The Sugar, The COVIDS, The Cancer

 

She got the RONA?

Back home in north central Ohio, people for some reason or another like to put "the" in front of nouns when those nouns are names for diseases. 

"Estil is feeling poorly; he's got the sugar real bad."

"I told Louise to get the vaccine but she would stop listing to that Margie Taylor Green.  In the end, she ate that horse paste, and because that doesn't work, the COVIDS/RONA got her."

I asked a friend back home about another acquaintance and the conversation went something like this:

"How's Doreen?"

"It's a sad tale.  She got the woman cancer."

"Breast or uterine?"

"Up-top one.  We're all wearing pink hoping she recovers.  She's doing the radiation in Columbus."

Well, Cookie's family generally gets the cancer.  Prostate cancer.  It hit my grandfather, my uncles, and a couple cousins, all on one side. While I am not a gambling man, in the back of my mind, I knew it could come for me.  

And it has.

NOW before anyone says or thinks or does anything, no weepies, no "I'm thinking of you," and no I'm sorry stuff.  DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

I know you are concerned. 

We all are.  It's natural.  With cancer comes the world of the unknown.  The BOHICA aspect of cancers is scary stuff. 

But it isn't something I have failed at.  It's not a failing, its genetic, its tissue that mutated beyond your body's defense abilities.  So we face it head on and we deal with it.  

The good news is that we 1) found it early, and 2) the Gleason score (1 to 10, how they grade cancer, how bad it is, how aggressive, etc.) isn't good, but it also isn't above an 8, and that is really good news. 5 and below is really, really good news if it's caught early.  But I am not walking about, ringing my hands, wailing "woe to be me," through a veil of tears.   And if you are spiritual, God is giving me a "You got this," thumbs up.

So here is what is going to happen: I am getting a PETScan and that will tell us if it has spread.  That isn't for a couple weeks - insurance and finding time in the machine is a factor. The doctor will discuss the results with us, and  THEN the Husband and I will make the best decision for me, for us, and for our future. The more involved it is, then the more involved the treatment will be.  

The horse may be out of the gate, but we'll be on the horse when crossing that bridge, and we will get to it.  

We live in an age when healthcare is, for lack of better terms, a pain in the ass - no pun intended, but it does fit. BUT treatment options are far advanced over 70 years when you died of it, and fifty years ago they used to de-ball you. 

But that was then, this is now.  So Cookie is hopeful.  In fact, Cookie is going to recover. 

Still, I know that people back home will say that "He's got the cancer."  

True, but trust me: the cancer doesn't have me.