Oops!

Posted byRandall 223 Comments on Oops!

I’m at a family reunion, where a YouTube-watching party inspired today’s comic. I woke up to find several emails letting me know, to my dismay, that the comic Doghouse Diaries has already done a similar strip about the same experience.

I linked to their site last year when I posted my color survey results, but I confess I hadn’t read through their archives, so I think this was just a case of parallel inspiration. Still, I really like their version and I’m sorry for the repetition!

Happy 4th of July, and to those of you spending it with family, enjoy sitting through your parents watching Double Rainbow for the first time!

223 replies on “Oops!”

  1. The roads comic provides a more realistic way to look at it, but don’t think it always comes back.
    Cancer research is making real progress in mapping the different types of cancer cells and trying to find drugs that target the cells that are responsible for relapse. Science will continue to improve cancer treatment.
    Although I don’t pretend to understand what you are both going through, I hope you don’t forget to cherish the good things in life. All the best to your family and thanks for your comics!

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  2. Thanks so much for today’s Lanes cartoon.

    Having had my mother go into remission with breast cancer, get 5 years up the road and then start to notice worsening “back pain” I can relate completely to this.

    I will always remember when the second diagnosis came through, googling the words “secondary cancer” and only then realising what that actually meant. It was past midnight on a “school night”, I was on my own and I had never felt more lonely or helpless.

    I hope as many people read the cartoon as possible as it is truly touching. Be really proud of this, well done mate.

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  3. I hope so much that your fiancee’s lane is the outermost left one.
    My mother’s was the 13th from the right.

    This kind of cancer makes me afraid to be a woman. The occurrence is too high, and the consequences …

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  4. Today’s comic was frightening and touching at the same time.
    My mother has not had a recurrence since she was first treated 10 years ago, but that does not prevent me from worrying about her every time she feels unwell.
    Hope your fiancee gets better with each day….best wishes for you and your family.

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  5. I want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for publishing the cancer comic. Long story short, the tumor on my kidney was advanced RCC, the nephrology was not the cure, and the thoracotomy was not the cure. Turns out, even the $9000/month Sutent is not the cure.

    As I began to realize the truth you have learned, I could not verbalize it to others. Your comic will allow me to explain this to my wife and family in a way they can understand.

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  7. I lost my mother almost 10 years ago to pancreatic cancer. She made it a year and a half. The five year survival rate was, at that time, less than 5%. Your comic really touched me this morning. I wish you, your fiancee, and your doctors all the best.

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  8. Thanks for Lanes. Surgeon found rampant gastric cancer in exploratory surgery in my father on Tuesday. Meet with oncologist soon. It’s hard for an XKCD/INTP brain to grasp…

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  9. My wife had treatment for one breast (lumpectomy, chemo & radiation) 10 years ago. This past August she had her 2nd diagnosis in the other breast and just finished treatment (bi-lateral mastectomy & chemo, holding radiation as a reserve treatment). When asked How do you know you’re cured? the oncologist replied You die from something else. :-n
    We both love XKCD and you bring us both a lot of joy. Thank you!!
    I hope you both come through this time of trouble with a minimum of pain.

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  10. As a 31 year old cancer survivor of 2 years (as of the 21st, actually) today’s comic brought tears to my eyes. I know first hand how difficult it can be. I was lucky enough to have support from my family, friends, co-workers and my job to be able to get through the 6 months of surgery, recovery and treatments.

    I have enjoyed your comic for several years. This is the first time I need to say thank you.

    Thank you.

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  11. Hey there Randal,
    I agree with T, today’s comic made me well up a little. I have been a caretaker to my best friend (exboyfriend, too) who was diagnosed last May with seminoma stage IV and HNPCC (colon cancer). After tons of chemo, surgery and recovery time, he’s on the road to getting better. My point being, it sucks. But we’re strong people, and life doesn’t throw things at us we can’t handle. Although the pain is still fresh, we can all cary on.

    Somethings I learned from another care taker was: 1) always stay positive, 2)think in the present, 3)do something nice for yourself every day. For me, it was drawing my silly comics, but idk if that would help you haha. A walk, a video game, some chocolate, anything just to say “I need to take care of myself a little too.” It’s really easy to forget that, I know.

