#1 Cancer anyone?

Cancer anyone?

If you start to read this, you can blame Pam since she requested multiple times that I do a journal describing the tour of Neck cancer.

If you continue to read this you have only yourself to blame.

Yep, though I'd retire and try to wear out some motorcycles and burn as much fossil fuel as possible. Things don't always go as planned. About the time I get my feet in the starting blocks I find out the game has changed and instead of managing a company, I'm managing my own health care future.

During our vacation in Maui this past February I developed a lump under the right side of my chin that seemed like the lymph node that I've had a half dozen times during my past 57 odd years. When I returned home my Nagy assistant at the office, Erin, made a DR appointment for me to see about the lump. A fine needle biopsy revealed Squamous cell carcinoma, AKA head and neck cancer.

The first step is getting educated about head and neck cancer. This day and age the internet will teach you how to crush grapes, build an atom bomb, or enlighten you from hundreds of web pages describing your condition. Additionally, everyone that feels the need to share their story adds to the drama. I think its part of the disease. The more dramatic, the more you read on. Several times Suzanne banned me from the web due to the dark pained pictures some folks paint.

It's fair to say that contracting a disease that starts with the letter C is enough to spook anyone with a pulse. I decide it probably won't help my cure by stewing on the "why me question". Didn't seem to fit. So, with a positive attitude I contacted friends that had friends that either had a special doctor friend or had a pal that had a similar case. Now I'm getting first hand accounts of the treatment and the life challenges that go along with it. Except for the death-if-not-treated option, the cure plan side effects seems worse than the cancer. Promises of burned throat, inside and out; swallowing problems, feeding tubes for 6 months to a year… and that's just the radiation part. We've all heard the Chemo side effects; hair loss, weight loss, weak and tired, barfy feeling. WOW, sign me up for 2 session of that one. Sounds like a dandy.