Funny how one’s mind and body react in certain situations; I thought I might lose it before entering the hospital room where my sister Linda was recuperating after her cancer surgery, but once I was in there, I was in complete control of my emotions, and was able to maintain at least the illusion of strength and calm. It wasn’t until much later, perhaps as much as a day or two, that everything hit me. But, you know, I’m pretty good at suppressing emotions. I think that’s one of the reasons I do this comic – as a way to let those rascally emotions run free for a while before I bottle them up again.
So this is the last strip in the Xinda/Breast Cancer storyline. I didn’t want to end it on a cheery, joke-y note since this is such a serious topic and I wasn’t about to present a presto, everything’s fine now, ending. My sister Linda (Xinda’s Real Life counterpart) has gone through months of grueling chemotherapy and radiation, and she’s still continuing her fight to beat the cancer, so it’s not something that can be magically wished away, sadly. And although this strip is the last of this particular arc, you can be sure we’ll be checking in on Xinda/Linda every so often as she continues that fight.
Once again, a HUGE thank you to all you readers for sending well wishes, prayers, positivity and healing vibes to my sister and family throughout this storyline. I know Linda got a kick out of getting to know many of you in the comments and I’m sure all that awesome mojo is helping with her recovery. So, thank you!!! Once again, I’m convinced that I have the best group of readers in webcomics.
So powerful and so true.
I think you and Xinda have been extremely generous to share this arc with us.
Thank you.
thanks, Sarah W. and i concur – my sis has been so cool to share her story in the strip. in a way, it’s a bit cathartic for me writing and drawing these out, but she’s the one that has to live it every single day.
and to switch gears a bit: check you out – you just achieved the Shades of Firsting! wear these well, especially when you need to stay strong or be positive in any situation:
😎
It’s always difficult when a family member is in the hospital. I sincerely hope that Linda does well.
me too, GG. and i’m happy to say that she’s doing great so far! *keeping fingers crossed that she continues to do well*
Long time lurker here…yeah reading the past few strips made me remind of the time I first found out my mom had breast cancer. It was tough on everyone, and the journey had never been easy. It had it’s up and downs definitely and there were a lot of tears.
I wish you and your family the best. Take care and thank you for sharing your story with us.
Welcome to the comments area. We hope you’ll stay awhile. Have some cookies and hot cocoa.
Thanks for the cookies and hot cocoa!
Pixie makes the best cookies and cocoa!
I have no idea why I’m so competitive but I am now driven to make you cookies, ‘bot. Just to show how epic I am at cookie-making.
Thanks for the cookies and cocoa, Pixie. HEY JB! Incredible display of emotion in the last panel. This whole strip is awesome. Such a range of emotion. Trying to be strong when all you want to do is curl up in a ball somewhere and cry because you feel so helpless. Stay strong Linda/Xinda! I know there’s no way in Nine Hells you’re gonna let this beat you without a good fight!
thanks, KB! one of the things that keeps me from curling up in a ball and crying for too long is Linda’s attitude and strength during this. when she’s going through the real battle, it makes me feel a little selfish to wallow much. (but sometimes you just gotta.)
~pouts with extra lip~ i want a cocoa…..
i’m sure Pixie made enough to go around, Infamous Nefarious!
sorry you had to deal with cancer in your family, too, Silver C., but thanks for sharing your experience with us. wishing you and yours happiness and healing.
oh! and thanks for the comment. always happy to hear from the longtime lurkers. welcome! 😀
What an amazing series! You carried us through the pain with sensitivity and humor – a most difficult combination. Thanks for trusting your readers to join you on this journey. Sending positive healing vibes to Xinda/Linda and good wishes to the family.
aww, thanks for the awesome comment, #1JF. i really had my doubts about whether or not to do this storyline, but you and the rest of the BOTreaders have shown i should’ve trusted you all sooner! thanks for the positive vibes – i’ll definitely pass them along.
What a great storyline! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
I love how you ended it and your reasoning behind it.
