She came into the room on a walker, the 80-year-old woman with bladder cancer, and she sat next to me during a presentation at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. And at one point in the discussion, she spoke: “Cancer’s not the end of life. It may be a journey to the end of life, but it’s not yet.” Then, just in case you missed the Attitude, she added: “I’m a fighter. I won’t let it get me down.” Nevermore.
Archive | February, 2011
Freakin’ Radiation Conundrum
February 13, 2011 
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With the early return of my prostate cancer, my oncologist has raised the option of rad treatment to the pelvis — even though there’s *no certainty* that all of my cancer resides there. That’s thanks to the freakin’ tumors the pathologist found in two lymph nodes snipped out at surgery. I mean, once it’s in your lymph glands, where else has it gone? My armpit? My leg? What I’m grappling with now are unknowable trade-offs: How much good stuff happens? How much risk of nasty side effects? I don’t know squat yet — will see a rad oncologist April 4. Stay tuned.
But should I proceed, radiation would be my third cancer therapy in four years — yikes! — and it would also be the most visible to others and the most disruptive to daily life. It finally became time to talk about my cancer more publicly. Ergo, a blog, My First Cancer.
My First Cancer 
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