    I love your comic, and I know my bff does too. Keep persevering, my prayers and wishes to you and your fiance. It’s going to be ok 🙂

    Thanks always,
    Julie

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  12. Hi Randall,
    I am responding to your last post. I have found some information that I hope you will take a look at. I found this a few months ago and began using the “cure” in March of this year. I do not have cancer, but what I did have was a stiffness in my hands (arthritis, I assume) and fairly regular headaches. Within a few days of beginning to drink water with a small amount of food grade hydrogen peroxide in it, these two things were gone.
    In this book they claim that it will make the body able to heal many things, and cancer is one of them.
    Please take a look at it and consider. It’s cheap, it’s easy. It doesn’t taste great, but it’s not too bad. If it doesn’t work, you won’t have wasted much, and if it does work it will be such a great thing.
    If you want to talk to me about it please feel free to email me and I will send you my phone number. I would be so happy if this worked for your fiance.

    http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/ciencia_industryweapons33.htm

    Marjorie Stewart

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  13. Wow. I just happened upon this in the g+ stream. Ironic. Just got back from my 3-year post-dx appointment with my oncologist (stage II BC). He said, “your survival rate is good.”

    It ain’t about me, it’s about all of us. Best wishes to your loved one.

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  14. Hi Randall,

    Like many people here, I want to thank you for today’s comic (It brought tear to my eye).
    I hope your Fiance gets better and I hope that you continue to make comics.

    Thank You,
    Mark Anderson (Longtime reader of xkcd)

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  15. It takes real courage to deal with such a difficult situation openly. I would say that Julie’s second paragrah above is the best advice you can use. Attitude isn’t everything, but it’s a lot.

    My hope for all of us is that the priorities in the US will shift from wars on this and that to a major effort to make cancer a thing that will be survived by anyone who may get it.

    Good luck to you and your girlfriend and thanks for the great comics.

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  16. Thank you for todays comic. My partner died of cancer 1 month ago, I understand the really bad roller coaster ride you are on. I hope your fiance is in the right lane! Please take care of yourself, and her

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  18. I am a 2 year survivor if bladder cancer. (Transitional cell carcinoma or TCC.) The recurrence rate is 80% for TCC, so I relate to your uncertainty. Thanks for the great comic, and you and your fiance will be in my thoughts. Take care.

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  20. “I hope so much that your fiancee’s lane is the outermost left one.
    My mother’s was the 13th from the right.”

    Yeah, if only you could learn to read. His fiancee has stage III breast cancer. She’s gonna die.

    Just drop the bitch like yesterday’s paper, Randall. No use waiting a few years if she’ll just keel over.

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  21. lrn2readfedertanz:

    I seriously hope you are kidding. I’d love to see this happen to you and then see what your reaction to people telling you what you wrote there.

    In my eyes, there is always a chance that someone is in the correct lane.

    Thanks Randall.

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  22. Hi Randall,
    I’ve been reading your comic for years now, but I just got the urge to post a comment after reading this one. Have you researched alternative treatments? There are a ton of modalities that a lot of people have had a lot of success with, like the Budwig diet (just one example). There are so many things that kill cancer! I would encourage you to read about Otto Warburg, Johanna Budwig, Harry Hoxsey, Rene Caisse, et al. Try http://www.cancertutor.com – it’s a really good reference.

    Remember, as sad as it is, the medical establishment would rather “treat” cancer than cure it, because treatment is far more profitable. I have read that on average, they make between $800K and $1 million per chemo patient (plus the chemo destroys your liver – some argue that it’s worse than the cancer). Seriously, keep an open mind and miracles can happen.

    Wishing you and your fiancee the best, in these hard times.
    —
    B

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  23. @B
    Excellent advise, alternative methods are always a great thing to explore and they do sometimes work and yes, big drug companies would love for nothing more than to continue treating cancer instead of curing it so that they can make money, but it’s still not good to dismiss the things the doctors try to do. They’re working hard to help their patients, not help the drug companies.

    Regardless, good luck Randall and best of luck to your fiancee as well, just because she was diagnosed at stage three doesn’t mean she doesn’t have just as much of a chance. I’ve seen people close to me come back from much worse and I’m sure your fiancee capable of it too!

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  24. Oops!
    Due to a slight miscalculation, this level has been accidentally thrown back in time. See if you can go back and find it.

    what does it means…
    it is related to Object-Oriented-Programming

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  25. Man, screw anyone who says the Internet is useless drivel. Randall, thank you for everything over the years. All the best to you and your fiance.

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  26. Hi Randall, I am a huge fan of xkcd and was deeply sorry to hear about your fiancee. I felt compelled to send this quick message because i feel that many people in your position have not been given the full story when it comes to cancer prevention and treatment.