All the best to you and your family!
glad you liked the ending of the storyline, Carlo, and the reasoning behind it. while i hated to conclude things on a “downer” note, i did want to convey the gravity of the situation, since everything really can’t be wrapped up in a neat, tidy bow with something like this.
I want to hug poor Jefbot in the 3rd panel. He definitely needs one. This would be a great time for Cel to show up! Or if not Cel, than Lor (although he’d probably prefer a Cel hug to a sisterly hug). 😉
By the way, I love that Abraxas wants to comfort him. So cute!
i’m happy you noticed Abraxas! he hasn’t been around in a while, but it’s nice to see he’s there when bot needs him. (and since Xinda gave him to jefbot, i thought it appropriate.) 🙂
yep, bot could definitely use an appearance from cel right about now, shanna! but yeah, a hug from Lor would be good, too. 🙂
…excuse me…I seem to have something in my eye…
sometimes a hug will get out that pesky eye irritation, Joe. 🙂
*CRYING* this is really sweet. Abraxas is really cute. <3<3<3
I know how it feels… if something bad happens, at first I’m just like OK that happened, but later I go through what happened and then I start crying because then I realize how bad that thing was.
LOVE THE NAME!!!! I too hate dresses. Will take a pant suit everytime over a dress. Even when I do the whole Pirate Wench thing, I have on long bloomers.
thanx Pixie! I myself only have one dress, but it’s pretty much the only one I have ever worn, and I havent worn it more than two or three times.
yeah, it’s funny how we process things, DAS – sometimes things hit us right away, and sometimes they creep up on us when we least expect it.
thanks, DressesAreStupid – i’m happy this one affected you. and yeah, Abraxas is pretty cute. 🙂
Wow. This made me well up. (yeah I cry…just don’t tell anybody!) It touched me not only on the level of what your family is going but also what I went through before the Dr.s diagnosed Mr. Pixie with pancreatitis/Severe peripheral neuropathy. He would get a stomach ache and we’d rush him to the hospital. They’d admit him and no one could really tell us anything other than his pancreas was acting up. I would sit with him for hours, reading, watching tv what have you. I’d go home to care for the animals or to go to bed for the night, and I’d be hysterical. I would have to sit for an extra half hour before heading back to clear my mind and be able to put on that smiley, happy, everything is going to be fine face.
I still send happy thoughts and healing mojo to Xin (My Hero!!!!!!) and the entire Bot family. And I am working on my own Angry @ Cancer Scarf! If no one has seen the FB fan page, shame on you! (Kidding) I’ve put up a challenge to all us crafty types. Check it out!
Abraxas is too cute. Animals know, I’m telling you! When I am upset or sick my babies lay with me quietly and take care of me.
*hugs* to you and Mr. Pixie 🙂
and Xin is my hero too!! Us mischievous/borderline evil gals have to stick together, ya know!
*hugs* for you and DK and your Mama.
We need a Xin Fan Club! Oh the hazing rituals…Oh uh I mean…yeah uhhh…What?
a Xin Fan Club!? would anyone make it through the hazing rituals alive!!?? 🙂
Alive and with the battle scars to prove it!! 😀
It’s all a matter of utilizing the Dodge feat properly. Also, having Improved Evasion doesn’t hurt (those fireballs can hurt!).
*gasp* the comic strip made the tough-as-nails Pixie get emotional!? i think that’s one of the best compliments i could get for this one! heheh. thanks, Pix.
and sorry to hear about Mr. Pixie – not knowing has to be one of the worst things you can go through. ugh. glad they finally got it diagnosed. major hugs to you and the hubby.
thanks for the awesome mojo you’re sending to my sis and family! can’t wait to see that scarf!!! 😀
(and glad to hear you have some healing animals of your own.)
