Today's edition of the webcomic XKCD rings true for me, as I'll be marking the one-year mark from my own diagnosis tomorrow. Randall, much respect. I wish both of you the best.

  • http://www.fagerland.org tofagerl

    Time is mutable. Proven by Einstein and every single kid lying in bed waiting for Santa.

  • hanoverfiste

    Damn stick figures made me cry.

    • oasisob1

      Again.

    • jockmac22

      Mee too!

    • daev

       it is awfully dusty in here.

  • Tim

    We call diagnosis day, “crapversary”

  • ChickieD

    Happy/Sad Biopsoversary Xeni.

  • Thad

    xkcd sometimes baffles me, often perplexes me, regularly makes me laugh …and sometimes makes me cry.

  • http://cobramcgiantballs.tumblr.com/ Xploder

    I’m expecting to see you at the tenth anniversary so don’t screw things up! 

    Sending wishes of great success your way.

  • RandomConnections

    I regularly read XKCD, but for some reason missed today.  Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

    Everything about today’s comic hit home – from the kayaking to the science.  My wife just did her her fourth AC chemo treatment for breast cancer on Tuesday, and the “beep..beep..beep” is a sound I’ve come to know all too well.  I’ll be happy when we can celebrate our own anniversary.  Good luck to you, and everyone else that is having to endure this.

    • chgoliz

      Hopefully this is her last, and she’s shifting over to Taxel?  For most people, the side effects are much easier.  AC is not fun.

  • paulehoffman

    I’d be happy to be the guy saying Eww for you next year.

  • Ping Kee

    Shed a little tear over that one… 

  • fossileyes

    Xeni,

    Thanks for posting this.  My daughter’s diagnosis for Medulloblastoma was 9.14.12. Looking forward to her anniversary as well.  

    • silkox

       Wow. All the best, and good luck to your whole family. Here’s to 9.14.13 and many more.

  • Lyle Hopwood

    Biopsy 12/09/2005. I actually had to look it up. If I’m starting to forget the date, that’s a good thing, isn’t it? 

    When I had my routine mammogram, a week earlier, I noticed that after their appointment, most women came out of one door, but a few came out of another door, and each of the second group were holding a single flower. I wondered why I didn’t get a flower. 

    The next day I was called back for “a repeat mammogram – just a few more studies!” The week after that, after the biopsy, they gave me a flower, and then I knew why some women got one and most didn’t. I still have it, in a vase in the kitchen where I first put it when I got home. There’s not much of it left now, but for some reason I don’t want to remove it. Maybe in a few more years. 

    The XKCD brought tears to my eyes. Happy anniversary, Xeni, and Randall and partner.

    • nixiebunny

      My son was diagnosed over 10 years ago, and there’s no way I’ll ever forget the date.

      It’s a lot easier to make me cry since then as well. Not that I mind; feeling emotions can be cleansing.

  • petergarner

    As the husband of a cancer survivor (approaching 15 years post-bone marrow transplant), I completely identify with this. Uncannily, several frames mirror my (our) experience exactly. Xeni, I wish you all the best. Like my wife, you’re an inspiration.

  • http://twitter.com/spookiewon Pjay (Patti) Pender

    In January I will be ‘celebrating’ my fourth biopsy-versary… Best wishes to you, Xeni, and to Randall and his bride.

    • niktemadur

      Two years ago, my eldest brother (sixty years old) had a rupture in the wall between heart chambers, the surgeon gave a 30% chance of him surviving the night.
      One year ago, my eldest brother asked the doctor three questions, in order of importance:  1) Can I fuck?, 2) Can I fly?, 3) Can I keep on playing baseball (center fielder)?
      The answers were curious – “yes”, “yes” and “are you right or left-handed?”

      I feel like a mischievous rascal right now, so I’ll leave you in suspense over that final one (unless you and only you ask, @twitter-91727271:disqus ), but the true point is that I LOVE telling that story because my brother is alive and well and able to keep enjoying life, the cliche is true – every day is a gift.

      One more thing. People come up to my brother and ask “Hey! Did you have a heart attack?”, he answers “Nope. My heart exploded, but no, I wouldn’t call it a heart attack in the classical sense”. I love his black humor, it runs in the family.

  • niktemadur

    xkcd… damn.

    If in nineteen ninety seven, some time traveler told me “fifteen years from now, you’re gonna be celebrating the reelection of a black USA president, watching TV shows (Sopranos, Deadwood, Mad Men) of a caliber as high as Scorsese and Lumet at their peak, and enthusiastically comparing stick figures to Mutts, Calvin & Hobbes and Peanuts”, you know what I’d say?

    I’d say “I’ll take it!  Just get rid of all these computer peripheral wires while you’re at it, won’t you? And make a phone that plays radio stations from all over the world”.

    The world is a generous place.