Just One Hundred Days Ta Go

When I first put that timer up in me sidebar, countin' down the days 'til Missus Ratters (aka Shianti, aka the Tiz, aka Julie) 's cancer were officiallies cured, it were kinda intimidatifyin'. Over 1500 days ta go back then. But now we's down ta only a hundred - close enoughs what we don't really think about it no more, 'cept fer when we look at the timer. So what all done happened since she finished the cuttin' an' the poisonin' an' the burninatin'? I's so glad you asked.

First thing what we did was, we got married. 'Cause that were what we wanted fer ta do.

Next thing was, she went back ta work. Night shift at the ICU, same as befores. But were tough, 'cause fer one her body'd done had the crap knocked outta it in ways ya never fully revovers from, an' fer two the new hospital never really clicked fer her the way the old one did, back where she lived before I done swooped in an' run off with her. But she's a tough bugger, an' she kept at it.

Meanwhiles, she went back ta school. She'd always done been meanin' to, but never quite did get arounds ta makin' it happen. After cancer though, woman had a fire in her belly. Year an' a half in, she had her bachelors. Two years after that, nurse practitioner masters degree. 4.0 GPA. Month after that, totally crushed the board certification exam. Now she got herself a real nice job at a medical clinic, diagnosin' sick buggers an' writin' perscrips, and makin' the big bucks. An' she don't gotta wipe no more craps off of no more arses no more.

The Tiz makes up her mind fer ta get shit done, you best get the fuhg outta her way.

Healthwise, she's mostly back ta how she were before it all began. But ya never recovers fully. Losin' a buncha lymph nodes on one side means she gets some painful swellin' in that arm sometimes, an' she gotta be carefuls on hot days 'cause she don't sweat there no more. An' the anxiety attacks is a lot fewers and less crushin' than they was back when we was lookin' down the barrel at 50-50 odds. But is all way better, an' we's very happy fer that.

Best of all, she's still me best friend, an' I's still hers.


-----

Sadly, not everyone is as lucky as us. A few months ago, a friend of ours was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Despite his strength and determination, the love and support of friends and family, and the best medical care, he passed away last week. He and his wife had been in our guild back when we were raiding Naxxramas, and we were fortunate to get to see them socially several times in real life, including at our wedding. Julie and I were very saddened by his loss, and our hearts go out to his wife and their children.

Is Less Than One-Thousand Three-Hundred Days Ta Go

So, the Universe done rolls a d100. Ya don't get fer ta see it - is behind the DM's screen. Ya knows that anythin' under a 97 (or mebbe a 95 or a 98 - you ain't exactly sure) means all is good, at least fer the next few months. But if'n the roll fails, is prolly death. A slow, prolly painful death, mebbe in a year, mebbe in ten. This be the reality the Tiz (aka Shianti, aka Julie) done has ta deal with every six months or so, when she done gets a full-body scanification, lookin' fer if the cancer done returned. I expects you buggers can understan' what how anticipatin' it an' waitin' a day fer the results afters can be a little stressful.

Good news be, this week's scan done showed no cancer. She's at more'n a year and a half now since the treatment ended, with about three and a half ta go until they stamp "CURED" on her forehead an' send her home with a lollipop. Won't ever be entirely home free - is always gonna be a tiny chance, an' even if'n it never comes back she's gonna have an' increased chance of heart disease an' whatnots, as a result of the treatments. But when that timer done reaches zero, or close enough, we's gonna have a helluva party.

Once again, we wanna thank every single one of you lot what has done expressed they's support, in any and all forms. Means more ta us than we'll ever be ables ta say.

Is Where Ratter's RL Avatar Says Sumthin'

Hello, you buggers.

Me RL avatar, he got sumthin' he be wantin' ta say to all of ya. Now, he's a good lad, does his dailies and all, but he do suffer from the delusion what he be the real one and I'm the one what be a buncha pixels. Hehehe. What a noob. But we's gonna humor the kid, and listen ta his wordifying.

/break the fourth wall

Hi everyone.

I wanted to take a few minutes to let everyone know some things that have been going on here in the real world, and explain a bit about why I had to take a few months off.

Back when I was raiding with Aetherial Circle over on Drenden, we had a resto druid in the guild by the name of Shianti. There were a number of characters in that outfit, but in addition to being a really good raider she had a personality that was funny and colorful and nice, and it felt natural to include her in some of my posts. Whether she was trying to farm Badges of Justice or flirting with Maurice or helping Kinnavieve in her attempts to get some epic pants to drop, it was always fun to have her here.

Last year, Shianti and I started getting to know each other outside of the game. Instead of Shianti and Ratshag we became Julie and Michael. We found we had a lot of things in common, one of which turned out to be a strong mutual attraction. We began flying out to see each other for weekends, which turned into longer and longer visits. She applied for a nursing job in my hometown, and was offered a position for significantly better pay than what she was making. We made plans on how we wanted to spend our lives together. Things were going great.

In October, we got hit with several pieces of bad news. By far the biggest of these though was that Julie was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer. To fight it, she immediately had to start four months of chemotherapy, with surgery to follow. Of course, this meant putting our plans on hold and focusing on just getting through the here-and-now. Putting the time and effort into working on this silly little blog just was something I didn't have the heart for at that time, so I put up my "gone fishing" post.

One of the good things to come out of Julie's cancer has been the overwhelming support and encouragement we have gotten from our friends and family, both in the real world and in WoW. If this story sounds familiar, yes, my Julie is the same Julie that John the Big Bear Butt Blogger and all the other great people in the Sidhe Devils guild (where we currently have our Alliance toons) organized the Raid for the Cure for. It was a really thoughtful gesture, and the effort and enthusiasm that people put into it, as well as the many generous donations to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure charity, really meant a lot to both of us.

So now, three months later, how are things? Julie is two-thirds of the way through the treatment. It's a rotten process, with a lot of nausea, bone pain, fatigue, hair loss and lots of other minor crap. But the tumors have all shrunk significantly, and some have gone away completely. Her odds of surviving the next five years have gone up a lot. She had to postpone starting her new job, of course, but they were very understanding and it looks like it is all go for her to start in March. (It helps that she is awesome nurse and they really really want her ;) ) Things are looking up, and I felt ready to start thinking about blogging again.

One last thing - I wanted to say thanks for all the lovely comments, both when I stopped in October and when I started again this week. Need More Rage is something I enjoy writing, and I am glad so many of you enjoy reading it. Okay, enough of my yapping, let me hand you back to the orc.

Yeah huh. Great googly moogly that boy talked a lot, but it seemed real fuhggin' importants ta him. Okies, that's all fer today, all though if yer intersted is a post from Vyprania recentlies over at Need More Words. Is all serious and emotionals and whatnots, so is there and not here.