And sometimes you just need to let it all out. You have to put on a strong face for the one in the hospital, a strong face for friends and family…but if you keep it all in, it will do nasty things to yourself. God bless (or gods, or whatever you believe :D, equal opportunity well wishes here lol) her to give her continued strength, and you and the rest of the family. *hugs for all of you*
And Abraxas reminds me of my little dog, scratching on my arm, softly, when I’ve had a bad day, or am down…*sigh*
i believe that, too, ESQ – that you got to let it out sometime, or bad things will happen to you. and thanks for the blessing and the hugs! we can use all we can get, here! 😀
yeah, pets are awesome when you’re down. makes me wish i had a little dog or (dare i say) ferret. but there’s barely enough room in the BOTcave for just me and my stuff!
I love you little bro! And I’m coming over right now to HUG you! and I’m calling to wake you up, right now. Best COMIC strip EVER!!!
xoxooxoxoxooxoxoxooxoxoxoxooxoxooxoxoxooxoxooxoxoxooxoxox
xoxooxooxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxox
I actually looked out, expecting this comment. Please hug him. Hard 🙂
i saw her for thanksgiving yesterday, Gaz, and she pinched me a bunch of times and hit my arm hard at one point, so does that count? 🙂
Yes, mate. Yes it does. I’m guessing Thanksgiving was extra-special this year 🙂
awww, i love you, too, sis! thanks for not coming over and waking me up at 6:23am (after i had posted the strip at 4:30am). although you did call after i had just fallen asleep, so i take that “thanks” back. 😉
xoxoxoxoxo!
{{{HUGs}}} for both you and your sister. Often words are both inadequate and unnecessary. Strength and healing vibes to both of you.
big thanks for the hugs and healing vibes, naleta. yeah, sometimes words just don’t cut it, but it’s nice when friends and family can see beyond the words. 🙂
I know it’s tough! Sending you & your family positive energy!!!
many thanks, FunnyShaffer!
Thank you for this strip. I cried, because ten months later it’s still me. Ten months ago, my mom was hospitalized with what was first thought to be a heart attack, but ended up being a very painful neurological condition which required some very extensive surgery. She recovered a bit, but a week later feel into a coma, came out of a coma then fell into another one. She died three weeks from being admitted to the hospital. I felt that way every day she was there and felt that way for the last nine months.
She was like that — showing her strength to all of us, and hiding her pain, until in those last three weeks of her life it took her from my family. I am my mother’s son and bear similar weights, putting my fiance’s, my dad’s and sister’s grief before my own.
Thank you again, and healing vibes and prayers to Linda for a speedy and full recovery, and to your healing as well. This strip has helped heal me.
*hugs* It gets easier. You will get a little stronger every day.
thank you for sharing your story with us, Steve. i don’t even know what to say as i can’t imagine what you must be going through (and i’m sure you must hear that a lot) since i’ve never lost a parent, and i hope to not lose a sister. i know your family appreciates (and relies) on your strength, and i’m sending healing vibes and thoughts to you and yours. i truly hope what Pixie says is true: that it gets easier and you’ll get stronger everyday. if this strip has helped heal you in even the smallest of ways, that’s one of the greatest accolades it could ever hope to achieve. thanks again, and big hugs and healing, Steve.
Being down once in a while is not a bad thing. Staying down is. Now, I only know you guys from chatting here but I can tell: Linda is not the type to stay down. Especialy with family as supportive as you are Jeff. But Im not telling you anything new, am I?
you got that right, Maryz – Linda isn’t the type to stay down! and judging from her, uh… rambunctiousness and crazy energy at thanksgiving last night, she won’t be down anytime soon! 😀
My grandma had breast cancer when she was 50, she lived to be 95. If anyone can out fight her bot, it must be a member of your family.
awesome to hear that about your grandma, Descolada! you know Linda/Xinda will keep up the good fight!
That last frame says it all. You stay strong for your friends and family, you stay strong for your sister. Only in private can you rage and cry…
I recently underwent surgery for cancer of the oesophagus. Reading this has reminded me that I need to give a lot of wonderful friends a damned good hug for being there.
*hug* I don’t fit through the GD router!!!!
you can never give enough hugs to family and friends, Gaz Hunter! especially those that have been there for you. sending you big healing vibes.
