Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends....

Hey Michael! Cancer sucks. It has affected my life in very unpleasant ways - I haven't personally had any cancers other than a couple of tiny skin cancers which are a part of life where I live! But it upset my life significantly when I was younger.

But I am so glad to hear that you're back into the guitar realm. Making things and playing guitar are what keeps us happy, engaged and heathy. Well, maybe not the solder fumes... I posted an NGD about my new Gretsch at your prompting. It seems folks here aren't into Gretsch as much as me but that just means more Gretsch for me! Even Dave Gilmour plays a Gretsch from time to time.

Keep getting better mate!
 
HamishR said:
Hey Michael! Cancer sucks. It has affected my life in very unpleasant ways - I haven't personally had any cancers other than a couple of tiny skin cancers which are a part of life where I live! But it upset my life significantly when I was younger.

But I am so glad to hear that you're back into the guitar realm. Making things and playing guitar are what keeps us happy, engaged and heathy. Well, maybe not the solder fumes... I posted an NGD about my new Gretsch at your prompting. It seems folks here aren't into Gretsch as much as me but that just means more Gretsch for me! Even Dave Gilmour plays a Gretsch from time to time.

Keep getting better mate!
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Where's the NGD post? I didn't see it...
 
Hey Mike (and everyone else) - I haven't posted here in about a year due to some similar life events. I still do check in occasionally though. But I wanted a break from pedal-making, and then I moved to a new place ALL OF MY OWN which is still amazing and wonderful to contemplate, and then one of my blemishes - which was misdiagnosed at first - turned out to be melanoma, which meant I had it cut off, then had to go back a month later when they realised what it really was, and ended up getting a big piece of my face cut off and replaced with a generous helping of skin from my belly.

Both of which hurt a lot then and still do two months later. Plus I now have a huge and obvious skin graft between my eye and my ear which looks like I've had a big piece of random flesh sewn onto my face because that's exactly what it is. I also have a big scary scar on my neck from where they took out a lymph node, a piece of the top of my ear taken off, and a line of burn scars below the skin graft where they lasered off a few more dodgy areas. And a 12 cm (5 inch) long scar on my belly. Two weeks ago I had another mole taken off my forehead on the other side of my face, which fortunately turned out to be not melanoma, but is turning into another fine scar to help balance out all the stuff on the left side of my face.

So, I look utterly scary and could guest in a horror movie without makeup. Going to be disfigured forever, and I was never pretty to start off with. Plus it all still hurts. But it's better than dying of cancer, so yeah. After many scans and tests I am currently cancer-free, which is great. And, to be fair, I have had excellent treatment at a world-leading cancer hospital and it cost me $0.00 for which I am truly grateful.

So the moral is; wear a hat at all times outdoors, and by "hat" I mean something with a proper brim, not a ball cap. Also sunscreen.
 
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DAJE said:
Hey Mike (and everyone else) - I haven't posted here in about a year due to some similar life events. I still do check in occasionally though. But I wanted a break from pedal-making, and then I moved to a new place ALL OF MY OWN which is still amazing and wonderful to contemplate, and then one of my blemishes - which was misdiagnosed at first - turned out to be melanoma, which meant I had it cut off, then had to go back a month later when they realised what it really was, and ended up getting a big piece of my face cut off and replaced with a generous helping of skin from my belly.

Both of which hurt a lot then and still do two months later. Plus I now have a huge and obvious skin graft between my eye and my ear which looks like I've had a big piece of random flesh sewn onto my face because that's exactly what it is. I also have a big scary scar on my neck from where they took out a lymph node, a piece of the top of my ear taken off, and a line of burn scars below the skin graft where they lasered off a few more dodgy areas. And a 12 cm long scar on my belly. Two weeks ago I had another mole taken off my forehead on the other side of my face, which fortunately turned out to be not melanoma, but is turning into another fine scar to help balance out all the stuff on the left side of my face.

So, I look utterly scary and could guest in a horror movie without makeup. Going to be disfigured forever, and I was never pretty to start off with. Plus it all still hurts. But it's better than dying of cancer, so yeah. After many scans and tests I am currently cancer-free, which is great. And, to be fair, I have had excellent treatment at a world-leading cancer hospital and it cost me $0.00 for which I am truly grateful.

