Philip Chevron takes medical leave from The Pogues

[IrishRover]

Philip, do ye have any voiews regardoin' to Ronnie's battle woith cancer,
was ois oit the same type of throiat cancer ye were foightoin' agaoinst ?

[philipchevron]

Philip, do ye have any voiews regardoin' to Ronnie's battle woith cancer,
was ois oit the same type of throiat cancer ye were foightoin' agaoinst ?

Unfortunately, I do not have enough information about Ronnie Drew's illness to comment significantly on this. Although we "compared notes" once or twice, myself and Ronnie did not actually talk much about our shared affliction. I think his cancer was in approximately the same area as my own. I would call it the Throat, though my doctors have always referred to it as the Neck. I believe the only thing that made a real difference to our chances of survival was the fact that Ronnie was more than twenty years older than me: the percentages stack up considerably more in one's favour if one is not yet 50, as was the case with me when I was diagnosed.

One conversation we did have was about the oncologists and specialists noting our profession. My oncologist, before treatment began, took great pains to reassure me that the radiation therapy I was to undergo would specifically avoid blasting my vocal cords, in order to save my voice and, hopefully, career. Ronnie was given no such promise, which I think is when I realised his cancer must be at a more advanced stage than my own. {Ironically, of course, this care of my vocal cords did not extend to my hearing, which is why I was deaf for several months after the treatment, and indeed the jury is still out on whether my voice has been saved - it took Levon Helm eight years to find out!}

It always surprised me how active Ronnie seemed to stay in his recovery, at a time when I found everything to be an enormous effort. This worried me a great deal until I realised I was myself capable of giving the impression that I was much further ahead in my recovery than I actually was - it was just a performer's natural sleight of hand, as it was with Ronnie. All the same, he had me fooled. When he told me he was on the mend, I believed him. That made the shock all the greater when he died.

[IrishRover]

many thanks foir sharoin' these thoiughts Philip,
oi can oinly oimagoine what boith yerself and Ronnie were goin' throiugh, ye boith were foightoin' the same enemy;
the very fact that throiat cancer attacked 2 great people, best of the best, 1 Pogue & 1 Dubliner.. broings shoick..
tois' sad that Ronnie's noit woith us any moire, twoiuld be so great that he coiuld soimehoiw foilloiw yer path,
but loife has no rules, must have been the age doifference as ye say and the advanced stage of what he was facoing;
Ronnie's musoic's foirever, hes spoiroit's aloive; and praoise the loird, oim grateful Philip, that yer stoill woith us,
and even moire that yer able to rock the stages of the woirld after defeatoin' cancer;

[philipchevron]

many thanks foir sharoin' these thoiughts Philip,
oi can oinly oimagoine what boith yerself and Ronnie were goin' throiugh, ye boith were foightoin' the same enemy;
the very fact that throiat cancer attacked 2 great people, best of the best, 1 Pogue & 1 Dubliner.. broings shoick..
tois' sad that Ronnie's noit woith us any moire, twoiuld be so great that he coiuld soimehoiw foilloiw yer path,
but loife has no rules, must have been the age doifference as ye say and the advanced stage of what he was facoing;
Ronnie's musoic's foirever, hes spoiroit's aloive; and praoise the loird, oim grateful Philip, that yer stoill woith us,
and even moire that yer able to rock the stages of the woirld after defeatoin' cancer;

It turns out I won't be rocking any stages for a little while yet. I will not now be appearing at the Christmas shows.

[meowhouse]

Oh, that's too bad Mr. C. People will miss you. I hope you are feeling up to the next round of shows in the U.S., hopefully in March if it's done like years past.

If you don't mind answering somewhat of a medical question: did you have chemo (besides the radiation) and did you need to have someone there with you for afterward? I mean, I know people are going to react to treatments differently, but in your experience would you say that you found it very helpful or even necessary to have someone around to help you take care of yourself after each round?

Anyone who might have experience with this can answer, not just Mr. C. I'd be glad to hear any thoughts. I have a relative starting chemo tomorrow and they've told her she can get along without any help but I'm not so sure about that. She is going for a 2-day cycle every month. I'm not sure how many months it's supposed to last--maybe six? I have to check. She isn't too worried but I am.

Anyway, get your rest and we'll all be waiting to see you when you are feeling able.