Poor Bot. I know the feeling too. Watching family deal with things like this is hard. As others have mentioned, it nice seeing you and your sister share this. I think it helps personally, even if there’s some comedy involved with it to help break the ice / make it easier to share.
Good luck Xinda!
i think a mix of comedy helps with such a serious topic, TCG – in comic strips as well as Real Life! thanks for the hugs for my sis. 🙂
Just did a Hot Rod club run with a bunch of CanTeen kids here in NZ (CanTeen organisation for teenagers surviving / living with cancer). Went to Muscle Car race meeting, got to do a few hot laps with them in our cars. Really changes your perspective on what is important hanging out with kids who have been through (and are going through) cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Enjoy life, hug your friends, have fun.
sounds like a great organization for a great cause, Big J! thanks for sharing your experiences with the kids at CanTeen. maybe it’ll inspire others to do the same. 🙂
“Enjoy life, hug your friends, have fun.” <- awesome words to live by!
Stay strong, Xinda… you can beat this!
thanks for the words of support for Lin/Xin, Insectoid!
Is that a rabid rabbit pic behind you or watership down?
heh. good eye, Empress K – it’s Watership Down, one of my favorite movies!
OMG ABRAXAS!! -sorry I missed my ferret-
Stay strong everybody.
woo! yep, Abraxas is back, dj! 😀
I wish you strength Jeff.
Linda: Sadly….. I have no picture of my licking Robert Picardo’s shiney dome to share with you and brighten your day, I know you were looking forward to it. We couldn’t make the con because I believe someone ratted me out to the man himself, and he pre-emptively dispatched a very LARGE deer to sabotage my female counterparts car….. with it’s face. While she was in motion. And when I say face I mean it’s whole body, mostly it’s ass.
Now, don’t worry. She was fine. Shaken, stirred, ANGRY as hell. But physically fine. Her decepticon slave however was not so fine and is in intensive care. Sadly the deer got away so she was unable to detain it for interrogation in regards to its dispatcher and puppet-master or the nature of our security leak. I blame Jeff for squealing. As should you.
And while the details in the retelling of this tale are disgustingly and shamelessly exaggerated, the core substance is true. Deer jumped in the road, she half-nailed it and it got away. Car is mildly toast BUT she IS fine. Unfortunately we really couldn’t get there because of it.
I hope the fabricated portion sort of made up for the lack of a rather jocular and embarrassing celebrity photograph.
I wish you both well. Jeff can catch me on Live if he ever gets around to accepting the add.
thanks for the strength-wishes, Infamous Nefarious! and sorry you didn’t get acquainted with Mr. Picardo’s scalp, but glad you and your friend were able to walk away from your encounter with the deer.
sorry about the Live request – i haven’t had time to get back on Live in several months. this webcomic keeps me crazy busy, but i’ll try and hop on soon. (just got Batman: Arkham City, and i plan to play it this weekend!)
*sets up a hot cocoa station, complete with marshmellows and pepermint sticks for those who want them. Puts out plates of warm chocolate chip, peanut butter bloosoms, and butterscotch oatie cookies..well…cause you need something to dunk in cocoa darn it!*
I am Thankful for all of you. Friends I’ve never seen, but friends none the less. I want to wish each and every one of you a happy Thanksgiving Holiday or whatever you choose to celebrate this weekend.
(I’m an emotional basket case today!)
XOXOXOXO
Pixie
Happy Thanksgiving to you, darling. You’re one of the best friends I’ve never met in person! Loves!
*nicks a cookie and hot cocoa* *and a peppermint stick*
woo! Pixie hot cocoa and cookie station! i’ll definitely take some cocoa and peanut butter blossoms. NOMNOMNOM
and joining in on your awesome thanksgiving sentimentality: i’m thankful for you, the rest of the First Ladies of JEFbot and all the readers out there that keep this strip going with your support and enthusiasm!
XOOXOXO back atcha!
