Bob and George have been my two biggest supporters since I was
paralyzed almost 32 years ago. I have
known Bob since I was 5 years old.
They were both diagnosed with cancer in the last few months. Bob has melanoma and had a large tumor
removed from his abdomen that turned about to be benign Schwann cells. George has early stage prostate cancer.
Bob had 3 surgeries to cut most of the cancer out over the course of 3 months. Last week, he started his first of 8 chemo
treatments over the next 18 months. He
got into a research study using the latest in anti-cancer medication with
negligible side effects after the first treatment. He is doing well.
George has never been seriously ill in his life. He is way over-thinking the problem, but has
certainly learned a lot of cancer in the last few months. The back-lab pathologist was puzzled when
George came to see her after his biopsy.
She had rarely (never?) talked directly with a patient before in her 20
years as a pathologist. He has always lived
an extremely healthy lifestyle and is an atheist—he would be made at god if he
believed there was one.
George talks about this changing his life. I encourage him to study mindfulness-based stress
reduction. The stress is going to be
harder on him than the cancer. He will
likely be cured of his early stage cancer in the next few months.
The both have a macabre sense of humor.
Knowing that laughter is great medicine, I question their lifestyles
pointing out that when I was a child my father made me: use mercury for mold
treat; asbestos for insulation; DDT for flies; and spray thousands of gallons of
Agent Orange on the blackberries every summer.
Trust me, it is funnier on the phone than in print.
I am grateful for relatively early diagnosis of my friend’s cancer,
relatively low-impact cures and for their love and support. It feels good to support them in their time
of FUD. They will be fine.
