by admin | March 9th, 2009
In as much as I am a cancer survivor I have been asked by some of my Twitter Friends to share my experience with the dreaded “C” word in order to encourage and give hope to others. I believe that our attitude toward cancer is similar in some ways to the attitude society adopted toward leprosy victims in Bible times. I said similar because cancer patients today are not treated like the lepers of the Old Testament in as much as they are not separated from society into colonies or shunned or made to go about crying “Unclean, Unclean” but some of us do feel alone and tend to ostracise ourselves from society and even our friends and family. This is usually self inflicted but not always and like the leper of old we feel unclean and so we are because the cancer is perverting and consuming our hidden parts and leaving decay in its wake. Like Lady Macbeth we cry “Out Damn Spot” but cannot wash it away, except by the Grace of God. Apparently everyone has cancer cells floating around inside their bodies waiting for a failure of the immune systems to strike but I thought that my immune system was in tip-top condition until November 2006 when a hard lump the size of a tennis ball formed in my right armpit almost over night. I wrestled with denial for about four months until the discomfort finally forced me to go to a doctor and eventually to a surgeon who promptly scheduled me for surgery. This was a simple outpatient procedure and I was only “somewhat alarmed”. Post surgery my wife talked with the doctor and got the initial report; the tumor was about the size of a baseball [10cm in diameter], encapsulated, came out clean and was sent to the lab for testing. Hopeful she then drove her dopey I say groggy husband home to nurse and drain for the standard two week period. I learned to love ice because the pain medication [oxycodone] gave me itching hives and a nervous condition so that I couldn’t sleep but still tried in a reclining chair. We returned to the surgeon after the standard two week recuperation period to have the drain removed, check for infection and get the lab results on the tumor. After detubing me and taping me up he sat me down and said, “Mr. Lathrop according to the results your tumor tested positive for melanoma and you must go and set-up an appointment at the Oncology Center. See my secretary for directions and come back and see me if you have any more trouble”. Tumors are always possible cancers but even so we did not even consider that possiblity for me, the health food and vitamin nut. We were STUNNED. [To Be Continued]
