"Roland was a warrior, from the land of the Midnight Sun.
Thompson gun for hire, fighting to be done."
--Warren Zevon
A New Cancer Term I can Live :-) With*
I've decided that's what I am. Not a "survivor", not a "victim." A fucking warrior. Bloodied but unbowed. It doesn't state or imply surviving, which I won't, but the connotation of having been through several battles even though at some point you lose the war is very accurate, at least in my case.
I've studied the enemy to be best of my ability, consulted with top members of my staff (i.e. surgeons, oncologists and my family), and live with results which are necessarily based on incomplete and imperfect information. Yup, a fucking warrior. That's what I am.
*Full disclosure. The term in the cancer context originated with a Ms. Lorraine Powell who was responding to Leroy Sievers' "My Cancer" column on 1/09/07,Comment 2. http://www.npr.org
3 comments:
synonyms: battler, champion, combatant, conscript, dogface, doughboy, enlisted man, fighter, fighting man, hero, man-at-arms, serviceman, soldier, trooper
I like it. Battler, Champion. Especially the Enlisted Man. Drafted. Man-at-arms.
Stay strong, Brother!
Love,
Stephanie
ps. I plan on calling you 'dogface' all weekend, hee hee.
(to Megan: see, it's funny cause he's really my brother.)
Steph - LOL funny. I call 'doughboy' for the weekend...
-Megan
Hey Tom,
I'm just catching up on your blog, but I thought I would say that Warrior sounds like an understatement in your case.
I thought you might like to read about the warrior Roland that probably inspired Warren's song:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_of_roland
(search "song of roland" in wikipedia if you can't open the link)
Anyway, I wanted to let you know I'm watching your battles with a great deal of admiration for you as a warrior. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you out or help to support your "staff" now or in the future.
Your cousin,
-Matt
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