[philipchevron]

Oh, that's too bad Mr. C. People will miss you. I hope you are feeling up to the next round of shows in the U.S., hopefully in March if it's done like years past.

If you don't mind answering somewhat of a medical question: did you have chemo (besides the radiation) and did you need to have someone there with you for afterward? I mean, I know people are going to react to treatments differently, but in your experience would you say that you found it very helpful or even necessary to have someone around to help you take care of yourself after each round?

Anyone who might have experience with this can answer, not just Mr. C. I'd be glad to hear any thoughts. I have a relative starting chemo tomorrow and they've told her she can get along without any help but I'm not so sure about that. She is going for a 2-day cycle every month. I'm not sure how many months it's supposed to last--maybe six? I have to check. She isn't too worried but I am.

Anyway, get your rest and we'll all be waiting to see you when you are feeling able.

As far as I can tell, Chemo treatments vary enormously and I would be reluctant to offer advice in that area. I had one chemo session every Friday, which generally took from early morning to early evening but it was something I was able to do, for the most part, as an outpatient, and get myself home later. In my case, several litres of a combo of drugs (cisplatin is the only one I can remember) were flushed into my system via a canula into one or other of my hands. The process itself was not painful (apart from the injection of the canula) at the time, but I was always glad, after 5 sessions of radiation and one of chemo, to have the weekend to recover, or at least to gather up my resources to cope with the following week. My "reaction" to the chemo - not just a temporary deafness but also a general malaise - tended to occur off and on for months after the treatment, as these drugs are powerful and can take a long time to leave your system. The chemo drugs are certainly, to some extent, still floating around my body more than a year later.

Every Friday I shared a "day ward" with about 6 other patients, all of whom, as far as I can tell, had different experiences of the chemo, so I do not put my own account forward as typical. Monitor your friend's reactions after the first session and adjust your concern accordingly. It is true that most cancer patients prefer to maintain as much independence as possible - it's a very lonely condition and you figure you may as well get accustomed to that from the git-go. But a few times, I had to concede defeat and ask to be taken into the hospital as an in-patient for a few days, a sort of respite from the independence.

[meowhouse]

Thank you, that is very helpful. I know people will react differently but I really don't even have any people to ask, so this is good information.

[Mark_Wafc]

It turns out I won't be rocking any stages for a little while yet. I will not now be appearing at the Christmas shows.

Sorry to hear that pal, keep well.

[Eckhard]

It turns out I won't be rocking any stages for a little while yet. I will not now be appearing at the Christmas shows.

That's sad news. Take care, mate.

[IrishRover]

It turns out I won't be rocking any stages for a little while yet. I will not now be appearing at the Christmas shows.

soirry to hear that Philip, woish ye best, to get fully well, stages woill be waoitoin' foir after Chroistmas then..
take care oiur great froiend and woith yer great faoith & poisoitoive attoitude oit woill all coime to place

[dave 81]

Very sorry to read that Philip, and once again, you're always in our thoughts. As mentioned, if the trend continues and we might have the good fortune of seeing you with the band again in NYC in March, my offer of theatre tickets of your choice still stands. We're certainly not VIP's, but we sure felt pretty special after how we were treated at the Roseland this past March. Thanks again, and I hope the thanks were relayed to Ross.

Best wishes sir, and get some rest.
Dave & Jana
XXOO

And Meow.....I'm really not an expert by any means, but i've been dealing with this bastard for 3+ years now, and as Philip mentioned, treatments vary considerably. I could probably fill three pages of "not so fun," but I can tell you that experimental drugs of just a couple of years ago, are now widely prescribed. Case in point, ...instead of her weekly 2 hour chemo I.V. drip and two days of feeling lousy, the Mrs. takes a couple of pills, (xeloda,) weekly, and according to her oncologist, things look very good. And she's growing hair
It can be scary stuff and your friend will need your love and support.

[meowhouse]

Thanks derelict. That is good to know. It's my mom, and she isn't worried about this at all. She was diagnosed with leukemia a year ago but it's generally a slow-moving form of it that people can live for years with without treatment but after "only" a year she has to start chemo. I didn't even realize she hadn't told my sister until she emailed me and said my mom was all "Oh I went to the store today and the electric bill came in and oh I have leukemia and am starting chemo next week, BYE!" She said she didn't want to worry her. Anyway she doesn't seem to be too concerned but her children are and I'm the closest geographically, although not that close that I can just pop in. She says she'll be fine to just go and have the treatment and take care of herself alone. It's just that I can't just run down there with 5 minutes notice.

