Metastatic cancer patient here to answer any questions you might have

I’m a nurse practitioner- what advice would you want to share when I interact with people with metastatic cancer?

If they are not happy, be happy instead of them... Cheer them. Give them unconditional love if you can... Let them feel like they can count on you (always). Let them be your "friends".

What about getting “on their [the patients’] level?”

I (oncology certified RN) was once chastised in my earlier years of being a nurse for being too cheery by an older patient receiving end-of-life care. I learned that day to read the room and be empathetic instead of overly upbeat.

Perhaps different patients (in different stages of their cancer, even) require different types of emotions to be shown by their care providers?

Agreed but from my point of view there are only two options: black and white. Meaning.. cancer patients are mostly full of fears (from my observation) and that leads them to death. What I'm saying is that nurses should be 100% / 24/7 positive. Unfortunately (again, from my experience), there are not many nurses who can actually get "down" to patients level and therefor give them what they need.

As said, I agree with you, but LOVE - as it is. Should be mandatory.

As an 8 year stage III cancer survivor myself, I disagree. If I wasn’t happy, then do what you have to do and move along. I didn’t want you to let me be your friend. I didn’t want to be your friend. I was unhappy at that moment because I was going through something that only I could understand, and I wanted it that way at that time.

In Croatia we say - "100 ljudi 100 cudi, 100 zena 200 cica" - meaning: "100 people 100 opinions, 100 women 200 boobs". Most of the people close themselves with their illness as I've noticed... you've had the same issue.
Nurses should be the 1st ones to which ones you, as a patient, can open up. They are the ones that should understand what you're going through.
Again, that's why i'm "forcing" positivity.

How old are you? How did you know you had it? What made you think that there might be something wrong with you?

I'll be 35 in October, hopefully :)It's been in my family for years so I somewhat "knew" it awaits me too. At the age of 33 problems with my urinary tract started to happen... I've ignored it for a while.. and that was probably a mistake.Finally, after urological exam, they've found out I'm already in stage III C.

I just was diagnosed with renal clear cell carcinoma, that had metastasized to my lung and brain. I have 8 tumors in my brain. The only reason I found out was i started to get double-vision. I'm 39. Completely incurable, but might live a decent amount of time with treatment. Guess we'll see.

Mate. Buddy. Love. Just be thankful for what you have lived!!! Be happy with what you've got! It's a lesson you've got to take. Embrace it.

I wish you ALL THE BEST with the treatment! Keep me updated please!

What were these problems with the urinary tract? Was it symptoms like urgency or frequency? Or other symptoms like pain or discolored urine?

Thanks for doing this btw

Problem with... urine release. (sorry, english is not my native language). There was some pain from time to time in the abdominal area while urinating.

What was a sign that you "knew??"

A sign was that that it was all-present in my family... obviously i definitely knew when i got the test results. :)

What did you ignore exactly?

Going to the doctor.... I don't like hospitals :D

We’re your only indications something was wrong that you had a family history of breast cancer and occasional pain with urination ?

Yep... except that, I was feeling... well, great.

"Shit" started after 1st chemo...

Which Kind of cancer? And where has it spread it out?

Diagnosis is testicular cancer (choriocarcinoma) it has spread all over my abdomen, lungs and neck.

I am so sorry. I am also metastatic, but seminoma.

Good luck buddy! Most of ppl I know with seminoma had success with chemo.

<3

First of all, thanks for doing this AMA.

On your website you say that you want to undergo ozone therapy. Have you read any scientific studies that support this kind of treatment? From what I've read it seems the only thing it is good for is parting desperate people from their money.

It's not that I want... i just wrote that as an option because of my relatives and family think that is the best alternative so I wanted to make them happy by mentioning it :)

I don’t know why you’re being downvoted

Well, it's obvious to me. Most of the people think that they are happy living their illusions :)

OP I sympathize with you. Do you have proof of your illness that you can connect to your reddit account?

I just want to ask everyone to beware of scams since OP is quick to share a link to a donation page.

Obviously not 100% proof, but worth noting OP does have more info and some pics on the donation page and the pic of his stitches didn’t return anything in a reverse image search.

let me know if I can do anything else!

​

https://ibb.co/NtJmB3g

https://ibb.co/Wf5GjWx

my fb profile: https://www.facebook.com/atombased

any other proofs needed?

here are some more pics

​

https://ibb.co/9pSQLK6

https://ibb.co/0jF6PhJ

https://ibb.co/NNXSFR7

https://ibb.co/chVDkDj

https://ibb.co/pxJkWxv

https://ibb.co/PDhmSBN

https://ibb.co/37zM5rs

Of course, uploading images now... got 2 big registers of papers for now...

Of course, uploading images now... got 2 big registers of papers for now...

https://ibb.co/NtJmB3g

https://ibb.co/Wf5GjWx

my fb profile: https://www.facebook.com/atombased

any other proofs needed?

uploading few more images...

Damn. i'm here to help people not collect money...

but still... here are the proofs:
I'm igor kauric. my fb page: https://www.facebook.com/atombased, my linkedin page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/igorkauric/
and a fresh image of latest CT... https://ibb.co/NtJmB3g

let me know if you need anything else.

How did they first diagnose it?

I will put out this PSA for young men to do their monthly testicular self exams. A lot of my patients had no idea they were supposed to be checking down there.

https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/tse.html

Best wishes OP. Are you still on chemo?

Markers bHCG and ALD were skyrocketing. Besides that i've had a massive lump on my neck..

A THIRD testicle? ;-)

Best wishes.

Turned out it was 4th ;D

Frankly, you're just being greedy.

I'm not my cancer

Whats the best gift you have been given ever?

