Telling people

Without a doubt, the worst thing is telling people you are close to. I know they are all going to be there for me but it feels like I am letting them down. I am a high strung, take charge person and love to lead -so I just feel like I am failing the people I love the most.

Which means that is the number one thing I am living for - my family - gotta get a pic up and focus on that.

It was devastating to tell my wife of 32 years and my kids.  Lots of tears and hating the unknown.  My mom lost a sister, mother and husband to cancer.  My dad was 57 when he died.  I am 58 - I know this is going to seem like deja vu all over again for her and I hate that I am putting her through that.

But my mom is a nurse so I need her on the team to help push me to ask for more and to make sure we are thinking of all things medical. I need everyone on the team so I tell them all and get things rolling.

I have two very close friends that are cancer survivors and the next call is to them.

Pete survived colon cancer and now has a semi-colon (his joke not mine) -


  • Reaching out to others with similar experience key, get your team together that are working on it, find out and ask about clinical trials – he was in one and still tracking him today,  walk, tell your kids everything or the get very mad, I worked part time through 12 months of chemo and was miserable but needed something to do, it is one day at a time, play great music that gets you up, have a binder and have your questions written out before exams.  You are a survivor starting day one and every day after that – not after you finish treatment.Texts with Pete Roe  - reaching out to others with similar experience key, get your team together that are working on it, find out and ask about clinical trials – he was in one and still tracking him today,  walk, tell your kids everything or the get very mad, I worked part time through 12 months of chemo and was miserable but needed something to do, it is one day at a time, play great music that gets you up, have a binder and have your questions written out before exams.  You are a survivor starting day one and every day after that – not after you finish treatment.
Susan survived liver cancer - it was bad 

  • If anyone can beat cancer it is you. It really is a club that sucks to be in – be your own advocate and do as much research as you can once you have the full diagnosis. Ask questions – don’t necessarily go with the first treatment or the normal treatment.  She went to three different hospitals for surgery because each had different experts. She sent cancer slides to Sloan Kettering in NY to look at and saw an amazing oncologist there.  Thank God you are in Houston with MD Anderson. Keep the positive attitude – after all her surgeries and chemo was told 90% chance cancer would come back but she was determined to be the 10%. Have not looked back.  The fact your blood work was so good is such a great sign and the lesions haven’t hurt the bone. 
I am going to have a pretty damn big support team I can tell you.  

 NOTE - big lesson learned here and came back in the middle of chemo to tell you this - this blog has been the absolute best life line to my support group.  My poor wife was answering a ton of texts and emails asking what is going on because we have friends and family all over the place. Once I started a daily blog and everyone could fully understand every day what was happening - IT WAS HUGE! 

 People care and they want to know. Plus it helped me a lot by blogging about cancer. 

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