We have mentioned in the introduction that self-introduction posting includes a patient member’s basic personal information, the experiences from the time getting cancer diagnosis to the processes of treatment, and the emotional expression. Apart from these contents, we found that patient members also wrote something about their lives prior to the cancer diagnosis. Most of their descriptions of life prior to the cancer diagnosis characterize what Chou et al. (2011) called ‘a sense of normalcy.’ For example, when patient member B described life prior to the diagnosis, he/she wrote ‘那年暑假我跟一般 的 小 孩 一 樣 報 名 了 各 樣 暑 假 夏 令 營 還 有 籃 球 隊 的 暑 期 訓 練 /During the summer vacation in that year I just like children in general signed up for various summer camps and summer training for basketball team.’ The phrase ‘跟一般的小孩一樣/just like children in general’ is where a sense of normalcy about his/her life prior to the cancer diagnosis originates. In addition to the description of a sense of normalcy, some patient members further described a sense of satisfaction with their lives prior to the cancer diagnosis. Table 4.6 presents the examples of descriptions of a sense of satisfaction with their lives prior to the cancer diagnosis. The satisfaction they mentioned was derived from a number of factors which included healthy lifestyle (e.g. no consumption of cigarettes and betel nut, Example 1 in Table 4.6,) good physical condition (e.g. no use of medical resources and being athletic, Examples 2 and 3 in Table 4.6,) promising job (e.g. software engineer in a foreign company, Example 4 in Table 4.6,) good life (e.g. getting along well with people
around and having a chance to study abroad, Examples 5 and 6 in Table 4.6) and good educational background (e.g. majoring in medicine and having a master’s degree, Examples 7 and 8 in Table 4.6.)
Table 4.6
Examples of descriptions of a sense of satisfaction with life prior to cancer diagnosis from the self-introduction postings by patient members.
Examples Type of description
1 不菸不檳榔偶爾喝一點酒
‘No cigarette, no betel nut and a few alcohol’ healthy lifestyle 2 沒有任何病史，發病前沒住過院，連診所都很少去
‘Having no medical history, having not stay in hospital before getting cancer diagnosis and even having very few experiences of going to clinic’
good physical condition
3 健檢前體能狀態: 每天游泳 1000 公尺
‘Physical condition before physical examination: everyday swim 1000 meters’
good physical condition 4 目前於外商擔任軟體工程師
‘Now working as a software engineer in a foreign company’ promising job 5 和大學同學相處融洽，和男友感情很好，家人對我也很照
顧
‘Getting along well with classmates in university, being affectionate with my boyfriend and my family are taking good care of me’
good life
6 暑假還和男友（當時還在一起）一起到英國遊學
‘During summer vacation I even studied abroad in England with my boyfriend with whom I was still in a relationship at that time.’
‘Just received a master’s degree from Xi Wa University’
good educational background
As shown in Example 3.1, patient member Ph described her exceptionally wonderful life, education and job at the same time: being the dearest daughter of God, having a lot of parties to attend and feeling joyful about going back to her hometown for Chinese New Year (Line 2, 4 and 5); having two master’s degrees (Line 3); and working with designers and fashion goods in famous fashion industry in London (Line 3 and 4)
In their description of the satisfaction with their lives prior to the cancer diagnosis, patient members made use of positive descriptors, the linguistic feature Chou el al. (2011) also found in the personal cancer narratives collected in their study. Instances of the use of positive descriptors in the present study were like ‘天之嬌女/just like the dearest daughter of God’ in Line 2 of Example 3.1. Even if they did not make use of positive descriptors, they tended to mention the positive aspects of their lives prior to cancer diagnosis (e.g. ‘沒 有任何病史，發病前沒住過院，連診所都很少去/having no medical history, have not staying in hospital before getting cancer diagnosis and even having very few experiences of going to clinic.’)
In addition to the description of a sense of normalcy and of the satisfaction with the life prior to the cancer diagnosis, patient members also mentioned their counter-expectation of receiving cancer diagnosis; that is, they mentioned that they had never thought that they would have gotten cancer diagnosis. Table 4.7 presents the examples of counter-expectation description of getting cancer diagnosis. Most of their descriptions involved two kinds of concepts: having no family history of cancer (e.g. no case of getting cancer diagnosis in both parentages, Examples 1 to 4 in Table 4.7) and their unexpected membership in KDD cancer board (e.g. never thinking of the possibility to become a member of cancer board, Examples 5 to 8 in Table 4.7).
Table 4.7
Examples of descriptions of the counter-expectation of getting cancer diagnosis from the self-introduction postings by patient members.
Examples Type of description
1 兩系血親沒有人得過癌症 想說我這輩子應該是跟癌症絕
緣了
‘Nobody in my both parentage has ever gotten cancer so I think that I will never get cancer in my whole life.’
no family history of cancer
2 就我家的家族史來說也沒有任何癌症的病例..
‘In terms of my family medical history, there is no case of getting cancer.’
no family history of cancer
3 再加上兩系家族沒有人得過癌症
‘Moreover, nobody in my both parentage has ever gotten cancer.’
no family history of cancer 4 沒有家族病史, 又是 young age
‘No family history and also in young age.’
no family history of cancer
5 好吧！我得承認，其實自己從來沒想過得要來這個版做自
介:(
‘Well! I have to confess that in fact I have never even thought that I would have to come to this board to do self-introduction:(’
counter-expectation
6 我從來都沒有想過這個版會加入到我的最愛裡..
‘I have never even thought that this board will be added to My Favorites...’
counter-expectation
7 沒想到我也有在這個版發自介的時候
‘Have never thought that I would have the chance to post self-introduction in this board’
counter-expectation
8 沒想到自己也成為了裡面的一員..
‘Have never thought that I would also become a member of this board’
counter-expectation
The description of the counter-expectation of getting cancer diagnosis in patient members’ self-introduction postings contained the use of emphatic adverbials, which is also the linguistic feature Chou el al. (2011) found in the personal cancer narratives collected in their study. For example, the ‘從來沒想過/have never even thought that’ and
‘從來都沒有想過/ have never even thought that’ in Example 5 and 6 in Table 4.7, respectively and also ‘沒想到/ have never thought that’ in Example 7 and 8 in Table 4.7.