MAKING THE CANCER CALL 2026

Ten years ago I got the cancer call.

Me: Hello.

Doc: Are you sitting down?

Me: Yes. (I was in the bathroom.)

Doc: The tests came back. You have cancer.

Me: That’s not good.

That was the beginning of the end, the end of the beginning, it was something I wasn’t familiar with, that sense of stunned disbelief.

Most of all it was fear like I’ve never felt, fear of my own body turning on me.

With my time possible running out I swung between going hermit, and going on blast about how unfair it all was.

Eventually I calmed down with help from wife and family and friends. (Hey Mark)

The time warp between getting the cancer call and starting cancer treatment to kill it all the way dead seemed sooooo long.

Once it got started it went soooo fast.

It started in January, 2017, on or near Inauguration Day.

With that milestone I wondered what it could possibly mean to me while I was strapped down to a radiation table, while I was hooked up to a big black bag of chemo.

If I kept up on the appointments and showed up on time with no hurdles to clear I’d be good?

 

2026 Update On Cancer Call

Imagine working through the problems, mental and physical, financial and moral, working through whatever misgivings you might have about medical treatment of a particular kind, then get a different kind of cancer call.

It starts with, “Once you begin treatment you can’t miss an appointment or else the treatment may not be effective.”

If that’s not enough to get you on a high horse for being on time and ready to go nothing will.

No one says, “I think I’ll skip a few days, I’m not feeling so good.”

Don’t do that. No one is feeling so good, but not bad enough to skip a treatment on a life threatening problem.

“I’ll catch up later,” turns into, “I’m dying and I don’t know why.”

 

How do patients adjust from on showing up right, to getting a call from the doctor, the clinic, the nurse, anyone, with, “Don’t come in tomorrow, we’ve been shut down.”

What would you call this? A mental health problem? Physical health problem? All of it all wrapped into cancer terror.

That last thing anyone wants, or wants to see, is a wasting away process happening when it could be prevented.

Modern medicine can do miracles, but not for everyone?

 

Big Decisions From Big Guys

Who decides who gets left off the merry-go-round?

It shouldn’t be some fellas crunching numbers, crunching dreams of time with loved ones, or some bloated hog swimming in the trough instead of doing their job.

People go into law enforcement to serve and protect. In theory.

People go into medicine to help and heal. In theory.

I went into history to try and understand more than I do instead or filling up on bullshit to spew.

Still working on it every day.

The historical precedent of people in need getting shafted should never happen, but it isn’t new.

“Oh, Blogger D, surely you exaggerate.”

Do I? Ask women about the changes in their healthcare options.

Ask cancer patients, but sooner than later because they’re on the clock.

 

A Deserving Moment For The Win

While I was in the chemo lounge a woman finished for the day and on the way out told everyone off.

She hated them, hated the place, hated everything and everyone there.

Hated me, too? Probably.

I asked the nurse what’s up when she came to check that my blanket was warm.

“People have different reactions when they finish treatment,” she said.

Different is what I’d call it.

Was she pissed that she lost her hair, lost her confidence, lost her will to live?

By most accounts that’s standard with chemo, and it doesn’t last.

What does last is the effort and care put into each patient I saw in the lounge.

Not everyone comes out the same; not everyone comes out.

It makes me think of the effect of exhaustion and oxygen deprivation at high altitude when a mountain climber decides they are too hot, burning up, and strip down in the freezing cold.

It’s called paradoxical undressing.

Having been a cancer patient I feel comfortable saying, “DON’T DO THAT.”

 

PS:

We don’t want decent people paradoxically undressed by political hacks?

No we don’t.

 

PSS:

From cancertodaymag.com:

If you are still facing a gap in your health care coverage and are currently receiving treatment, ask if your hospital offers charity care, which is financial assistance for low-income patients.

Nonprofit hospitals should proactively share information about financial assistance programs, but it’s always a good idea to ask what programs they offer.

The key is to know your options and get the coverage you need as soon as possible.