Only strong men cry. After all tears are the sweat of the soul or something. She’ll be fine JB, we gotta believe.
hmmm… tears are the sweat of the soul, Jiro? i like it! i’m gonna go cry some more, now. 🙂
thanks!
Too many people don’t realize that this isn’t a fight, it’s a war of sorts, with your entire circle of family and friends involved. As long as you’re spirits are good and your support is there, you will always triumph. I’ve told people for the last 10 years, *this* thing doesn’t get to win, *I* get to win. You will too because of your family, your friends, and because your a fighter. Kick this things ass!
my sis has definitely been kicking cancer’s ass, Oz, so thanks for the fighting comment! happy to have you and your words here as inspiration. 🙂
Great series, Jeff! I love how Abraxis is giving ‘bot some love in the last panel. Every so often, everyone needs a little Abraxis.
hey, thanks, Stan! and you’re right: everybody needs a little weasel love now and then. 🙂
Thank you for sharing this story with us. I don’t think I’ve ever been this moved by a webcomic in my life. And I’ve been there…having to be strong for those around me, then going into my room to break something and cry until I feel a little more human. Big hugs for you, and for Linda. Thank you for not making a happy cheerful ending for this; because while you’ve brought humor into the mix, it’s a scary thing.
Hugs and kisses, and have a great Thanksgiving weekend! Love you, darling!
that you were moved by this storyline means a lot, Tiana. thanks! and happy you can relate with the being strong around others, but letting it all out when you’re by yourself.
also, many thanks for the hugs for my sis! and your understanding for why i just couldn’t end this storyline on a “happily ever after” note is appreciated.
hugs and kisses back atcha and hope you’re having a great thanksgiving weekend, too! 😀
*hugs you and her*
thanks for the hugs on behalf of my sister and myself, John. 🙂
Any time, you both deserve it.
That last panel is so touching. I love all the little details like Abraxas touching Jeffbot tenderly with his wee paw and the Watership Down poster in the background. I have been a longtime enjoyer of the comic but this is the first time I have be unable to not comment. Love and good wishes to you and Linda/Xinda <3
thanks for the kind words about the last panel, Abraxas and the poster (yep, you got it right with the Watership Down), BookPolygamist. i’m happy this strip moved you to comment, even if the subject matter’s a bit heavy. and thanks for the love and good wishes for my my sis and me!
Wow im retarded – *been unable
we all make mistakes, BP!
*BIG SUPER HUGE THANKSGIVING HUGS TO ALL OF BOT’S READERS, AND TO BOT AND ALL OF HIS FAMILY, TOO*
WOOHOO! superhugs to you and DK, ESQ!!! hope you two had a FANTASTIC thanksgiving! 😀
I wish your sister the best, and a speedy, healthy recovery.
Also, Happy Turkey Day!
thanks for the great wishes, Ri! i’m sure Linda appreciates ’em!!!
and happy turkey day to you, too! mine was great – just now recovering from food coma.
I wish you and your family the best of wishes during the holiday Bot! I hope this Thanksgiving was a wonderful one for you! A speedy recovery for your sister is on my mind and in my prayers. Cancer is not a joking matter…but I’ve laughed because you’re a hilarious writer, but believe me when I say I know exactly what you’re going through. So, I wish you the Merriest of Holidays to your family during this tough time, and especially to your sister!
Kat
since the Schuetze Family was all able to get together this year, there was a lot to be thankful for, Katani! and thanks for the prayers for my sis – she’ll definitely need all the wishes, prayers and good vibes to get through this.
also, thanks for the kudos on the writing. glad you got some laughs from the storyline, even if the subject matter hits close to home. sending you positive vibes and merry holiday wishes to you and yours, too!
Here’s hoping things start looking up soon; I know how it can be as it seems my entire family is systematically being afflicted, stay strong, both of you, and be ready to get past this trying time in your lives, Best wishes from KS and we all can’t wait to hear about recovery!
I get how you felt, the fear of breaking down and yet somehow being strong and almost detached emotionally for a bit. I was like that back in March of 2011 when my Papaw died… It was weird… I’m really awkward about death.