom has told me since I was a young girl that TRUE friends never leave your side. Have faith and just always put one foot in front of the other! Never give up.... you are never alone.

Smile! kat

ps- you are NOT damaged! you are just different :)