Living Well While Surviving Cancer
Live Life EVERY DAY!!
Stay hopeful — and inspired.
Last week, we posted our radio interview with Health Professional Radio. Today, we present our radio interview with the Pat Williams Show. We hope that it will inspire you.
Just click the play icon to listen.
I recently did an online radio interview with Health Professional Radio about my experiences and my upbeat message.
As we noted when our blog began: “This blog is intended to inspire hope and show the value of a positive attitude. Happiness is a choice. And may we all live as long as we can as well as we can.”
My personal goal is to try to inspire as many people as possible — and to encourage us all to live life every day. With that in mind, I recently did an online radio interview with Health Professional Radio about my experiences and my upbeat message.
To listen to the interview, click the play button below.
To get a FREE copy of Surviving Cancer and Embracing Life: My Personal Journey, click the book cover.
These are examples of episodes already available online involving cancer and other health issues.
Another great resource for us to know about is BlogTalkRadio. And we can even actively participate. As its Web site notes: “Launched in 2006, BlogTalkRadio is an audio Web-based platform that allows anyone to create live and on-demand talk content on the Web. If you’re a radio broadcaster at heart, BlogTalkRadio gives you the ability to go live with its Web-based ‘studio’ and host multi-participant broadcasts using just a computer and a phone. “
Last week, I did a radio interview about the purpose of my new book Surviving Cancer and Embracing Life: My Personal Journey.
As with the book, the interview is uplifting and describes how I have gotten through my time with pancreatic cancer. The book is free by clicking here.
You may access the full interview by clicking below. [Note: In the near future, I will be dividing the interview into much smaller clips. :-)]
This is another excerpt from my book Surviving Cancer and Embracing Life: My Personal Journey. It is available FREE by clicking here.
It may be hard for you to believe that I am a very private individual when it comes to all aspects of my personal life. After all, here I am opening myself up in a way I never would have dreamed of before. But my community helped to show me how cathartic it could be for me to share my getting pancreatic cancer with other people outside of the community. I’d like to think that in this intense situation I finally realized the true value of communication and sharing. It is only by letting others in that they may help us in our journey.
I also learned much more about how not to be so judgmental of others (and myself, too). We all approach good times and bad, adrenaline rushes, fear, thoughts of our own mortality, etc. in much different ways. It took me a while, but I finally got it that some of my friends did not want to think about the “C” word, and therefore avoided me.
This gave me greater thankfulness for those who were there with me through the toughest parts of my journey. It must have been hard for them to see me looking like a skeleton (due to my weight loss) with limited mobility and a variety of post-surgery side effects. They never turned away. They were my knights (of both genders) in shining armor.
These are vital socialization observations from “Life After Cancer Treatment: Social and Work Relationships” by Journeyforward.org. Keep them in mind when interacting with others – regardless of your role (survivor, caregiver, etc.):
Having cancer can change relationships with the people in your life. It’s normal to notice changes in the way you relate to family, friends, and other people that you are around every day. And the way they relate to you. When treatment ends, families are often not prepared for the fact that recovery takes time. In general, your recovery will take much longer than your treatment did. Survivors often say that they didn’t realize the time it took to recover. This can cause disappointment, worry, and frustration for everyone. Families also may not realize that the way their family works may have changed permanently as a result of cancer. They may need help to deal with the changes and keep the “new” family strong.
Most cancer survivors who are physically able to work do go back to their jobs. This can help them feel they are getting back to the life they had before being diagnosed with cancer. Whether returning to their old jobs or beginning new ones, some survivors are treated unfairly when they return to the workplace. Employers and employees may have doubts about cancer survivors’ ability to work.
Some friends, coworkers, and others may be a huge source of support, while others may be a source of anger or frustration. Some people mean well, but do not know what to say. Maybe they don’t know how to offer support. Others don’t want to deal with your cancer. If friends and coworkers seem unsupportive, it could be because they are anxious for you or for themselves. Your cancer experience may threaten them because it reminds them that cancer can happen to anyone. Try to understand their fears and be patient as you try to regain a good relationship.
