Big Bro is here to build the ramp for Mom, and Nurse Sis and she picked out her very own wheelchair today. Very exciting. Things are moving along. It's starting to drizzle, so Mom and I are secretly hoping Big Bro will have to break from constructing and hang out with us.
Mom is getting ready to write the afterward for the book. The publisher is keen on including her in the process and has big plans for her and publicity next February when the book comes out.
We couldn't be more thrilled about the book deal. Really couldn't ask for more. The editor is totally behind the project, and is connected at DC Comics. So Charlie is lining up amazing comic talent for quotes, and has great ideas about who is going to write the foreward.
They're rushing the book into production, because February is actually a very short amount of time to have a book like this ready. And they're going to make it beautiful; full color pages, a special size to accomodate the drawings the way they are, and a cloth hardcover. Amazing.
Apparently many of the secretaries at the publishing company have read it and cried.
We are very excited here. Of course, if you want more details, keep checking Big Bro's site. http://www.MomsCancer.com
It's a little odd to think about being outed. My brother even put his name on the website. Yikes! This is really out there now for the world to see, and it certainly isn't the most flattering portrait of me. Or Nurse Sis or Mom for that matter. And as a friend of mine at UCLA pointed out, it's illogical that the protagonist isn't either Mom or me considering I live/d with her.
Of course, my friend also worried that it peddled false hope to the cancer community. But the reality is that more and more people are living longer with cancer, and the medical community isn't prepared to deal with people who actually survive.
Moms Cancer has touched many people already, and will continue to be a help. And it's quite a family scrapbook...that anyone will be able to walk into any bookstore and buy it is mindboggling.
9 comments:
Thank you so much! I'm glad you were able to read it...it's weird to adjust to not being able to send people to the website anymore.
I'm sorry to hear about your lung cancer, but glad to hear your daughter is there for you. You're not alone in cyberspace, either.
Please feel free to correspond with me and Mom over at http://www.MomsRecovery.com
Hi Kid Sis -
Don't worry about the portraits of you and Nurse Sis not being "the most flattering". They're something much, much better - they're sympathetic, warm and human. I like you both much better than if you'd been flawless and that goes for every character in the book. I can't wait to own my own (hopefully signed!) copy.
Hang in there with the academic stuff. Sometimes I think secondary school staff think their most important task is to deflate and "weed out" students according to their own narrow and arcane criteria. Don't let it get you down. Anyone who has completed even one feature-length film is halfway there, having completed a task millions are "going to get around to someday...".
ronnie (who's going to write The Great Canadian Novel... someday...)
Ronnie, thanks so much for writing again. Mom and I always look forward to hearing from you. How are you?
And I appreciate the kinds words...I will pass them on to Nurse Sis, because she frets the most about being the "Bitch" of the comic (she told me at least I was "the sexy one.").
I'm sure you'll be getting a signed copy. If brian gets to busy, I'll figure out a way to help facilitate that for you.
I'm trying not to let the exclusion from the competition get me down. It's just dumb of me, because they pump it as our only big break opportunity and I blew it. But honestly with how sick I've been, I don't think it was good enough to place in the top ten anyway. It's just not polished yet. And you're right; the positive is I'm actively working on it and am a writer who's writing. That's pretty good.
As far as your novel goes...you're already writing the Great Canadian Blog and helping many people yourself. That's pretty damn good!
Sorry, I know how to spell "too." Just not after midnight.
I read Mom's Cancer all through my chemo treatments last year, and just discovered (when I was going to link someone to the "chemo gut" comic) the book and blogs! I will definitely be buying the book!
and the medical community isn't prepared to deal with people who actually survive.
That is so true. My cancer (Hodgkin's lymphoma) has over an 80% survival rate, and has for nearly 20 years now, but they're still dealing with the secondary cancers and other major health problems that the treatments cause down the road. Couple that with the fact that 40% of Hodgkin's patients are under 35, and you've got a whole bunch of cancer survivors that are living long enough to find out what the long-term effects really are.
The cancer research community is having to shift its focus from getting more people to surivive to trying to improve life for those survivors down the road, and it's definitely not where it needs to be. I'm at an increased risk of leukemia, breast cancer, heart attacks, thyroid problems, you name it - I'm alive and well now, but 10-30 years from now I have no idea what I'll be dealing with. And this is for a cancer where they're used to having survivors! I'm sure survivors of the kinds of incredibly harsh treatments your mom went through really have no way of knowing what to expect. Good luck to all of you.
Brandy, thank you so much for writing (and reading and referring!).
Our family found that doctors were only comfortable with the micro (i.e. "I only deal with funny bone cancer") and ignored the macro (i.e. "So your teeth are going to fall out because I didn't send you to the dentist during chemo...you're in the one percent who LIVED!").
Our doctors have a slim excuse (one percent) whereas your doctors... The system definitely needs an overhaul. I feel comfortable saying that as a doctor's daughter. We're thrilled that Mom's Cancer is being used somewhere in Australia to educate nurses about patients' experiences and emotions during treatment. Hopefully it will spread some Oprah Lightbulb Moments. Empathy, inclusivity, vision of future ramifications...always in style, IMHO.
I'm so glad to hear of your success, and think you're really brave. I know how hard it is to live in the moment without worrying about what lies in the corner. Perhaps we all deal with that, but it seem that cancer has a way of keeping mortality fears in your gut long after remission declarations. Yes, anyone could be hit by a bus tomorrow, but in the meantime they don't live in agonizing fear already knowing what the tire treads feel like on their skin.
Thanks for writing and sharing, and May The Force Be With Your family, too.
Hey, Kid Sis,
Me? I'm doing great :) I get my cochlear implant turned on this week and I am completely excited and pumped about it!
I understand Nurse Sis' concern about being seen as "the bitch", but her fear is, I think, unfounded. Instead, she comes across in the book (as I last read it) as someone who was willing to take on the mantle of playing the character of The Bitch, when necessary, to protect Mom. (She is clearly shown having saved Mom's life in one episode when she steps in to overrule a decision.) It's a subtle, but very clear, difference. Nobody gets to be a hero (with apologies to Hero) without being tough in some way - not Mom, not you, not Brian, not Nurse Sis. If I had a relative in any hospital room, I'd want Nurse Sis on our side. That's how she comes off in the comic, I think.
Nobody (okay, almost nobody) wants to be The Bad Guy now and then. Those who do so to protect someone they love leave a footprint much more beautiful than they suspect.
ronnie
Aw Ronnie, you're so cool. I hope the book tour swings through Canada! :)
Good luck on the implant activation. Mom keeps asking what's up with that, so it will be good to tell her. She says hi, and she'll write you soon when she feels a little better. We'll be lighting a candle for you!
Aw Ronnie, you're so cool. I hope the book tour swings through Canada! :)
Good luck on the implant activation. Mom keeps asking what's up with that, so it will be good to tell her. She says hi, and she'll write you soon when she feels a little better. We'll be lighting a candle for you!
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