    You may or may not have heard of high-dose nutrient therapy. Either way, I urge you take the time to watch the documentary Food Matters (www.foodmatters.tv) which explains the concept more eloquently than I ever could. I found out about the treatment from the website naturalbias.com, another excellent resource.

    In case you were wondering, I don’t work for either of these sites, I am simply a concerned fan who thought this is something you should know about.

    All the best,

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  27. Not all things end badly, my mom had breast cancer when I was little, but she’ll be cancer free for nine years next spring. Just wanted to give you some encouragement 🙂

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  28. Hmmm, just re-read my post and it makes me sound like a tree hugger or conspiracy nut. I’m really not, again I do urge you to see the film. It’s only 75 minutes long, beautifully made and really could help.

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  29. I wanted to let you know that I appreciated the “lanes” comic; one of my friends pointed it out to me, and I found it to be a very good description of “survival rates” and “cancer survival”.

    My father was diagnosed with Stage IV NSC Lung Cancer, so the prognosis is not very good (less than 2% survival for 5 years); he is currently participating in a clinical trial with experimental drugs (and has apparently had no progression for 17 months, from my understanding). I hope that your fiancee is doing well with her treatments, and that she does not have any recurrences in the future.

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  30. Marjorie Stewart, you are an imbecile. Have some care and thought for other people. Hydrogen Peroxide is not a cure for cancer, its a good bleach and a fantastic propellant but please for everyone’s sake don’t drink the stuff.

    I am sorry to have to comment but children read this forum. Cancer care is improving each year but as your diagram showed its a tough disease to beat, the best chance you have folks is an early diagnosis and treatment.

    To Randall,be strong, my thoughts are with you both, thank you for such a profound post.

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  31. Randall, I’ve been trying to explain to people just what you illustrated in the “Lanes” comic. Now you’ve given me a graphic that not only illustrates it, but also demonstrates how frustrating it is to try to explain it. Thanks! And thanks for publishing the embedded link and such. That’s a class act.

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  32. Hi. Please everybody who is, or knows others who are high risk for cancer, make sure you are aware of the role of antiangiogenics in food, know which foods increase antiangiogenesis, and gear your diet around this knowledge. If you don’t know what I am talking about, there is a very good TED talk on the subject here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9bDZ5-zPtY which explains it better than I would do.

    This is not woo-woo stuff, but peer reviewed scientific studies. The video above shows some in-vitro slides demonstrating results, and explains the mechanics in a way anyone can understand (but without being dumbed down) and gives examples of studies which back up these claims (eg, men who cook with tomatoes 3 times per week had 50% chance of developing prostate cancer compared to those who did not)

    This is NOT A SUBSTITUTE for normal treatment, but is invaluable knowledge that you can add to your life.

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  33. Also, please everyone, stop saying that people would rather treat cancer than cure it due to profit seeking is incredibly disrespectful to all those who give their lives studying cancer and working with those who develop cancer in order to try save their lives. The idea that these people are holding back is a complete fabrication, you should be ashamed of yourselves for suggesting such a thing. You should get to know somebody before you insult their motives. It’s also a very negative thing to put into the heads of those who are relying on those people to save their or their loved one’s lives. Use your brains before you speak please.

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  34. I cam eupon the roads comic just after finding out that only one month after my moms surgery her breast cancer had come back in three places. The comic really captures how hopeless and confusing it feels to have someone you love go through this.

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  35. Cancer sucks. You can look at each day with fear–“do I make it?” or start each day by saying “fuck you cancer, I’m still here.”

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  36. My mom and sister have both survived Breast Cancer. I feel your pain. Keep up the good fight!

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  37. The mouse-over title of today’s comic made me wonder: How come that so many people find piercing needles in random parts of a body (nobody suggested that _here_, but it’s such a beautiful analogy) that intriguing while mankind has come so far that it is able to shoot electrons at 99,8% of speed of light to a specific spot of your body! I find it almost insulting to suggest pseudo-scientific things like “oxygen therapy”, drinking hydrogen peroxide or outright criminal anti-cancer-diets while referring to some tinfoil hat conspiracy about the “medical establishment holding back the cure”. I seriously hope for these people to lose their beliefs and put their trust in SCIENCE when their _own_ lives might be concerned. Please, before clicking any of the links suggested before, thoroughly read this:

    http://whatstheharm.net/

    To Randall: While your last comics made me think, I never intended to comment on this topic because I noticed that you turned off comments on your last post for a reason. But then I thought of the people that might read some of the dangerous suggestions above and get caught in some esoteric conspiracy and put their lives at risk.