Anyway it is helpful to hear other people's experiences. The only other person I know who ever had chemo is not around anymore for me to ask.

I hope Mr. C. gets well enough to join the rest of them next time. Something for us to look forward to!

[philipchevron]

I didn't even realize she hadn't told my sister until she emailed me and said my mom was all "Oh I went to the store today and the electric bill came in and oh I have leukemia and am starting chemo next week, BYE!" She said she didn't want to worry her. Anyway she doesn't seem to be too concerned but her children are and I'm the closest geographically, although not that close that I can just pop in. She says she'll be fine to just go and have the treatment and take care of herself alone. It's just that I can't just run down there with 5 minutes notice.

Our small family - mother, sister, uncle, nephew, niece - were gathered in my sister's home for what amounted to my 50th birthday lunch. I had made up my mind to tell them once the meal was eaten but, in retrospect, I can hardly believe how matter-of-fact I must have sounded when I broke the news of my diagnosis. I had some cancerous cells in my throat/neck but there was not too much to be concerned about, it was all in hand, and soon I would be having a course of radiation and chemo and would be right as rain. So that's all good then.

Truth is, all I knew about the disease is what my oncologist told me and she had managed to convey all the information I asked of her in a matter-of-fact way that I must have found compelling and infectious. Even when, for the purpose of the press release (I was determined to control my own media agenda, rather than have troubling and incomplete stories trickle out, that I would by then be too ill to deny or confirm *) she authorised me to say I had "advanced local" (meaning it had not metastasized) cancer, it seemed quite reasonable and non-scary coming from her. She was equally measured when I asked her what would happen if I took the option (which she had not in fact offered) of not having treatment. "Oh, in that event," she breezed, "you have about a year to live, maybe less, maybe more."

My point here is that cancer patients, when the moment comes to share the news with loved ones, do not intend to deceive or downplay. We know in our hearts how serious the condition is, but we also know that we are not - yet, at any rate - going to die, and that cancer comes with all sorts of cultural baggage - the dreaded "Big C" - which means the most negative scenario will almost certainly be the first place our loved ones will visit. We want to spare them this however possible, because we briefly went there ourselves.

On the matter of family support, again this is going to vary wildly from patient to patient. I had my treatment in Nottingham, but I resolutely refused to have either my mother or sister come over from Dublin to take care of me for the duration, something which caused both of them a great deal of angst and upset. But it was something I had to get through, and stay focussed on, more or less on my own. I reassured them that when the treatment was done, I hoped they would help during my convalescence in Dublin, which is what has transpired.

Meow, obviously you know your Mom better than I do, but my feeling is you have to take her at her word, however much worry this causes you. I felt during my own treatment that my own wishes were absolutely sovereign, even if I could not always communicate the logic of them to other people.


[* ps: on the matter of controlling the media flow, soon after the press release, I Googled myself and the cancer and was delighted to find that EVERY source - from the bloggers to the New York Times - presented the information as they had received it, some of them even using the exact words we had offered.]

[meowhouse]

Thanks so much for your insights, Mr. C. I really appreciate it.

She did tell the rest of of but I guess had not told this one sister (there's a whole other issue going on there). That it's only a year since diagnosis that she has to start treatment is what is worrisome because lots of times people go for long periods without needing any. But she is 82 and I suppose the older one is, the more soon treatment might be needed. I think she is downplaying it a bit because she has had a hard couple of years: 2 years ago she was attacked, robbed, and severely injured by three heroin addicts looking for drug money. And she needed lot of help dealing with that, and still does although she is much better than she was, so now she's kind of trying to not "take advantage"(her words) with other things that she can supposedly handle on her own.

But this isn't the meow's mum thread! As far as you go, I think it was wise to put out your own press release and not have to deal with endless speculation by people who think they know better than you do. I really hope you are feeling up to playing in March, assuming there is a U.S. tour then. You will see me in the front row if I have my way about it! But if you're not ready in March, then another one. It's more important to do for yourself now and get to 100%.

Do you know yet who is playing for you in December? James?

[soulfinger]

That's terrible news, I hope your health improves soon Philip. You will once again be much missed on the Christmas tour.
Best wishes.