Thumbs Up to the Young and the Restless

Kudos to the Young and The Restless on the Lilly has cancer story line.

A few months ago, Lily Winters Ashby, a fictional character on The Young and The Restless, portrayed by Christel Khalil, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

This soap story line caught my interest since I have been traveling down the ovarian cancer road with my mother for the past year.

Unlike a lung cancer story line featuring the character Kate on Days of Our Lives this past year, the Young and The Restless story line is the next best thing to the real thing.

The first episodes demonstrated the fear and disbelief that comes with a cancer diagnosis. Fans watched as Lilly agonized over whether or not to have surgery and probably kill her chances of ever having a baby.

Finally she had the surgery and soon after it was off to the chemotherapy phase of a cancer battle.

Soon after treatment, Lilly began losing her hair which lead to she and husband, Cane Ashby, portrayed by Daniel Goddard, shaving her head.

The scenes were very touching and very realistic and the debate seems to be raging on as to whether or not Khalil shaved her head in real life.

Most sites report that she did not and that a wig was used for the haircut/shaving scene.

Others say she did.

I believe she did not because when character Colleen Carleton, portrayed by Tammin Sursok, died on the show, there was a scene where the people in Colleen's life were saying goodbye, one of these characters was Lilly and she had hair.

Anyway whatever the truth, the scenes were well done.

Since then fans have seen Lilly wear a mask because of a surpressed immune system, which is also a fact when battling cancer.

We have watched as her family and friends rally around her in her time of need, which is fact in most families.

However, not in my cancer journey. But despite the fact this is an unrealistic event in my life it is realistic in many families.

This week, fans watched as Lilly went to the chemotherapy room. For fans out there that have never seen a chemo treatment room, I have to say it was a realistic depiction.

It is a room of recliners with bald people and nurses.

In the scene, a male cancer patient greets Lilly and begins talking about his numbers. Once again hooray to the writers.

Every time we visit the chemo room, patients are comparing their Cancer Antigen 125 (CA 125) numbers, so yes this is a realistic happening.

For those that do not know, the CA-125 is a tumor marker first identified in the 1980s. A blood test is done routinely to monitor the CA 125 while undergoing chemotherapy.

While talking to the man, Lilly suddenly becomes weak, a nurse rushes in to take her vitals and temperatures and before the show ends, Lilly is admitted to the hospital.

Once again I have to say been there.

There has been a couple times that my mother showed signs of illness before a chemo treatment, so far fortunately she has never been admitted to the hospital but I have seen others that were.

Then at the end of the episode, Cane steps outside Lilly's hospital room and breaks down for the first time during this crisis.

This demonstrates that caretakers are under a great deal of stress and they put on the strong face for the patient but on the inside they are all but dying a slow death as well.

Once again thumbs up to the cast and writers for making this story line very realistic.

If your looking for a soap to get hooked on and maybe learn something about ovarian cancer tune in.