    Nevertheless I have to say that you can be really proud of this site, as the comments on this blog might still have one of the lowest stupidity rates on the internet, which just reflects the outstanding quality of your work. I wish you two all the best, even if this may not help much coming from a total stranger.

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  38. Sending as many good vibes for cancer cell death as I can to you and your fiance. All those who go through the fight against cancer are hardcore! My mom went through it–it was a tough fight, but she beat it. Best wishes to you guys as your lady goes through RT.

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  39. You’re responsible for your rose. Now you´re part of our family and we care. Best wishes from Spain, we’ve gone through that too.

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  40. have loved your cancer related posts as have many of my fellow breast cancer sisterhood. in a few line drawings you capture so much of our experience and ones like the lanes, and tattoo really get the message through. I realised very early on in your journey that you or someone very dear to you was going through stuff very similar to me. Unfortunately I am now stage 4 Inflammatory breast cancer. all your cartoons make people realise, more eloquently than what I write in my blog, what I am going through
    Thanks again for the cancer -related ones but I love all the other cartoons too.

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  41. Thank you for Lanes. I’m sorry that you are experiencing the fight with cancer. I’ve lost two of my good friends to cancer and my sister still seems to be continually changing lanes to the left with Stage IV breast cancer (she’s been fighting it for over 10 years).

    I think that every Oncologist needs to see your comic as I think it would help everyone involved in this whole process realize that this is a lifetime fight that is sadly without a definable finish line.

    God bless.

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  42. I also held back from commenting on the family medical situation, because Randal had turned comments off on that post for a reason. But a few people have said things to which I must take exception, foolish and/or thoughtless things. I work in pharmaceutical research so I understand the complexities and challenges of developing drugs: if it were easy it would not cost literally billions of dollars per new drug.

    About a year ago, a family friend died after a long struggle with a rare type of cancer. She had to go to specialist clinics like MD Anderson and Sloan Kettering to find oncologists who ever seen this type of cancer, and even they told her their treatment advice was educated guesswork since nobody had enough cases to do valid statistical analyses. It was a tremendous emotional roller coaster for her and for her family. Randal, you and your family have my deepest sympathy.

    As for those advocating alternative medicine and invoking conspiracy theories, you are completely off base. Cancer is *not* one disease but hundreds of different diseases, each of which presents different scientific and medical challenges. Progress *is* being made, but at different rates for each type. Death rates for most types of cancer continue a gradual decline as they have for many years. Progress tends to be incremental. There are many questionable treatments being proposed by people who are some combination of ignorant, foolish, or greedy. Any person considering an unconventional medical treatment should visit the web site quackwatch.org as soon as possible.

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  43. Like everyone else, I want to thank you for capturing the utter fear and uncertainty that comes with having cancer befall a loved one. I don’t know whether you found it hard to put your real life into your work, but please know from all of us who comment here (and the multitude who don’t) how appreciated it is. Praying your fiancee stays on the far left…

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  44. Annoloki, I totally agree. The people I know that do cancer research are grad students that stay in the lab until midnight, making less than minimum wage and spending their weekends analyzing data. They deserve your respect. The people who I cannot stand sit on their butts, theorize about some alternative way of treating cancer, and then sucker people out of thousands of dollars without ever testing to see if it works (because then, like hundreds of real potential therapies, it could be proven wrong).

    Randall, I wish I knew what to say. Cancer sucks. And know there’s an army of grad students out there burning the midnight oil (or, more appropriately, warming the midnight ramen) to stay for just one more run on the equipment to see if what they’re trying works.

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  46. Looking forward to your unique take on all the cancer research you’ve done. My mom was recently diagnosed with an early stage liver tumor, so all of a sudden I need to know more about this awful subject.

    Cheers.

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  47. My mom died of lung cancer at age 42 when I was 16. I turn 40 this month. Unlike her, I don’t smoke. My mother never got to see the Internet, MMORPGs, the Lord of the Rings movies, Tron Legacy, or her two grand daughters. (Mom was a total nerd) Cancer can go F itself.

    I hope your fiance beats cancer so badly that the cancer gets cancer and dies, leaving her unharmed. (If you use this to cure cancer name it after me and give me royalties.)

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