Cancer? ...THANK GOD it's not true!

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  Weston, Florida, United States
Monday, December 8, 2008

December 8th, 2008

Jodie & I talked about whether or not to share a 3 week long ordeal that just ended and considering the outcome, we both answered yes.

It all started on November 17th when I used the rest room after my final appointment with the dentist in Greensboro, GA. In a nutshell, I urinated blood. Naturally, it freaked me out, but we had dinner plans with our friends Julia and David, so I tried to get it out of my mind and have a good time. We all had fun and no mention was made about what happened.

The next day we were off to Hobe Sound in FL and while driving down I-95, we spotted a billboard for a walk-in medical facility. We stopped in and I was expecting a prescription for antibiotics, but after the exam, the doctor looked concerned and told me he thought I might have bladder cancer or hopefully, kidney stones. He said I should have a CT scan and bladder exam with the next 2 weeks. At that point fear and anxiety took over for a couple of days.

I called my doctor in NY and he didn't get back to me that day, so I called again the next day and he confirmed the prognosis and said it sounded like bladder cancer. He wanted me to fly to NY and have the tests done, but I told him about our living situation and that we were headed to FL for the next few months. With that, he recommended that I go to the Cleveland Clinic or the Mayo Clinic that both have facilities in FL. I got on line, found that we were about 8 hrs. from the Cleveland Clinic in West Palm Beach and was lucky enough to get an appointment for the next day.

We stayed at our campsite in Hobe Sound and drove down to the appointment and met with the urologist. After the exam, his said it could be either bladder, kidney or prostate cancer, but he had seen cases of a prostate bleeding without any cancer being present. He told me I needed CT scans, with and without contrast, multiple blood and urine exams and a bladder exam, to really know what was going on. Unfortunately, it would take a few weeks to get all of the exams scheduled since I was insisting on being under general anesthesia for the bladder exam.

As the weeks went by, more and more of the results came back showing that there was no problem. The final exam, the bladder exam, was scheduled for the 8th of Dec. at 1:00. We were down in the Keys and drove up to the Cleveland Clinic Hospital on the 7th. Jodie had the great idea to ask Security if we could park in their lot overnight and they said yes. Staying in our RV in the parking lot was a great relief. We had everything we needed with us and we were able to remove the stress of getting to the hospital the day of the exam. Since I wasn't allowed to eat or drink after midnight, we picked up some movies and watched late into the night with the plan of waking up late and going in to get the final word.

The suspense, stress and anxiety kept building when they called and said that everything was running late and to show up an hour later. When I checked in they set me up in a prep-room at 1:00, put the IV in and kept postponing the test for later and later in the day. Finally, at 4:15, I was in the O.R. and had the test. THANK GOD, nothing was found.

In the past, I would have lived that 3 weeks obsessed with the worst case scenerio. To help stop myself from freaking out, I typed out all of the times in my past when it looked like a terrible outcome was ahead of me, when in fact, it all turned out OK. In the past, I would have lived the feared outcome (in my mind) and then gotten a reprieve when reality unfolded. While it was a stressful 3 weeks, it was NOTHING like it could have been if I had thought the way I used to think. I mention this with the hope that somebody reading this will be able to take advantage of "living in the moment" and not in the imagined future.

All is well with us. We are back in the Keys and greatful for our wonderful lives.

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The Cleveland Clinic back entrance	Our site	Our site	our pop-out
Maudie taking a nap

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