When I give it a good thought.. Probably this illness (it may sound morbid but...)
Namely, I accept every situation that happens to me and try to observe it outside my "ego" and always try to figure out why did it occurred.
When I changed the perspective from which I'm looking at the object, the objects change, so I'm seeing everything as a gift.
I've had an epiphany when the illness occurred so I could say it's the best gift I've been given so far.

Interesting question, got me thinking. Thank you!

I’m a cancer survivor but the initial suspicion was stage 4 colon cancer which I knew was a death sentence. It ended up being stage 4 Non Hodgkin Lymphoma. Biopsy results took a week to get and within that waiting period I had all the thoughts of dying in my head such as the last thing I will tell certain people, my last Facebook post etc. I had accepted my fate but there was a fear of the unknown and that I would miss my loved ones which was odd because I know that consciousness ceases with death (depending on what your religious beliefs are). This line of thinking can descend into a chaotic spiral. Luckily I only had to deal with it for a week before I was told I had a chance of surviving which meant my focus shifted away from acceptance of my demise to a battle. How would you qualify your frame of thought on a day to day basis as you live with your metastatic cancer?

<3

I'm something completely different from an identity that you've described. I never had a fear and was the one that was comforting my loved ones. I'm not afraid to die. Actually, I'm looking forward to a new body and hope I'll treat it better next time :)

How do you deal with health insurance issues?

Mostly is covered by my social insurance, so I'm good when going to exams and chemo. Zagreb, Croatia.

Do you support Death with Dignity laws available for those with terminal illness who might choose a more "peaceful" death? If it is/were available in your country, would you consider asking a physician for medication if all avenues for treatment were exhausted?

If someone wants to die, than in my opinion they should be legal to specially if they have to suffer terminal illness. My mother was half-dead depending on machines for almost 2 months.. we couldn't shut them off legally/without any issues as I was informed. That sucks. I would probably shoot myself with too much heroin heheheh ;)

What kind of cancer? Do you know the staging it’s hiven at the moment?

Choriocarcinoma, IIIC.

Every few months when I use the bathroom there’s blood when I wipe on the tissue. My doctor says I’m too young (25) for it to be colon cancer so I don’t need a colonoscopy. If I google it though I get really worried that it could be colon cancer or something.

Am I over reacting? Under reacting?

n I use the bathroom there’s blood when I wipe on the tissue. My doctor says I’m too young (25) for it to be colon cancer so I don’t need a colonoscopy. If I google it though I get really worried that it could be colon cancer or something.

Google is not a f* doctor. PPL, SERIOUSLY, STOP GOOGLING SYMPTOMS! Can't stress that enough.
I'd suggest you get an appointment with a oncologist and give blood so they can see your markers if you're worried.
Better safe than sorry..

My question is, which are your thoughts of afterlife, how strong do you believe if you do, and did this process got you closer to your beliefs?

I wish for you the strongest of strengths! 💪🏻

My beliefs are that I'm getting a new body after this one dies (and depending on my.. behavior, it depends what kind of new"body" will I get).
I still can and have a lot to do in this current body so that's why I even started a crowdfunding campaign to postpone the inevitable and get even deeper into my faith.
So... yeah, got me much much much closer. <3

Hi atombased, your post has been removed because:

Your post has been removed because it lacks adequate proof.

Unfortunately, the links or photos you've posted could have been posted by anyone, and they don't prove that you are the person doing the AMA. Your proof needs to be something that connects the fact that you're doing an AMA with your identity. This could be something like a photo of you showing what you're doing the AMA about with a sign that has your username and the date. It could also be documents (partially redacted if desired) with a note that has the username and the date.

Here's a link to the section of our wiki that discusses proof.

Please let us know when the proof has been added by replying here and we'll put the post back up. Cheers!

Please contact the mods if you need further assistance

How can i verify?!

Want me to send my Id, passport, call me? I don't get it.

Please provide more information. I have red the faq...

There's some guidelines in our FAQ in the sidebar. Let me know if you have a specific question.

i have read them... english is not my native language so i obviously misunderstood something... can you please advise?

Could you edit a picture that somehow illustrates you have metastatic cancer that also has a handwritten piece of paper with your username and date on it visible? Alternatively, you could use TruePic.

Ok, taking picture now because i don't know what TruePic is :)

Hope that works and let me know If you need anything else.

Thanks for your patience.

https://ibb.co/xMjS8GH

finally, my cell phone's battery died right when it shouldn't.

what have i done wrong?

How did you manage the stress generated when you came to know that you have cancer?

It changed my life completely so I started reading Vedas (vedabase.io), meditating, got rid of meat, sweets, changed my habits.... Shortly, made a lemonade out of the lemons life provided!

How are you?

:) Probably better than most of the humanity at this moment. Thanks for asking.
How about you?

I'm curious psychological how have you changed since you found out and how is your life now, internally, compared to before. Do you find you have a new "normal" state, with ups and downs or your old "normal" state is still there and you're more towards .. down ?

I've had an acute depression since 12. When diagnosed with cancer it vanished almost completely.
I've changed my lifestyle, my beliefs and psychologically I went straight up.

What made you decide to have cancer? Reading through the posts here, it doesn't sound like anything pleasant, so I'm just wondering.

Want to go to Amazon to find an answer. It's a mess here.

What is metastatic?

"Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, are metastases. "

Have tried the Miracle Berry pills and if yes did it help overcome chemo side effects on apetite?

1st time I hear about Miracle Berry!
I was smoking weed while on chemo so that helped with appetite.

Ever consider, ozonated water and a rife machine?

Nope, not until now. Thanks for the heads up, will check it out!