Good evening to one and all, and welcome to any newcomers to MNCC. We understand you may be here to learn, to share, or just to be here with others. You are welcome for any reason at all, and hopefully you will find MNCC useful and informative.
Monday Night Cancer Club is a monthly Daily Kos group for anyone who has cancer, has a loved one with cancer, or who has questions, issues, or information to share about cancer, including clinicians, researchers, or others who have a special interest and can help to educate our readers. We have many different members who fit all these categories, sometimes more than one at a time. Please share if you can, or just listen; there is plenty to learn just from reading our extensive catalogue of past diaries and postings. All are welcome to use this group as a resource. Volunteer diarists post the first Monday of each month between 7:30-8:30 PM ET on topics related to living with cancer, which is very broadly defined to cover physical, spiritual, emotional and cognitive aspects. While most diaries focus on a specific topic or area relevant to cancer, each diary is also an Open Thread for sharing concerns, announcements, and information. Mindful of the controversies endemic to cancer prevention and treatment, we ask that both diarists and commenters keep an open mind regarding strategies for surviving cancer, whether based in traditional, Eastern, Western, allopathic or other medical practices. This is a club no one wants to join, in truth, and compassion will help us make it through the challenge together.
Here are the commitments for monthly diaries as it stands right now — please volunteer if you can for July or August, we would greatly appreciate your talents!
May — tapu dali
June — ZenTrainer
July —
August —
September — outragedinSF
October —
November —
December —
As most of you may know, Monday Night Cancer Club recently moved to a monthly cadence. Because of this, I feel it is important to reinforce the sharing and community aspects of our group. If you click on the group tag, you will notice that the move to a monthly post doesn’t mean that there are only posts on the first Monday of each month. Entries are still posted to MNCC whenever they are shared or relevant. However, there has been a long history of “checking in” with MNCC for many folks, and I want to encourage everyone to use tonight’s entry to check in, or to share, on topic or off.
Tonight’s discussion is centered on sharing and supporting anyone who is currently or has undergone radiation as a treatment for cancer. Treatment by radiation is most commonly used with cancers that are radiosensitive, most commonly leukemias and lymphomas, but there are many other types of cancers where radiation can be used. I have not undergone radiation treatments, yet. But when I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012, I was suddenly thrust into the necessity of researching and understanding the different types of radiation therapy used for prostate cancer. I had to contemplate the potential side effects, and the efficacy for my particular cancer.
For those of you who have undergone radiation treatments, can you share what the experience was like? The most common side effects are extreme fatigue, sensitivities of the skin around the radiated area, and nausea. What side effects did you experience, and what did you do to get through? How long did your treatment last, and what tips might you have for others who may be about to begin treatment? For instance, diet can play a key role in healing. Were there any special things that your doctor, friends or support groups did for you or recommended to you that that you think might be useful to the readers tonight?
For those of you who are currently undergoing treatments, would you like to share what’s going on? There are a lot of MNCC folk who may be able to at least commiserate, or maybe even help you through the process.
For those recently diagnosed, or your friends and family, do you have questions about radiation therapy? Please feel free to ask away. I can’t promise anything, but the purpose of this group is to try to help people with cancer, and their loved ones, to share and connect. Those of us who have been diagnosed, or undergone treatments, have a wealth of information to share. That’s what MNCC is.
What’s on your mind tonight?