@muddybike
Kristine Contento-Angell
@muddybike · 1:57

What not to say to someone diagnosised w cancer.

I'm so sorry. But cancer diagnosis doesn't feel like that. It doesn't seem like it's a death sentence. It seems more like a challenge I'm facing. And I would say if you think about when someone tells you they're studying for the bar exam or they have these SATS coming up and it's going to determine whether or not they can get into College or at the College that they want to get into

#cancer #myfirstswellcast #gist

30
@DBPardes
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 3:02

Along your journey we are messy and here #understanding #humility

I don't think any of us have not been touched by people who have situations like you're in where there's a cancer creeping into our reality. And how do we deal with the new language? How do we deal with the new reality? One of the things I like about Swell also is that we're sort of getting a chance to be messy a little bit, as opposed to the opposite, which is like being clear
9
@Phil
phil spade
@Phil · 4:09
Christine, thank you for posting this. A cancer survivor. And I just had this conversation last week, and I'm going to invite that person to come on as well. I was diagnosed with a brain tumor last year year, and it turned out not to be cancerous, but for four or five months, I had no idea what to expect, and we had to have surgery to get it out. So there was a lot of unknowns, and there was a lot of things that happened
6
@sudha
Sudha Varadarajan
@sudha · 2:20
The second thing that I think works the most, and I'm so happy that you chose to do it on Swell is talking. I was the caregiver for my grandmother when she went through her recovery after massectomy and I know that half the battle was just the company, and so just making sure that every day she had somebody to cheer her up, somebody that she could just. I was a College kid
4
@Danny
Danny Moynahan
@Danny · 1:12

Thank you and kick that cancer’s butt.

But I agree with you that the knee jerk response to say I'm sorry or to say anything as a knee jerk response does not usually help in those kinds of situations. So thanks for that reminder. And thanks for your swell cast. I learned something from you today. Thanks a lot
4
@muddybike
Kristine Contento-Angell
@muddybike · 2:19
I mean, I understand, but it's still just so crazy, too. At the same time, it was crazy. It happened today at our family. I visited some of our extended family today, and people I've been talking on, the close family members that have been talking on the phone with about this for weeks. I could tell that awkwardness that we don't know what to say. We don't know if it's okay to bring it up
2
@muddybike
Kristine Contento-Angell
@muddybike · 1:27
Suda I agree with you on seeking out additional opinions. I've had two so far, and it's been pretty identical feedback on what this is and the path forward, but I'm always seeking out more information and a better understanding. So I certainly will continue asking around and seeking out additional experts advice. Phil it's interesting. I sort of feel like my situation was in reverse to how most people go through this
@sudha
Sudha Varadarajan
@sudha · 0:36
Christine, what stage is your cancer in and what's the therapy that's been prescribed? Do you have more surgeries, or is it a going through chemo radio and then monitoring? Over the years, I asked because stomach cancer is something that we have dealt with on my family as well. And I want to see if there are some stories that I can share that may be helpful
@Phil
phil spade
@Phil · 1:54
I don't mind talking about it. And I got sick of saying that. And I just really got sick of having to deal with that part of the conversation and the awkwardness. So I just kind of took everything internally. Then like I said, in hindsight, I wish I wouldn't have done that. But just dealing with that awkwardness was really tough. And you're right
@muddybike
Kristine Contento-Angell
@muddybike · 1:06

#gleevec #cancer #gist

I guess mine came in at moderate and my course of treatment now, since my surgery is done and it went really well, there were no lymph nodes infected, and there doesn't seem to be any metastasizing at this point, which is awesome. So now my course of action is then on July 6, I will be going on a drug called Glyvec, which is a targeted therapy
2
@sudha
Sudha Varadarajan
@sudha · 2:07
So keeping my fingers crossed that everything will work out well, because my own grandmother, I think hers was a late stage two, early stage three. She was operated when she was in her 60s, and she lived a very healthy life until she was 88 when she passed away. So I'm hoping with all the research and advances made in cancer research that this will pass and then you're going to have a very back to your old self lifestyle very soon. So keeping fingers crossed here for you
@rharris
Ruth Harris
@rharris · 1:10
So I found this very interesting because I've never really heard anybody with cancer say this. So it is really helpful to know what to say to someone newly diagnosed. And I will definitely take this into account the next time somebody tells me that they have this scary diagnosis. So I know if I got this, I would have a pretty big fighting spirit
4
Swell user mugshot
0:000:00