I'll keep this brief, because there really isn't that much to say.
A week ago tomorrow, my wife Gail had a little hunk of a lump biopsied from the back of her throat. A couple hours ago we got the results. Cancer. Somehow it sounds like that's not even a big enough word for it.
"Mildly Differentiated Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Oropharynx."
That's it.
She had a CT scan done on the 26th, and it showed "an 18x10mm asymetrical thickening in the mucosa in her left trigone region, extending into the base of the tongue and vallecula." Her ENT guy (who we love) called with the news at about 5:30 ET.
He referred her to a guy he knows at the University of Maryland who does good work in this area.
Thank God I have insurance from my job. I have retired from government employ because of my Parkinson's, but my insurance continues. Gail will get the best treatment a good, government-funded insurance deal can buy.
She's on the phone right now, telling her sister. I can hear her laughing. My God, the woman is a brick.
Everyone deserves the kind of decent health care I've been getting, the kind Gail will get, and GOD DAMN the FUCKING ASSHOLES that want to stop universal health care!!!
Oh, the CT scan, the lymph nodes look good. Day at a time. Day at a time.
She quit smoking 20 years ago next month.
I just ate a pint of Belgian Chocolate ice cream.
My wife has cancer.
I lost my father to cancer in 1983 when he was 54. I lost my older brother to cancer in 2008. He was 54. I lost my older sister to cancer in 2009. She was 57. Fuck cancer. Fuck cancer real hard! And fuck the fucking fuckers who call funding medical research "socialism."
OK. That's all for now. God bless. Hug someone you love.