As I wrote in my very first blog post for Living Well While Surviving Cancer: “I want to offer hope and support to those dealing with any terrible disease and their families.” At times, this refers to me as well. I’m doing my best to be upbeat and live as well as I can EVERY DAY. Sometimes, that’s not easy.
Last month, my wife Linda and I went on a cruise vacation that we were planning for months. The travel and itinerary both seemed within my capability range. Because of my health issues, we prepare carefully and wait until near the date of each of our trips to book everything. And we always get trip insurance.
The first few days of this trip were fine; and we had a great time. I even tried — unsuccessfully — to take a selfie while sightseeing. I may have a lot of skills, but taking pictures with my phone is not one of them. Yes, that is my hand blocking the scenery. LOL.
Unfortunately, there was nothing very funny about the rest of our trip. On the third night of the cruise, I couldn’t stop shivering. And the ship’s doctor decided to send me ashore. We were docked in a good spot and the hospital I was sent to by ambulance was fine.
I was examined right away and admitted to ICU. It turns that somehow I had contracted double pneumonia with sepsis. In addition, I had a fever, low blood pressure, and a low oxygen level. Pretty scary stuff. I was out of it, so I didn’t really know what was going on. However, Linda was petrified (again).
I was in ICU for 6 days. Then, I spent another 4.5 days in a regular hospital room. Thankfully, the excellent doctors were able to mostly “fix what ailed me.” When I was able, we returned home.
How am I now, a short time later? My doctors at home tell me it may take up to six weeks to fully get over this illness. They have also ordered me not to fly for another 6 months or so. Nonetheless, I’m feeling much better today and looking forward to every day as it comes.
What’s my moral of the story? The same one I’ve been preaching to myself for years: Live life every day. We really don’t know what is around the corner. We can only play the hand we are dealt, and make the best of it. Yes, this was not my favorite trip by any means. But Linda and I did have a few good days at the beginning. And we have a LOT of memories to look back on and stories to tell. I LOVE YOU LINDA!!
Of course, we have insurance companies to battle with over my medical care, our return home, etc. That is part of what makes life so challenging.
I wish you all the very best on any travel you have coming up. And above all, stay well!
I am truly blessed and appreciate the life I live. I have never once said “why me?” since I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Rather, I have always asked “how was I so lucky to be diagnosed early enough to be able to have surgery?” And I try as hard as I can not to be distracted by continuing side effects. Life is great. 🙂
Consider this excerpt from my FREE book on Surviving Cancer and Embracing Life: My Personal Journey:
I consider myself the luckiest man on the earth EVERY DAY. I have felt this way each day since February 12, 2015. That was the date of my Whipple surgery. Why am I the luckiest man alive?
* I have a great family that has been with me every step of the way.
* Because of my endocrinologist, Dr. Joseph Terrana, I was diagnosed very, very early and thus I was able to have surgery because the cancer had not spread to my lymph nodes.
* Through the prodigious skill of Dr. Gene Coppa and his team, my Whipple surgery was a great success.
* Due to my excellent oncology team headed by Dr. Jeffrey Vacirca and his right-hand person Diana Youngs, my chemotherapy was conducted with compassion and caring – even when the treatments were the toughest.
* My friends and fellow cancer survivors continue to be there for me.
* Despite the dire prognosis for those with pancreatic cancer, I was able to dance with my daughter and give a toast at her wedding.
* I have been able to continue working and doing what I love.
* I can exercise and keep myself in the best possible shape. (I actually went to the gym while undergoing chemo).
* And my wife Linda and I have traveled since my surgery, including a “restful” vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; a cruise from Amsterdam down to St. Petersburg, Russia; a visit to Curacao; and a family vacation in Eastern Mexico. With more to come!
