The Big C ... 4 Years Later

It's amazing that I am only now updating this blog. It took yet another dear, lifelong friend facing prostate cancer surgery to remind me that I had begun this journal four years ago. As I told him, if anything I went through can help someone else through their personal ordeal with the hated and terrifying Big C, then I'm happy to share my story.

Ironically, after my roommate Daryl helped me through my cancer experience, he then was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2009. After undergoing heavy chemotherapy, he is thankfully now in remission. He even trained and ran the 2010 Country Music Half-Marathon with Team In Training! So he's a survivor now too.

Four years later ... as much as I would love to leave my current job (for a variety of reasons), I would have lost everything I own because of medical debt if I had not had medical benefits through my employer. My bills amounted to more than $90,000 after my emergency appendectomy in early December 2006 and my prostatectomy on December 14, 2006. I was left owing roughly 20 percent.
My financial situation has never been stable. Ever. But this was a blow that forced me to be very creative with my money (or lack of). Just as cancer was not the end of the world, neither is bankruptcy, as I'm finding out.

I still report regulary to Dr. Dasari and Dr. Beuter for checkups and am still 100 percent cancer free! My pair-o-docs saved my life. Literally. Dr. Beuter's detection and Dr. Dasari's brilliant surgery gave me back my life. Only other cancer survivors seem to get it ... but as a survivor, life is sweeter, more focused, more important and never taken for granted. There is an overwhelming desire to make every moment count and spend days involved in heartfelt pursuits instead of just trying to make a dollar. Where there's a will, there's a way. And somehow, some way, I know I can survive financially without working at someone else's desk.

I have a million ideas of how I want to spend my time, some of which just might earn a living for me. So stay tuned for progress reports. There will be an announcement in late September.

As always, I love you if you're reading this. Be strong, be yourself, be happy.