Don’s Story: Fighting Head and Neck Cancer and Colon Cancer, Part Two

PART II: COPING WITH A NEW REALITY

Continued from Part One

So now I have a prognosis, and I realize I am in deep trouble; however, before I leave the hospital for the long drive home, I was set up with a bunch of appointments for scans and lab work to be done in my home area. The facility was part of a statewide organization of imagining and medical centers, so that part of the process was pretty seamless. I just had to attend the appointments and let the medical pros try to figure out what was wrong and how to treat it. 

The ride home was long due to traffic, giving me almost two hours alone with my thoughts. My wife had recently come through a several year battle with breast cancer and was doing well. My youngest daughter was a rising senior at a major university, living on campus 3 hours from home. Would I see her graduate nine months from now? How could I tell them this? What was next? How do I take care of my family?  How do I plan for my demise?  What about our finances? Thank goodness I am on social security and have Medicare, but the cost for all these tests and treatments… Although we are pretty well off financially, how are we going to do all this? How do I plan for the end/burial/estate? What happens if I pass? How are the girls going to be able to handle it all, my death? Am I strong enough to handle the END?? Talk about a million miles a minute, and those were just some of the thoughts going through my mind on my drive home. I really thought the end was near and actually contacted the VA to start the process for burial as I am a Vietnam era vet. I’m a fairly tough old bird, and this basically brought me to my knees, but knowing the girls needed me made me determined to do everything I could to be here as long as I could be. I set my mind to doing whatever I had to do.

I made every appointment and went through so much testing in the weeks following the original diagnosis: CT scans, PET scans, blood work, more lab work. I really cannot relate all the doctor appointments and tests, but it was massive for two weeks. Once testing was complete, we got a call to come to a meeting of 10 cancer specialists to discuss the course of action.

With my wife at my side, (at that time I was 70 years old and she was 53), we attended that appointment. Upon arriving, we were escorted into a small room (no bigger than our kitchen), and there sat the 10 doctors. They told us about doing radiation for the head and neck cancer, and that they were sending me to an in-house dentist after the meeting to get the ball rolling for the removal of all my teeth. Now mind you, I am 70 years old and have all my own teeth.  I met with the dentist, listened to his plans of tooth removal, which I was very averse to, but I figured if this was the course of action, I really did not have a choice. Once that was complete, we could start radiation treatments. We made the trip home thinking we had a plan in place.

Stay tune for Part Three of Don’s story!

colon cancer colorectal cancer head and neck cancer patient stories

Last modified: December 16, 2024