He went to the Emergency Room with what he thought would be a routine problem waiting for a few hours, seen for a few minutes and back home. But to his astonishment, he was tested with instruments and machines and told he was staying there; they’d get him a hospital room when one was available.
They gave him more and more tests and blood drawn constantly. He felt like a rat in a lab. Then came the diagnosis, a blood cancer.
How the hell is this happening?, he thought. I’m Mister perfect health. I’m Mister don’t eat red meat, and with no cancer in my family and have worked out for decades. Yet there he was diagnosed with a blood cancer that was trying to kill him. It seemed impossible that something that only happened to others had happened to him. It seemed impossible that the cancer he was sure he’d never get had invaded and weakened him and was intent on killing him.
It took months of infusions and medications. For a while it looked like he was going to be doomed when the infusions and medications were not killing the cancer. And his cancer doctor was having difficulty in finding the right combination of treatments to put it in remission.
Then his doctor sent him to another cancer doctor for her suggestions. He returned with the outline for a new treatment, and ever so gradually, the cancer began losing its death grip on him. More months of different infusions, a new medication, and eventually he was cancer free, sort of like being reborn with a second chance at living.
And he’s been that way for three years and kind of grateful he had the cancer. He derived enormous personal and spiritual growth from it and an appreciation for the medical field and the loss of his fear of going to doctors. And his hard-won battle against the cancer became like a happy ending. And should the cancer return, he’s perfectly okay with that. So far so good, no symptoms, no cancer.
Bob Boyd