Worst And Best News In 2023

For many of us, 2023 was a challenging year. I was no different. Below, I will explain my worst and best news in 2023.

On March 24th, by pure accident, I put my hand on the left side of my neck and felt a lump.

I felt the right side of my neck and it didn't feel the same.

I immediately picked up the phone and made a doctor's appointment to get it checked out and hopefully eliminate the possibility that it was cancer.

The above picture was taken on March 24th.

A couple of doctor's appointments, a CAT scan, and on April 7th, I was told "it's cancer".

Yikes!

How/why can that be?

I live a healthy life. I quit smoking, drinking, and all of other chemically induced vices at least 30 years ago.

I eat right (most of the time).

I sleep well (most of the time), usually 7-8 hours a night.

I stay in pretty good shape by jogging and working out 3-4 times a week.

Well, it turns out, I had what is officially called squamous cell carcinoma P 16.

Hence, that qualifies as the worst news I got in 2023.

Ok Doctor, as I recover from the shock of what you just told me, what the H is squamous cell carcinoma P 16?

I thought carcinoma was/is skin cancer.

It is skin cancer, I was told. But, you have skin inside your body too.

I was told my cancer was inside my throat and on the back of my tongue. I was also told that the lump on my neck was caused by the cancer being in a lymph node, which caused swelling.

Ok, but what does P 16 mean?

It means it was caused by a virus, HPV, and that there's no telling where I got the virus or how long ago I got it.

I was told that there is no way to test for it in men but that women are tested for it when they get a pap smear.

Wow!

Then, the doctor told me what made my jaw drop.

He said that up to 80% of the population has it and most don't know they have it. He said that anyone who has EVER had sex, is a candidate.

WOW! WOW!

Well, I have two kids so, it's obvious I'm not a virgin and my first-born will be 50 in a couple of weeks.

That's all I'll say about that (wink).

I won't even begin to tell you what my current girlfiend had/has to say about all this.

Furthermore, after the CAT scan that revealed the squamous cell carcinoma, a full body scan, called a PET scan was performed on April 18th and a different kind of cancer was discovered on my spine.

It's a slow-moving, not-very-aggressive cancer, (I'm sorry but I can't remember what that one is called). I was told it's not as important as the cancer in my neck but that they want to keep an eye on it and that it would be treated simultaneously with radiation.

Whew!

However, even though it's non-aggressive and slow-moving, because of where it's located, it may be something I have to live with for the rest of my life. Radiation is the best treatment for it but it may not eradicate it completely.

The blessing here is, if the first cancer was not discovered, the PET scan would've never been ordered. The PET scan is how they discovered the one on my spine.

I shudder to think about what could've and might've been.

All I can say about that is, Thank God!

Anyway, I was told I would need seven weeks of treatment and that I would need to be off work for up to six months because the recovery could be worse than the treatment.

Ugh!

I was told that we would need to cancel our summer vacation plans that included an eight-day Carribean cruise, and trips to three MLB ballparks, including the one (Atlanta) that would complete my bucket list of visiting all 30 MLB ballparks,

While we had planned to be in Atlanta for a ballgame, we planned to take the one-drive to the state of Alabama, which would complete my bucket list of visiting all 50 US states. (Girlfriend cries in the background) :-(

We tried to barter with the doctor but were told NO! Cancel your plans!

He said it was my life and if the trip was more important than my life then that was up to me.

I listened.

We canceled our plans.

The good thing is, as a teacher, my last day of class was June 29th and I'm off work for all of July and most of August. The fall term began on August 28th.

Treatment began on July 5th and went until August 22nd.

I received 35 radiation treatments (25 of those were also for the cancer on my spine) and three heavy doses of injected chemotherapy.

Meanwhile, I applied for short-term disability insurance.

It turns out, my school district does NOT contribute to the state disability fund. If I wanted to be covered, I needed to have secured my own private disabiltiy policy, which I could have easily done if I knew that.

More bad news.

I did not qualify to receive short term state disability insurance.

Here's what kills me about that (no pun intended). I'm a licensed life and health insurance agent.

I paid into the state disability fund for 35 years before becoming a teacher. It was automatically deducted from my paychecks as SDI. I thought it was an automatic for all who worked in California.

Apparently, it's optional for school districts, and, as I said, my district opted not to contribute.

I could've sold myself the best policy available.

Instead, I needed to exhaust all of my accumulated sick time (seven weeks worth) and absorb the loss of income on my own.

Oh well, thankfully, I was/am prepared for that.

The silver lining in all of this is, although an absence of nearly two years, I had once again returned to WA about a year and a half prior to my diagnosis, and had bought the domain as well created a niche website. However, I hadn't been able to spend much time developing it.

So, starting in July of 2023, like it or not, WA has seen and heard a lot more of me.

Since July, I've been concentrating on developing what I hope and plan to be my future in online and affiliate marketing.

The above picture was taken August 21st. Notice the missing lump on the left side of my neck.

Treatment ended on August 22nd and I got to ring the completion bell, something everyone who completes treatment at that facility does.

Click this link to see the video

It brought tears to my eyes as I just watched it for the first time in a while. That's my sister who enters the video and hugged me.

My girlfriend shot the video.

I returned to work on November 27th, almost 5 months after treatment began.

That cruise we canceled in July?

We were able to not only book and afford to pay for it in November (9th-20th), because it was in the off-season, it was an 11-day cruise, instead of the eight-day cruise we had to cancel, at basically the same price.

We had to pay a cancellation fee for the earlier one. The extra three days was, what we considered to be a pretty good trade off for the cancellation fee.

Even after paying for the cruise, I did not incur as much financial loss as I expected. I was home so much and had so many fewer expenses, it was almost (again almost) like a five-month vacation.

On October 30th, my raditation doctor put a scope inside me through my nose (very uncomfortable, to say the least) and said he didn't see any cancer in my neck. He also said I was ahead of the curve.

Good news, to say the very least.

On November 25th, I had a second PET scan. On December 4th, the chief doctor, a surgeon, even though I didn't need any surgery, told me as far as he can see, there is no cancer. He said I was farther along in my recovery than most who had the same treatment.

Also good news but still not the words I hoped to hear. I wanted to hear him say I'm cancer-free.

He wouldn't say that.

He said we'd be seeing one another every six months or so for the next five years.

Then, on December 15th, I saw my chemo doctor.

He raved. He told me, "You are (I'm) a very strong man!" He said, "THE CANCER IS GONE!"

This is what I consider the best news I received in 2023.

I will be seeing him every six months for the next five years as well.

Even though, nobody has and probably won't say the words cancer-free anytime in the near future, I consider the appointments with three different doctors a victory.

I won't go into all the complications that were involved during treatment and recovery. I'm still dealing with a little bit of that but it's totally manageable.

In fact, I actually feel better now than I did a year ago.

I lost some weight, which is a blessing in disguise. I'm pretty much at my fighting weight now-right where I should be, although, I'm not a fighter. Well, not the kind of fighter that will hurt someone.

So, that brings me almost to the end.

I have one more apointment with the doctor in charge of the cancer on my spine. That is scheduled for January 12th.

What I've read in the PET scan report and from what two doctors have told me, the cancer in my spine is not all gone but that it is "significantly reduced".

I'll find out all the details on January 12th.

I'll probably be seeing him every six months for the next five years as well.

Thanks for reading.

Happy New Year.