The Official K Chronicles and (Th)ink Website

*MORE!! MORE!! MORE “C-WORD” EMAILS…

>Thank you for cheering or inspiring my Wednesday mornings. After reading this morning’s strip, though, I’m sending good thoughts and love to you both. You’re in my prayers. May you be rejoicing in a good prognosis soon!

J, Seattle

Dear Keith;

>I’m a white 42-year-old male and I absolutely love your strip and your sense of humor and frustration. I just read the one about your wife and the c-word and I’m hoping and praying that this will all turn out all right. Your experiences strike very close to home for me and it’s so damn hard when all you can do is take things one day at a time, and hang in there.

Please know that there are many of us out here who are with you both during this time.

A fan

>I hop everything works out buddy that’s a nasty blow! Your both in my payers. Beyond that I don’t know what to say
R.

>Hi

Long-time fan who just wanted to express her condolences during this awful time. I’ve always enjoyed your comics, and the way you depict your wife is so sweet and loving. She seems like a great person. Tell her if she wants some cheerier websites, you can’t go wrong with:

www.dailypuppy.com
www.dailykitten.com
www.cuteoverload.com
or even www.chucknorrisfacts.com

Cheers & Best Wishes,
C., Ontario Canada

>Keith,

Just read the latest ‘K Chronicles’ on Salon, and was
shocked to read about your wife. My best hopes and
wishes go out to the both of you, I fervently hope
that this all turns out well.

Sincerely,
J.

>Keef,

Thinking hard about you back here in the Boston Area.

This is the game age plays. You used to go to the doctor and they’d bang
your knees and look up your nose and ask you about how many people you’ve
had sex with in the last six months. Suddenly that number drops to one and
hangs there and on a later visit the doc puts on a rubber glove and his and
your relationship changes forever.

From there it’s a long parade of cysts, spots, swellings and tests. You
remember how much people who could talk about nothing but their health
problems used to piss you off, but now it seems like a natural topic. That
and real estate.

I can’t say “welcome”. What I can say is that these doctors can do amazing
fucking things nowadays. Have faith and know that there are zillions of
people out there pulling for you.

Much love to you and your wife,

D.

>Keith-

Just read your 25jan06 strip in Salon–even though we’ve never met, I’m sorry to hear the news. My wife and I went through a similar situation a few years ago: She had an “indolent carcinoid” on her lung. After surgery to remove the lower lobe of her right lung, she’s been clear without needing any chemo or radiation therapy, and we now have a beautiful daughter (not directly related to that medical situation :^)

I wish you and your wife just as clear an outcome. Stay strong.

pg

>Keef,

I expect that you are probably getting a fair amount of “I’ve been through this too” type of messages, but I thought that I would write anyway.

About eight years ago I started to have a pain in my shoulder that I thought was a pulled muscle. After a biopsy, multiple CT scans, MRI’s, bone scans and everything else the doctors could think of, they diagnosed me with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I was 25 at the time and it just about wrecked me. My saving grace in all of what followed (chemo therapy and subsequent hair loss – I got it back, radiation, etc.) was my wife.

She was a pillar of strength and support that I couldn’t have done without. She never left my side, never turned away when I started to pity myself. She made it possible for me to believe that I could beat cancer and that it wasn’t the worst thing that could ever happen to me.

I have a clean bill of health now and a slightly deflated view of my own invincibility, but I’m not afraid anymore. Throughout the entire ordeal she never allowed me to be afraid. I hope that everything turns out well for your wife and that you will both look back on this in ten years and think, “that was some freaky shit, huh?”.

I guess I’m trying to say that as much as your wife may need medical attention and treatment, she will need you that much more. Try to be strong for her, and for yourself. At the end of the day, you both represent what is best about the other.

Regards,

R.

>Mr. Knight-

First, my prayers are with your wife and with you. Thanks for producing such a great and honest strip.

Second, as a small and hopeful attempt to provide reassurance, I’ll tell you my tale of chest tumors. I faced a very similar situation when I was 17 years old. I had a bad cough and a chest x-ray revealed a “concerning mass” that warranted a C/T Scan. Well, the CT scan revealed a tumor about the size of a grapefruit–mine between my esophagus and my aorta. Facing that at 17 was not easy… and doctors have a very annoying habit of couching hope and the possibility of good news with the warnings of just how horrible and swift death may come.

My doctors decided not to take it out (because that would have meant taking my heart out of my chest to get to it…) without a biopsy first. I endured a needle biopsy, which involves a large needle, going through your breast bone. It was every bit as fun as you might imagine.

I’m very glad they did that, though. It turned out that my tumor was a calcified lymph node–probably the result of an untreated histoplasmosis infection from when I was a kid. Because it wasn’t malignant and the surgery to remove it was so risky, they left it in. I have C/T scans every few years to make sure it doesn’t grow, but that was 17 years ago… I’m now 34 and doing just fine. Okay, I need to lose some weight, but I’m generally healthy and happy. I hope your wife’s adventure has a happy ending as well.

-D.