So the moral is; wear a hat at all times outdoors, and by "hat" I mean something with a proper brim, not a ball cap. Also sunscreen.
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WOw, yah Melanoma is no joke. That's why we local fisherman here in Florida are usually dressed up like ninja's when we go out in the sun for 8-9 hours. I wear a hat and a buff and long sleeve SPF shirt whether I'm fishing or cutting the lawn.

So sorry to hear about the pain and the ordeal but very glad they caught it!
 
MichaelW said:
WOw, yah Melanoma is no joke. That's why we local fisherman here in Florida are usually dressed up like ninja's when we go out in the sun for 8-9 hours. I wear a hat and a buff and long sleeve SPF shirt whether I'm fishing or cutting the lawn.

So sorry to hear about the pain and the ordeal but very glad they caught it!
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DAJE said:
Hey Mike (and everyone else) - I haven't posted here in about a year due to some similar life events. I still do check in occasionally though. But I wanted a break from pedal-making, and then I moved to a new place ALL OF MY OWN which is still amazing and wonderful to contemplate, and then one of my blemishes - which was misdiagnosed at first - turned out to be melanoma, which meant I had it cut off, then had to go back a month later when they realised what it really was, and ended up getting a big piece of my face cut off and replaced with a generous helping of skin from my belly.

Both of which hurt a lot then and still do two months later. Plus I now have a huge and obvious skin graft between my eye and my ear which looks like I've had a big piece of random flesh sewn onto my face because that's exactly what it is. I also have a big scary scar on my neck from where they took out a lymph node, a piece of the top of my ear taken off, and a line of burn scars below the skin graft where they lasered off a few more dodgy areas. And a 12 cm long scar on my belly. Two weeks ago I had another mole taken off my forehead on the other side of my face, which fortunately turned out to be not melanoma, but is turning into another fine scar to help balance out all the stuff on the left side of my face.

So, I look utterly scary and could guest in a horror movie without makeup. Going to be disfigured forever, and I was never pretty to start off with. Plus it all still hurts. But it's better than dying of cancer, so yeah. After many scans and tests I am currently cancer-free, which is great. And, to be fair, I have had excellent treatment at a world-leading cancer hospital and it cost me $0.00 for which I am truly grateful.

So the moral is; wear a hat at all times outdoors, and by "hat" I mean something with a proper brim, not a ball cap. Also sunscreen.
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I got the positive diagnosis of stage 4 prostate cancer and a few days later Dan Fogelberg died of prostate cancer. This was in December 2007. Got the operation on 4/7/2008. Talk about pain? OMG it was like having a car accident from the inside out.

I was on a catheter for a month after I got out and that bag was always bloody as hell for the first 3 weeks.

Had ZERO feeling below the incision line for 8 months. My "manhood" returned after 20 months, and this is crazy it was on Christmas morning. My wife's *surprise* Christmas present. Me too, lol.

I have been cancer free now for 16 YEARS! Man that stuff sucks. What it does to your mind is almost as bad as what it does to your body. Hoping everything turns out as good for you as it did for me!!!!!
 
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RetiredUnit1 said:
I have been cancer free now for 16 YEARS! Man that stuff sucks. What it does to your mind is almost as bad as what it does to your body. Hoping everything turns out as good for you as it did for me!!!!!
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I'm happy to hear that. And yes, the mental effects are no fun either. I'm better than I was; when the skin graft eventually settles down I'm just going to embrace my scars and wear them with as much pride as I can manage.
 
FWIW my wife has a quite noticeable scar on the bridge of her nose. It was from when she was a child: she was born with a large birthmark on the bridge of her nose and had it removed when she was very young. Back then (17th century) plastic surgery wasn't as good as it is today so the graft is pretty obvious. Wearing glasses obscures it a bit.

But I rarely notice it. All I see are her beautiful eyes and gorgeous smile. You know, all that stuff that people who are stupidly in love with each other see. She complains about getting old and seeing wrinkles and I tell her she's crazy. I never see any of that. She's still that cute little 19 year old that I first started going out with.

We're our own worst critics. People who know you won't see all the things you obsess about. They'll just see you as the friend you've aways been.
 
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