From My Mind to....

Not Baby Steps ...

My journey with cancer has not been baby-steps. I consider myself fortunate that in less than four months (from initial pain in late December to surgery in April) I've been afforded a good prognosis from my cancer for a full life. I'd heard so many stories of people being unable to be seen by a doctor for an illness, much less be treated. In my case, doctors of the VA Hospital (Columbia, MO) and the University (MO) Hospital were my champions.

Tomorrow, I have the next phase of my cancer treatment--a three-week post-surgery checkup. This checkup is not really about the surgery per se. This meeting is with the Oncology Dept. to determine what happens next with my treatment. I still have an upcoming meeting with the Urology Dept at six-weeks. To clarify: Oncology deals with the medical side of my cancer; Urology takes care of the surgical side.

The management of cancer is really nothing but a series of phases. I use the term management because cancer is a complex issue, rarely treated one time for a cure. I've broken my journey into phases. I expect other peoples' journeys will be different.

I'll discuss these phases in a separate, more extensive entry. That entry will contain a frank discussion of my options and continuing journey with sensitive and possibly disturbing information. Thus, you'll need a PassKey for access. This will screen those who might be disturbed at the content. Contact me via email or IM if you wish access.