If you group hug me, I'm gonna puke!

Cancer is a lonely disease. Even when surrounded by people who care about you, love you and would do anything for you, it can be lonely. That's why there are support groups, but I've never been a big support group guy. I just picture a room full of people a lot older and sicker than me saying things like:

Bertha:  Hi, I'm Bertha, and last month I had a colectomy 
Group (enthusiastically): Hi Bertha!

Oy vey!

But I did hear about a local group and I'm going to give it a shot tonight. If there's really a Bertha in attendance, I will not be able to suppress a guffaw.

Even cooler, the folks at Livestrong, my favorite charity-started-by-a-guy-who-looks-increasingly-guilty-of-blood-doping, referred me to something called Imerman Angles (www.imermanangels.org), that matches people living with cancer with those who have survived, often the exact type and stage that the patient is dealing with. You call in or fill out a form online that does a great job of getting the details of who you are, specifics about the cancer you have, treatments you've had or plan to have, what you're most concerned about, etc. Then you get to rank how important each of those factors are in making a match.  I did it last night, and before lunch today, I received a call from a "matcher" who listened to my story and who will look in their database and make a match. I'll let you know how it goes from there, but I had no idea there was such an amazing service available. Of course it's free, and they even provide prepaid phone cards to people who can't afford to talk long distance to a match.

There's a special place in heaven for people who come up with ideas like that. And when I get there in 50 years or so, I'm going to be sure to thank them.