My turn for a cancer observation...
Back in 1989, I went to see an ear/nose/throat guy about a "rattle" in my left ear, when around loud sounds (phone, music, etc). He found nothing wrong with the ear, but did a physical on the rest of the surrounding areas. He asked "does this hurt" and pushed on my neck. I went out of the chair, it hurt so bad. He said we had to do more tests, that something was wierd with my thyroid. I was about 33 then.
We did several tests, and nothing showed up as odd. He asked to do a frozen section, which should take about 45 minutes. I said ok, and went into the hospital for the little operation. My wife waited in the waiting room, neither of us very worried.
4 hours later, they come and get her.... there had been a problem. When they opened my neck in the front, a large amount of "goo" burst out of the opening. After some investigation and digging deeper, it turned out that I had a tumor on the back of my thyroid about the size of a softball. It had burst at some time and was spread thruout my entire neck.... they even cleaned it off my vocal chords. I found this out when I woke up and said "I have to piss"... they were all happy I could even talk.
They sent a biopsy t a local hospital lab, and another to a distant lab. The first one came back as negative for melenoma. We were releived and I just wanted to head home to recover. On the third day in the hospital, the doc showed up and, being the kind of guy he was, he said "Rick, you have cancer... the second test came back positive". He wasnt rude, we had come to an agreement to not bullshit each other and be bluntly honest. He was, and I accepted that.
I went back in the following week for another surgery, where the removed about 90% of the thyroid. After I healed up, we would remove the rest via radioactive iodine. We did that all over the next few months and then agreed to get scans every year or so to see where it spread to, since the tumor had burst. I was to also watch for ANY gland swelling, as this situation I had could/would possibly lead to a fatal ailment (I forget what its called tho).
Now, 13 years later, I am fine. The docs dont have a clue why or how I got it. They said it is the cancer of choice, that it is the slowest growing cancer out there... I may have had it since I was in my teens.
I dont make light of ailments, but I dont get too worried about prevenative maintenance either... after cancer, a quad bypass, and a few horrific motorcycle accidents, I tend to think life is good while it lasts. Time for a cigar...
Animal
