Dave Mustaine: NECK CANCER

A facebook page for a blog, like boomerpdx, is a little confusing. Why not leave it all on the blog? Because good advice says reach out.
Then the question is how far?

No one reads blogs is the word, any blogs, so a blogger with low traffic is just one of millions. That makes everything okay, except when some blogger shows up to explain why it’s worth working on a blog in spite of traffic.
For anyone who has tried to stage an event, you know how hard it is to get things organized and on time, especially with a group. And you’re the leader.

A blog has one leader, one voice, so that’s not such an issue, but the audience is fluid. John Prine sang, “That’s the way the world goes round, you’re up one day the next you’re down, half an inch of water and you think you’ll drown, that’s the way the world goes round.”

Was he right about the half inch?

I’ve loaded up content according to what’s happening that needs an extra look. Getting hpv16 cancer provided plenty of new topics. Then reading about Dave Mustaine getting a diagnosis for the same thing sort of upped the ante.

Would he help his fans understand how he got it and how they can avoid it? So far he’s sticking to the basic throat cancer. I can help here.

Smoking and booze neck cancer comes with a lower cure rate than the 90% I heard with hpv16 neck cancer. Dave said he’s got a 90% cure promise. He said he and his team will get it done. And they will, but this is what I tell people, and is the basis of the book I’m writing: You have a medical team, family, friends, fans, neighbors, and you know you can count on them all.

The overriding feeling is you’ll never be alone. Then you find yourself alone and do the most normal thing, you panic. That’s when you call everyone in a panic that you try to cover. You call them, they listen, and they hear panic, your panic. Call in a panic often and that becomes the new you. And you don’t really notice since you’ve got cancer and chemo and radiation. Anyone would panic facing that lineup.

That’s the big change, the emotional change. Cancer does one thing, treatment does another; what are you supposed to do other than panic? The people I asked said, “You surrender.”

That’s the expert advice, surrender. At first I thought it was bad advice, now I understand. We surrender to the discomforts, the fear, the appointments.

We surrender to the chemo, the radiation, the panic. But no one said anything about quitting. Surrender isn’t quitting, it’s giving in before it’s too late. Surrender means stepping aside and letting the docs and tech do their work. Step aside early and you’ll be able to pick up sooner when it’s done; immerse yourself in the disease, the technology, psychology, and you may be stepping into the ‘cancer survivor’ mode.

Dave Mustaine will have his moments, but I hope he gets good advice. No one says he ought to name his lump Pierre and start wearing a beret, but I’d like to hear him tell his legions of fans, “If you have kids, schedule hpv vaccinations; if you have an active love life with people who also have active love lives, talk about hpv testing.”

Since he’s just starting he can’t say with authority, “This is the hardest road I’ve ever been on,” but he will. I hope he takes the stomach feeding tube, the oxytocin, the liquid oxy; I hope he gets as much relieve as he needs. However there is a cost.

Cancer and cancer treatment leave the best people on shaky ground; opioids add to the shaky ground. If Dave goes after a cure without the extras, takes the time to keep his neck working, subs cannabis for oxy, then the ground stays on more steady ground and the New Normal isn’t a recurring nightmare of starvation and being strapped to a radiation table.

From one Dave to another Dave, your choices matter as much as anyone’s.