Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Prostate Cancer - Part 3
Anyone who has heard of this form of cancer knows that pancreatic cancer is an extremely aggressive type. Most people with this form of the disease die in a matter of months, not years, after being diagnosed. The fact that this guy made it well past six months with this disease clearly illustrates how tough he was. I also understand that he was always positive throughout the process in spite of the medical statistics, which undoubtedly helped sustain him for so long after his diagnosis.
There was no way I could keep myself from participating in this race. First, I love to run so that made it easy. But I knew there would be positive energy flowing at the race and I wanted to be part of it and to support this worthy cause. I found comfort in knowing that even though my friend was the only one at the race who knew my diagnosis, I was putting up the good fight, not letting my situation control me. So at around 6:00 am one Saturday morning in May, 2007, I woke up and got myself on the road to the race. I remember that it was a beautiful sunny morning and the temperature was around 70 degrees F. My directions had me traveling down Route 84 to Route 9, through Midddletown, CT. Route 9 runs along the Connecticut River for a ways and that made this portion of my trip very scenic. You might say I was on a sort of pilgrimage. One that had me being thankful for being alive and able to enjoy the day and this special race.
Despite making one wrong turn on the course, which I quickly realized after a small group of runners behind me yelled to several of us wayward runners, "Hey, it's this way!", everything went smoothly. At the very end of the race course, there's a 60 foot water crossing that you have to navigate across. There's a rope across the water which you can use to pull yourself along or you could just swim it. My friend had told me about this part of the course and I was very curious to see it myself. It turned out to be a nice way to cleanse the sweat and mud from my body so I welcomed it. In the end, I finished around 23rd out of 150 runners that day. Not too bad for a guy with cancer. But my point for sharing this part of my story is that I was determined to tough it out and not let this thing control me like my friend's friend. With prostate cancer, I wasn't faced with the overwhelming negative survival statistics associated with pancreatic and certain other forms of cancer. I guess you could say I was lucky from that perspective.
Two weeks later, I met with a doctor at Hartford Hospital to go over pre-operational procedures and to answer a few questions. The doctor asked me about a number of things, including what I did for a living and how I stay in shape. He was very positive when I explained that I run. He said that the surgery is somewhat easier to perform with patients that aren't overweight and are in good shape. That made me feel really good.
There was no way I could keep myself from participating in this race. First, I love to run so that made it easy. But I knew there would be positive energy flowing at the race and I wanted to be part of it and to support this worthy cause. I found comfort in knowing that even though my friend was the only one at the race who knew my diagnosis, I was putting up the good fight, not letting my situation control me. So at around 6:00 am one Saturday morning in May, 2007, I woke up and got myself on the road to the race. I remember that it was a beautiful sunny morning and the temperature was around 70 degrees F. My directions had me traveling down Route 84 to Route 9, through Midddletown, CT. Route 9 runs along the Connecticut River for a ways and that made this portion of my trip very scenic. You might say I was on a sort of pilgrimage. One that had me being thankful for being alive and able to enjoy the day and this special race.
Two weeks later, I met with a doctor at Hartford Hospital to go over pre-operational procedures and to answer a few questions. The doctor asked me about a number of things, including what I did for a living and how I stay in shape. He was very positive when I explained that I run. He said that the surgery is somewhat easier to perform with patients that aren't overweight and are in good shape. That made me feel really good.