Noods is a cancer survivor
It’s certainly been quite a year. I may have used the word ‘interesting’ in a post once or twice but well, interesting just does not cover the half of it. In mid May Noods noticed a lump. It wasn’t painful he said but it was uncomfortable enough that even with his intense dislike of doctors he went to a medical center to have it checked out. The doc told him to get some scans. He went, got scans done, got the results and when I rang him to find out, all he would say is “it’s ok, no worries you can read them when you get home from work.”
So I get home and he’s in the shower. I see the results on the table and sneak a peek. What I saw made my heart drop. The word ‘malignant’ jumped off the page and into my mind and etched a hole so deep that I completely freaked. The thought of losing my best friend? It wasn’t pretty. Me in hysterics is pretty accurate. But he was strong. He was calm even though he must’ve had a million thoughts racing around. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer at 27. Edit: Noods just read this paragraph and argued that malignant meant not harmful. As in, he thought benign was the bad one. I thought he was joking. He wasn’t. NO WONDER YOU WERE SO FREAKING CALM NOODS OMG!!! Though I guess in hindsight maybe it was better that you didn’t know… /edit
Surgery was scheduled within the week with more scans and chats with the doctor who told him that testicular cancer was the best cancer to get. He wasn’t joking but stating that testicular cancer has one of the highest cure rates of all cancers. I guess it was comforting in a way.
Leading up to the day of surgery Noods spent his time organising his work load and one day I overheard him telling his mates to not say anything or write anything on facebook in case I saw it because it would upset me. Upset me?! Isn’t that such an incredibly selfless thing to do?! So of course I’m bawling away because that is who he is. He cares for others and knows me better than I know myself. I ♥ you.
Surgery was at the Castle Hill Day Surgery and I remember staring at the ground unable to meet anyone’s eyes because I knew I would crumble into tears and I was trying my goddamn hardest to be positive and strong for Noods. When the nurse came to the waiting room to escort him through, I knew my look of panic was showing and she kindly asked if I wanted to come through to ‘help’ him change into the hospital gown. He didn’t need the help but it was reassuring to listen to the doctors go over the procedure with him and to answer any last minute questions. And then it was time and he was led away. Both sets of our family were here so we did the next logical thing, we went drinking. Ok technically we went to a restaurant for lunch but beer was downed by all of us quick smart.
Time drags in a waiting room- the nagging, gnawing feeling in your gut is not helped by the inane chatter of daytime tv shows. Noods is finally wheeled out on his bed to his recovery room, still groggy but able to smile. And just like that, the relief washes through the room. He’s ok, the surgery went well and further scans and blood tests are scheduled for the week after while he snoozes for a couple more hours and we make the trip home armed with painkillers, gauze and swabs. Our families made sure our fridge was well stocked with foods that weren’t fried heh.
Within 2 days of being at home and lying in bed all day he starts skyping with work. The incision was taking its sweet time in healing but all too soon he was up and about and hobbling around the house. To make sure the cancer didn’t return, a low dose of chemotherapy was required. 2 hours at Westmead Private Hospital was spent watching Ready, Steady, Cook while they pumped Noods full of drugs. The drugs conked him out and he slept for pretty much 2 days straight. And then with buckets and containers close at hand we waited for the nausea stage. And waited. And waited. Incredulous we questioned whether he had indeed been giving the right drugs lol blood tests confirmed a drop in his white cells and with a final scan he was given the all clear! Everything’s pretty much back to normal and yes we can still have kids 😛
Not one for sharing his life to the whole wide world I’d not mentioned what’s been happening on the blog or on twitter save for the emo tweets heh but I was given the ok to write and post this. Aaaand bringing us to the end of this post, the awesome boys from Random Blowup are running in the City 2 Surf and if you’ve got a spare coupla bux head over and donate to the Cancer Council NSW where the boys are matching donations up to their target goal. Their bro love for Noods made me go nawww ♥♥♥ This is not meant to be a pity party post but I figure sharing is caring. And guys it’s important to get stuff checked!
