How a simple six letter word can change your life. What is taken for granted is quickly changed.

Living Through A Nightmare Called Cancer © 2009
Written by Joe Vojt

How a simple six letter word can change your life. What is taken for granted is quickly changed. It all started with a common cold and everyone has experienced that in his or her life. Normally after three months you are back to normal, but that didn’t happen. So you say to yourself, “I will wait a little longer”. The cough condition didn’t want to leave and taking medication for the symptom did nothing. You still believe it will eventfully disappear.
A year passes and you worry about why this simple cold just does not go away. Calling the doctor did not help the condition, but the decision was to schedule a visit. Well that started a long trail of tests and not having been a regular patient there was no recorded history that could have been used as a baseline. So you start with blood tests and the results are normal, but the cough remains a part of your life. Not giving up you learn that additional tests are required and this begins to stretch out for a longer timeframe. You just don’t get appointments based on a cough, even though it had lasted well over a year. The doctor accepts the challenge of this lingering constant problem.
Scheduling another visit was getting easier because the doctor began taking an interest in this lengthy cough. Next came the X-ray test and I explained that the last X-ray went back well over twenty years. Now getting old X-rays is not as easy as you might think. There was a record in their data base. Everything was offsite, it would take months to locate and the condition of the film might not prove anything. So I had the X-ray done that day.
After a week the call comes back for another appointment. The doctor stated that there is a spot on the lung and there still was no concern because there was a history of some spot on the lung a long time ago.
But to make sure, another test had to be performed and it was the CT scan. The results were uncertain, in other words, the test did not indicate anything other than a growth under the sternum, the size of a peach. Another visit was scheduled and the recommendation was to perform a needle biopsy. The biopsy was set up within a week. It was a painless procedure that lasted a few minutes. The sound was more frightening than the actual test. This time the results came back quicker and another doctor’s appointment was required. The results were uncertain because the samples were to small too make any diagnosis.
The next step was to remove the growth. Many questions were asked and the statement was that it was a somewhat critical operation, but for the surgeon, it was more in line of routine. Preparations required more blood tests. Seeing that the cough continued justified the procedure that would end the nagging cough.
Three weeks later with all the prep work completed, the time had come. Every operation has a risk factor, but the mind can never realize what all that might mean. First thing in the morning, around 6:00 o’clock, you are ready and begin wondering, “What will this really produce?” The main objective was to remain positive and hope for the best.
Being prepped was routine as you are rolled into a cold operating room. Even the bright lights did not offer any joy. The medication prepared the body and mind by forcing it to relax helping the fear disappear.
The next time the eyes are open, you are in an intensive care unit. Time was lost within the medication that the body absorbed. Tubes, bags and more equipment attached to a body makes one wonder how the body is still able to function. Morphine was the pain killer of choice, but it caused a reaction creating visual hallucination. The doctor immediately changed to another pain drug.
The operation plan was to last three hours, but it ended up lasting six hours. The peach size tumor ended up being the size of a grapefruit. Attempts to remove the growth that spread to both lungs and some veins created a critical operating procedure. Both lungs had tubes inserted to drain fluids and more medication with electronic wires covered the body.
Basically moving was impossible and the pain reached beyond what medication could handle. Doctors came and went and family remained which was the most important factor for the bedridden patient.
After any type of operation that removed body parts, a lab test is required. That is to investigate why the growth occurred. They froze the grapefruit size material in a lab and began cutting it into slices. That was how they discovered that the material removed was identified as Hodgkin’s disease.
Next came a group of doctors to the bedside while the family remained. There was no way of knowing or realizing what Hodgkin’s disease was. Learning later on that Hodgkin’s disease was a progressive disease that caused an enlargement of the lymph glands. It did not mean anything to the patient. There was something about affecting the white blood cells. This created more questions, at the same time, concern what all this really meant for the future.
On the second day of recovery nothing was clear or even trying to understand the consequences of what the body experienced. Everything was somewhat normal until the word cancer came to light. It took awhile to sink in. All the fear of that word became a high profile of life. It took days for it to have meaning and even then it made everything surreal.
The hospital stay should have been three days but ended up lasting eight days. Even with the diagnosis and the unknown treatment, remaining positive and high-spirited was the new goal for survival. Work was no longer an option based on what was ahead. The primary doctor handled all the required specifications that were highly recommended for treating the cancer.
Time spent with a positive altitude was the goal. By wanting only the facts regardless of the consequences helped. The question included how long survival was predicted. This was based on all the tests performed and what would it mean for the future. Every person has a view of what life means to him or her, especially when it comes to survival. No one wants to leave this earth without some knowledge of what can be avoided.
By keeping a log of all events with questions drove the doctors into getting answers that would never come out on their own. The biggest question that made a difference was what were the percentage of survival. The thinking was that nothing but the facts with a positive outlook on life would allow the body to survive.
The first two years included four months of chemotherapy that included four anticancer drugs and eight weeks of radiation therapy Monday through Friday. During this treatment blood tests, CT scan, X-ray and other required tests were performed. A year after this regimen of testing and being a male the, PSA number kept raising. The screening tests included a rectal examination and more blood tests. The PSA test is known as prostate specific antigen (PSA). It is used to detect a protein (the prostate specific antigen) that is released from the prostate gland into the blood. Once the PSA came up to eleven, another decision had to be made. Again remaining positive was the goal and another biopsy was required. This one indicated positive for prostrate cancer. The doctor explained that prostate cancer is a malignant tumor that usually grows slowly and remains confined to the gland for many years. That was positive news.
Again the options were an operation or radiation. Based on the last operation radiation was the only option. You never really know the outcome of any medical decision, but keeping a positive attitude allows that energy to help in fighting any cancer. Surviving the nightmare called cancer now for the last eight years feels great. Everyone should take care of his or her health because it is your life. With it comes many unknown variables. Who best knows how to deal with the unknown than the person living it? I learned to cherish every day because it is truly a gift.