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In reality, life throws many diversions our way whether we are travelers or homebodies. Yes, we all have laundry and other household chores, provisioning, entertainment and social commitments, financial management and, for some of us…Cancer. That’s right, the word was said in a loud voice, shouted to the rooftops…Cancer. Now, that is most definitely something that can alter plans, in general, not withstanding, travel plans.
August 2019, Janet and I had just come from a month long stay in Massachusetts enjoying time spent with family, friends and exploring the metro Boston area. Our next stop was the Catskill Mountains region along with a visit to Bethel Woods (Woodstock) during the 50th anniversary of the iconic music and art festival in 1969. We used an RV resort in Accord, NY as our home base while touring the beautiful rural, mountainous countryside. On one of our daily, self-guided excursions I experienced a rectal bleed. What a fun surprise. Now, what’s a person to do? Answer, get my bleeding ass to an emergency room and that is exactly what we did. I actually drove with my trusted navigation guru, Janet, guiding the way. I am saving all of the butt fixing detail for yes, a short story, titled Cancer Among Friends, which I am co-writing with my buddy and another cancer survivor, John Lepisto. Anyway, it should be published, hopefully before the summer. Ah, think about sitting by the pool or on the beach on a beautiful warm sunny day, your favorite drink in hand, reading a story about two friends with cancer experiences. Ya gotta love it. Ya actually don’t gotta but I love to write and if you read it, you’ll make John and I feel like our survival was not in vain. So, what does cancer have to do with travel, well, not much except for the fact that it puts a little damper on plans, especially during the informational limbo and recovery parts of the experience. For me, I guess surviving Sepsis, stroke and open-heart surgery in the winter of 2015 were not enough, so I just had to throw cancer into the health mix. I have always said, if you are going to jump feet first into the ring the rest of your body should follow. Without blowing the whole story, I had some adenocarcinoma cells in the polyps that were found by colonoscopy. I said, colonoscopy and just imagine it being said over and over again. If you have had one, two or more, good for you. If you are putting it off, get your sorry ass in to a gastroenterologist or colorectal surgeon and get it done. Ya, I was one of those put it off guys. Janet and I were told by the gastroenterologist in Kingston, NY that I needed to see a colorectal surgeon because I had cancer and I needed to become de-cancered. We had a month-long trip planned in Europe and he said we should go but needed to address the medical issue as soon as we returned. After we got back from Europe at the end of September with our cousins and traveling buddies, Bob and JoAnne, Janet and I hightailed it back to Grand Rapids and went for the surgical consultation with a highly qualified colorectal specialist we had found. Again, I am not chucking out the whole story but the surgeon ran three weeks of comprehensive studies and tests and determined that the cancer had not spread but she would need to resect my large intestine and perform a J loop, temporary ileostomy, while my colon rested and healed. The nine-hour, robotic surgical procedure was successful, and the good news was all of the 25 nodes examined and margins were clear. Great relief to know I would not need any chemo or radiation. So, with my temporary ileostomy in place and my maintenance classes complete, I was discharged from the hospital. Two weeks later, Janet and I were back on the road traveling to warmer weather conditions in Florida. I had the surgery in November and three months later it was ileostomy reversal time. So back to Grand Rapids for the takedown surgery which took place two weeks ago and I am cancer and ileostomy free, ready to resume our normal lives, whatever normal is. Moral of the story is, whether you sit around, lead an active life, travel or homebody, understand that shit happens and it often times will mess up your plans. You don’t necessarily need to be prepared although a little mental stability goes a long way, but embrace flexibility because wrenches thrown into the gears can happen in the blink of an eye and we all know, if you live long enough, the wrenches will be a flyin.
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October 2022
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