Posted: 1/9/2016 12:37 AM
Post subject: TASing and cancer
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TheAxeMan
Ambassador, Experienced player (709)
Joined: 7/17/2004
Posts: 985
Location: The FLOATING CASTLE
I wanted to give a special shoutout for everyone to donate at AGDQ this year. Last year I wrote the irc bot for the Pokemon plays Twitch demo. This year I helped again with some code to help micro500 run some Twitch plays segments in Brain Age. But the reason for this post has to do with my son TheHatchetBoy. For months now he has been going through an intensive regimen of cancer treatment. I have been told that it is harder for the parents in a lot of ways while he won't remember any of it. Maybe it's true, many of the things he has to put up with are really uncomfortable and yet he is still excited about meeting the nice nurses and playing with the waiting room toys on every visit. His overall picture is good now though at times the cancer has trolled us and almost killed him. After finishing treatment, cancer prevention will become very important. As if doing whatever it takes to win isn't enough, surviving cancer is a big risk for getting cancer in the future. Plus the treatments themselves have a small chance to cause a separate cancer to develop. Any habit that affects cancer risk also applies to the risk of it returning. So even if Prevent Cancer doesn't consider cancer survivors specifically, their work will still be helpful in TheHatchetBoy's future. I sometimes think about how TASing has affected my thinking through all this. It probably started early on when the doctors told me his odds. In my runs I manipulate very low probabilities repeatedly so my first thought was along the lines of "Oh that shouldn't be hard at all". Yeah, it's actually quite a bit scarier with no savestates or emulator tools. TASing also involves plotting things out in consideration of a lot of information. That experience has been very useful as TheHatchetBoy's medical history has now become very complicated. Most cancer treatments are actually harmful in some ways. Other treatments are there just to counteract those effects. The hospitals have good computer systems now but it is still helpful to be able to recall all the relevant info and ask the right questions when talking with the doctors and nurses. At times there have also been a lot of medicines to keep track of and I need to know all their names, what they do and when he takes them. I have spent a lot of time sitting in TheHatchetBoy's hospital rooms. Of course we read and play together but there is also a lot of time to pass while he is sleeping or watching his own videos. I played through a few different games and even did some TASing, completing a Ninja Gaiden 3 pacifist test run. I thought about how Ryu's Dragon Sword had healing powers during the ending of Ninja Gaiden 2. So in that run when he crouches during wait times he is saying a prayer for TheHatchetBoy. I also decided it was a good sign when I found a death-cheating glitch. At some point I'll come back to that, there are several spots that need some work. Anyway, with AGDQ going on it just felt like a good time to share a little about this. Does anyone else have experience with cancer? Don't forget to donate, I want to see my Twitch chat bot go live!
Posted: 1/9/2016 8:44 AM
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ars4326
He/Him
Experienced player (777)
Joined: 12/8/2012
Posts: 706
Location: Missouri, USA
Well, last summer my mother was diagnosed with stage 3 cervical cancer. She had found out for sure one evening through a text message from her sister (who's an RN). Needless to say, that news hit her hard and, certainly, soberly affected me. Reading Hebrews chapter 11 brought great comfort and faith during this time. So from about the span of about May until August, my summer involved driving my mom and younger brother, back-and-forth, through town during the week and to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis on Fridays so that she could receive treatment. The clinic in town involved a type of external radiation treatment, while the one in St. Louis involved an internal type of concentrated radiation to directly attack the cancerous cells. My Mom was more or less bed-ridden during this time, as that treatment left her in a near-constant state of nausea and overall weakness (loss of weight, appetite, and so forth). My brother and I took care of town errands, yard and housework while she rested and recovered. (to link this to TASing, I had also completed TASing Fester's Quest during my downtime. While my Mom would be in the clinic, I would sometimes be out in my truck in the parking lot routing the game or completing a section or two) ...so to fast-forward to now, I am very thankful to God in stating that the doctors have announced that the treatment was a success. My Mom has steadily recovered, and is now only taking daily hygienic treatments, with a few follow-up appointments scheduled every couple of months (she is certainly also thankful that the nausea is gone!). So AxeMan, include my prayers w/ crouching Ryu's to go out to TheHatchetBoy. May this cancer be conquered!
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." - 1 Corinthians 2:9