byCarmine

It is a big scary word for me. Been there, done that and came out the other end alive and kicking. However, it doesn’t seem right that the man that ultimately saved my life from cancer is going to soon be dying from it.

About a decade ago I was blacking out regularly. I was stick thin weighing in at about 50kilos and given that I’m not exactly short, that, for me, was a good 10 – 15 kilos lighter than I normally am. I was barely eating and going out every other night clubbing. I thought the blacking out and feeling crap was just a side effect of my life style, and I couldn’t see why my family were making such a fuss. In the end I caved in, registered at a doctor (I’m not big on GP’s) and got a blood test.

A day later I had a phone call from my GP, who was lovely, telling me that my white blood cells are low. Really low and asking me how I was. She wanted me to get retested in a couple of days. I did. And I got another call. This time, it was the surgery saying I needed to come in urgently. Right away. I did, and they said I had to go into hospital right away.. so a couple of hours later I was being admitted into hospital for testing. I was there for a couple of weeks. And it was a bit of a nightmare. Horrid tests and procedures.. nothing showed anything significant. Just that my white blood cells were really, really dangerously low. They were about to do a chest x-ray, and then they found out I had something called Ectodermal Dyslasia. And even though they had no idea what it was, they decided to just put it down to that and sent me home. If they had of done that chest x-ray.. they’d of discovered I had cancer. They didn’t.

My family, frustrated with the result and with all of us knowing that something else was going on, took me to my old childhood GP in Ngaruawahia. He pulled strings and managed to get me an appointment with the right people. They did the chest xray and I was diagnosed with Hodgkins.

If he hadn’t of done that, then the cancer would of progressed much further and I might not be alive today. Today I found out, that this same family GP, who is still quite young, has been diagnosed with cancer. Cancers plural. Liver, lungs, pancreas, bowel, everywhere. And he likely doesn’t have long. There were no symptoms, no clues. It just happened. And fast. Very aggressive.

I quickly got the family together tonight and organised a big bunch of roses because I know he loves them from all of us.

It doesn’t seem right. I really am not a fan of death.

Strawpeople, Taller than God. This is what I was listening to back when I was diagnosed.