Monday Musings: January 11, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 15:22 As I write this post on Sunday afternoon, I’m thinking back on a conversation with a wonderful sounding gentleman in one of the midwestern states who emailed me regarding his wife’s newly diagnosed breast cancer. We’ve been emailing back and forth, finally getting the opportunity to speak on the phone today.
If there’s one decent thing I can do in this life, it’s lower the fear level for those who’ve just gotten that horrible news and help get them on track to taking charge. Oddly, I seem to be good at this.
Typically, the medical profession seems to have more than its’ fair share of knotheads. This wouldn’t matter if the bad news was something like you need a new muffler, but a cancer diagnosis shouldn’t carry that risk. In this case, the woman was given the pathology report without having even seen an oncologist, and therefore had no real frame of reference to interpret the ‘bad news’. BTW, the pathologist seemed to go out of his way to phrase things in just such a manner to really scare her.
The good news is that I’ve seen this pathology report and it’s serious but not at all dire. Handled correctly - and that’s the key - her cancer should be ‘cureable’. Not a word I care to use, since there is currently no cure for cancer. It is a chronic disease that we learn to live with - and live quite well, thank you.
But, by getting that all important second opinion, doing our homework and seeking the best -if not always convenient or nice sounding - advice we can live well beyond all expectations.
This lady is blessed with a wonderful husband. She’s going to do well.
On to the flap over nothing.
The Senator Harry Reid flap over nothing.
Could Senator Reid have used different wording? Yes.
