Jeeeesus I wasn't ready for that. my wife was diagnosed 11 years ago. we had been trying for kids for 4 years prior and finally had to give up. the drugs they put you on for cancer for 5 years, well, you cannot have kids. and she was already getting up there in age. she finally came off of them in 2020. then a year later, we found out she was pregnant. and because she was pregnant with a girl, my wife got a genetic test and found out she has the BRCA-1 mutation which explained her breast cancer diagnosis from 2014... and also put her on high alert for ovarian cancer. after the preventative surgery, it turns out she had precancerous cells in her fallopian tubes. this little girl of ours had saved her life. just by being born. she's now three. and my wife is healthy, and happier than ever. I'm a lucky, lucky guy.
An elderly neighbor rolled up on his golf cart the other day and said out of nowhere, "growing old isn't for pussies". He wasn't lying. You get to feel old; you don't want to.
Growing old together is what couples want. He was afraid he would lose her to cancer thus he’s happy they’re getting older as it means they’re both still here together.
This one touched me deeply, when I first read it. I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma 5 years ago. Mean survival after diagnosis, I learned then, was 5 years. "Next year"? Damn. For a long time I couldn't think past next week! I'm finally venturing some thoughts about "next year."
This one, Lanes[0], has always stuck with me. I've not really kept up with webcomics after the death of Google Reader, so very happy to see this update so many years down the line!
"Years You Have Left to Live, Probably"[1], on Nathan Yau's FlowingData[2], reminded me of Lanes. I stumbled on it, selected my gender and age, and the animated distribution sampling began. And the first-ish sample was a 'dead this year', immediate ball plummet. That... left an impression.
Hey Randall, in case you read this… like many here, I've been following xkcd for a long, long time, and invariably, through the comics, the story of you and your wife. I don't know how you manage to convey so much through stick figure comics, but the raw emotion of the milestone comics makes me cry every time, both out of happiness for the two of you, the suffering in this world, and the beauty and madness and wonder of being alive. It really strikes home. I wish you all the best in the world, and many years together still. Thanks for everything.
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[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 44.4 ms ] threadgood on you, Randall. Congratulations.
No you don't.
An elderly neighbor rolled up on his golf cart the other day and said out of nowhere, "growing old isn't for pussies". He wasn't lying. You get to feel old; you don't want to.
[0] https://xkcd.com/1393/
[1] https://xkcd.com/1686/
Growing old together is what couples want. He was afraid he would lose her to cancer thus he’s happy they’re getting older as it means they’re both still here together.
[0] https://xkcd.com/931/
[1] https://flowingdata.com/2015/09/23/years-you-have-left-to-li... [2] https://flowingdata.com/
And Firefox mobile sucks for cutting off the left side of the screen with no way to scroll. But viewing the image directly works.