On January 16, I returned to Urology Associates to meet with Dr. Dasari for a follow-up visit, five weeks after my surgery. The blood test shows no presence of cancer! My PSA level is "undetectable." I have to admit I was nervous and apprehensive. Just as when I went for the biopsy results in October, you think he'll stroll in and say everything's okay. Well, this time he did. Whew!
We went over the "pathology" from the surgery — what the examination of the removed prostate revealed: the cancer was worse than he initally thought and had begun to spread to the outside of the organ. Scary. There are four lymph glands there, two on each side of the prostate. Without surgery, the cancer would have likely spread to the lymph glands and the surrounding nerves and tissue. Talk about the nick of time. To be absolutely sure all cancerous cells were removed, Dr. Dasari removed the surrounding nerves and tissue.
I'm so relieved and grateful. The weeks following the surgery have been interesting, to say the least. My mind is now ready to jump back into a normal daily routine ... but my body just can't keep up yet. The prostate and the nerves surrounding it control many things which I took for granted. Now I'm learning just how much I needed it and how different my life will be without it. But you know what? I don't have cancer. Any adjustments I have to cope with are minor nuisances in the grand scheme of things.
(You'll notice I'm not making as many wisecracks about all this. It has been a very sobering experience. The doctor would disagree. I tend to get worse when I'm really nervous so he's had to listen to me trying to be funny.)
Anticipating the final outcome of the surgery was, in a way, like facing my own mortality. I've been given a second chance at life. What a wonderful gift! How I use it is totally up to me. I don't think I'm wiser or that I've been given more knowledge ... but maybe I have, maybe I am wiser now. I know my priorities have changed.
My goal is to arrange my life so that I can spend more time with family and friends and less time making a living. Less energy toward work, anyway. I have to pay my bills (and the medical bills are piling up). Without my job, I would have had no health insurance and would not have gone for a routine physical. So I wouldn't have found out I had cancer. I truly believe things happen for a reason. If my friend Caroline Davis had not led me to my job, I wouldn't be writing these blogs about cancer. Instead, the cancer would be slowly growing and taking over.
(Man, am I ever rambling? That was a rhetorical question — you don't have to agree.)
What I'm thinking is that I want to travel more — visit places I've only dreamed of seeing and re-visiting places I've been that I loved.
I want to spend much more time on the stage. Acting is a passion for me and I've always put it way down my list of priorities. Did you know that people make lots of money as actors? I've heard that some even make millions. Who knew? I want to pursue acting opportunities in L.A. and New York and maybe even London. I can live in Nashville but work anywhere in the world as long as the job lasts.
I've heard myself telling certain people recently to "try to find a way to make a living by doing something you absolutely love." It's so simple but why would you do anything else?
I've never been particularly practical and have failed when I tried to bring some sense of order to my daily world, financially and otherwise. Guess it's the Aquarian in me. But I've been guilty of letting practicality keep me from chasing my dreams. Not anymore.
I'll stay in touch, whatever happens. I don't write here often enough but when the notion strikes me, I'll post an update.
Thanks again for all the support during the past three months. How do people survive alone? I couldn't. I'm always surrounded by loved ones and wouldn't want it any other way.
Danny
We went over the "pathology" from the surgery — what the examination of the removed prostate revealed: the cancer was worse than he initally thought and had begun to spread to the outside of the organ. Scary. There are four lymph glands there, two on each side of the prostate. Without surgery, the cancer would have likely spread to the lymph glands and the surrounding nerves and tissue. Talk about the nick of time. To be absolutely sure all cancerous cells were removed, Dr. Dasari removed the surrounding nerves and tissue.
I'm so relieved and grateful. The weeks following the surgery have been interesting, to say the least. My mind is now ready to jump back into a normal daily routine ... but my body just can't keep up yet. The prostate and the nerves surrounding it control many things which I took for granted. Now I'm learning just how much I needed it and how different my life will be without it. But you know what? I don't have cancer. Any adjustments I have to cope with are minor nuisances in the grand scheme of things.
(You'll notice I'm not making as many wisecracks about all this. It has been a very sobering experience. The doctor would disagree. I tend to get worse when I'm really nervous so he's had to listen to me trying to be funny.)
Anticipating the final outcome of the surgery was, in a way, like facing my own mortality. I've been given a second chance at life. What a wonderful gift! How I use it is totally up to me. I don't think I'm wiser or that I've been given more knowledge ... but maybe I have, maybe I am wiser now. I know my priorities have changed.
My goal is to arrange my life so that I can spend more time with family and friends and less time making a living. Less energy toward work, anyway. I have to pay my bills (and the medical bills are piling up). Without my job, I would have had no health insurance and would not have gone for a routine physical. So I wouldn't have found out I had cancer. I truly believe things happen for a reason. If my friend Caroline Davis had not led me to my job, I wouldn't be writing these blogs about cancer. Instead, the cancer would be slowly growing and taking over.
(Man, am I ever rambling? That was a rhetorical question — you don't have to agree.)
What I'm thinking is that I want to travel more — visit places I've only dreamed of seeing and re-visiting places I've been that I loved.
I want to spend much more time on the stage. Acting is a passion for me and I've always put it way down my list of priorities. Did you know that people make lots of money as actors? I've heard that some even make millions. Who knew? I want to pursue acting opportunities in L.A. and New York and maybe even London. I can live in Nashville but work anywhere in the world as long as the job lasts.
I've heard myself telling certain people recently to "try to find a way to make a living by doing something you absolutely love." It's so simple but why would you do anything else?
I've never been particularly practical and have failed when I tried to bring some sense of order to my daily world, financially and otherwise. Guess it's the Aquarian in me. But I've been guilty of letting practicality keep me from chasing my dreams. Not anymore.
I'll stay in touch, whatever happens. I don't write here often enough but when the notion strikes me, I'll post an update.
Thanks again for all the support during the past three months. How do people survive alone? I couldn't. I'm always surrounded by loved ones and wouldn't want it any other way.
Danny
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