I didn't post a "Counting My Blessings" post yesterday -- I guess because Thanksgiving was over and everyone else had moved on to Black Friday and the big build-up to Christmas. But it isn't sitting well with me -- leaving off without counting all of my blessings. So, please bear with me as I continue to Count My Blessings.
In case you've missed any previous posts in this theme, here are my first six blessings:
- Blessing #1 -- Connection to Nature and Universal Truths
- Blessing #2 -- The Husband
- Blessing #3 -- My Health
- Blessings #4 and 5 -- My Children
- Blessing #6 -- My Circumstances
Today I'd like to backtrack just a bit. Blessing #3 was My Health, for which I am very grateful and truly feel blessed. The Husband's health, however, is also a blessing. Shoot, The Husband's health isn't just a blessing, it's a miracle.
In early 1996 shortly before his 61st birthday, The Husband was diagnosed with Stage II prostate cancer. I don't remember his Gleason score but it was in the mid- to high-range. It was determined that the best course of treatment would be to undergo a Radical Prostatectomy (removal of the entire prostate gland plus surrounding tissue). He underwent surgery in March. The surgeon pronounced the cancer contained and the surgery a success.
The Husband's recovery was a bit slow, but complete. In those days, if a man lived 5 years past treatment, he was classified a "survivor." The Husband made it 10 years before recurrence. But I'm getting ahead of myself in the story.
One Saturday in 1998, two years to the month after undergoing his Radical Prostatectomy, The Husband complained of terrible intestinal pain. We ended up in the ER where they decided to admit him and keep him overnight for observation. Early Sunday morning they decided to go in for emergency exploratory surgery.
They fully expected to find an intestinal adhesion caused by the surgery two years earlier. Instead, they found colo-rectal cancer. A full blockage of the lower intestine. They removed a foot of intestine, resectioned him, and sent him home. This time his recovery time was amazingly short. He was back at work in less than a week.
The Husband undergoes regular colonoscopies and, to date, the colon cancer has never recurred.
For the next eight years, The Husband plugged along, aging gracefully. Gradually other health issues arose but nothing too out-of-the-ordinary and nothing immediately life-threatening: slightly elevate blood pressure, slightly high cholesterol, some pre-diabetes indicators.
Then, in the spring of 2006, ten years after the initial prostate cancer diagnosis, The Husband's prostate cancer suddenly returned. For years his PSA (prostate-specific antigen) level had been declared "undetectible" but now it was growing -- at first, doubling every 4 months then quadrupling. A man without a prostate gland who registers a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) reading has prostate cancer, somewhere. The Husband underwent a number of tests to try to locate a tumor. None were found. The Husband's doctor suggested hormone therapy. Almost immediately, The Husband's PSA numbers were affected and they didn't just slow or stop, they went back down. Down to nearly undetectible.
And that's where we stand today. The Husband is 73. He's a cross between the energizer bunny (keeps going and going and going) and a Timex watch (takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'). The Husband gets up every morning and goes to work and does what he does best: being a loving and dedicated family man whose number one job is to provide for his family.
This is a man who smoked or used some form of tobacco for almost 50 years. He'll eat any meat as long as it's beef and any vegetable as long as it's a potato (preferably fried). He walks -- to his car. Yet he's survived cancer twice and never seen an oncologist.
I don't know how else to view it -- The Husband's continued good health is a blessing, to our entire family.
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One Comment
What an amazing story! That truly is a blessing!