I called my old friend last evening.....

I expected to say hello, catch up and, just maybe, share with her our struggle with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.  It was a stunning conversation.  Early on, she referenced her husband having been sick; however, she didn't state why.  The conversation came around to my husband and how we have been doing.  I told her that he had been disgnosed with a brain tumor and several lung tumors and that the disgnosis was metastic renal cell carcinoma from the kidney cancer he had ten years ago.  I heard her say, "That's what my husband has..."  The remaining conversation was most interesting.  In some ways, her husband's situation is different, but the stunnning part was that we could finish each other's sentences relative to how we feel.  She said that it was really good to talk to someone who "knows and understands" how it feels to be in this situation.  To me, it seemed like she was talking from what's in my head and heart.  An old "truism" is that misery loves company...  While neither of us would wish this on anyone, both of us were comforted to know that our feelings are appropriately acknowledged and understood.
Torant