A Moment in Sarcoma from Vedran
l Moments in Sarcoma · OsteosarcomaCroatia
First hand experience (find the hidden sentence using the colored letters)…
I was lying in the hospital recovering from the surgery during which a tumor was removed just above my left knee. I was very lucky because amputation was not needed. I didn’t know if more chemo treatments were needed. And then one day, just before I was transported to another hospital to start with the physical rehabilitation, my doctor came. He told me that the tumor did not react well to chemo and that it was practically intact. This meant that I had to return to oncology as soon as I finish my rehabilitation to receive some more chemo. That really struck me. I was crying and depressed all day long.
In a few days I started with my rehabilitation treatment in a specialized hospital. I was in bad mood since it had been more than a month since I was home. Then one day I met Milka, an 8-time paraolympic. She’s in a wheelchair, but it doesn’t stop her from laughing all day long. I never met anyone with such a positive energy. “As long as I can smile, I have myself and I’m happy,” she says. She didn’t have to say anything, I would just a look at her smiling face and laugh. Her motto in life is that no situation is so difficult that man can’t find something positive in it. And that’s the truth.
I had to face the fact that I’ll never again be able to cycle the way I did before, but I realized how much I enjoy swimming. I spent many days in hospital, but I read more books than I did in years. There were some tough moments, but cancer taught me how precious life is.
[Vedran is a 28 year old osteosarcoma survivor.]
Vedran’s Moment in Croatian
Iskustvo iz prve ruke (pronađi sakrivenu poruku)…
Ležao sam u bolnici oporavljajući se od operacije tijekom koje mi je odstranjen tumor iznad lijevog koljena. Bio sam sretnik – amputacija nije bila potrebna. Tada još nisam znao hoću li morati primiti još kemoterapija. Neposredno prije nego sam bio prebačen u toplice, kako bih započeo svoju rehabilitaciju, posjetio me liječnik. Rekao mi je da tumor nije dobro reagirao na protokol prije operacije, bio je gotovo netaknut. To je značilo povratak na onkologiju čim završim s rehabilitacijom, a za mene jedan veliki korak unatrag. To me zaista pogodilo. Plakao sam i bio tužan čitav dan.
Nekoliko dana nakon započeo sam svoj oporavak u toplicama. Još uvijek sam bio loše volje jer prošlo je već više od mjesec dana otkako sam zadnji put bio kod kuće. Ubrzo zatim upoznao sam Milku, osmerostruku paraolimpijku. Ona je u kolicima, no uvijek nosi osmijeh na licu. Nikada prije nisam upoznao nikoga s toliko pozitivne energije. “Sve dok se mogu smijati, imam sebe i znači da sam sretna”, ističe Milka. Nije morala ništa reći, pogled na njeno nasmijano lice bio mi je dovoljan da budem dobre volje. Njezin moto u životu je: nijedna situacija nije toliko teška da se iz nje ne bi moglo izvući nešto lijepo. I to je zaista istina!
Bilo je to vrijeme velikih promjena. Morao sam prihvatiti činjenicu da nikada više neću moći biciklirati na način koji sam prije mogao, ali sam shvatio koliko uživam u plivanju. Morao sam provesti brojne dane u bolnici, ali sam pročitao više knjiga nego što sam ikad prije. Bilo je teških trenutaka, ali rak me naučio koliko je život dragocjen.
[Vedran, 28 godina, prebolio osteosarkom]
