Three years ago Rick turned 50. We celebrated with an "over the hill" party at a local restaurant/bar. He was amazed by the number of people who showed up to honor his birthday. A side note: The restaurant closed the weekend after Rick's party!?!?!? Was it us??!?!?! Anyways, it was a really good time. That night as we rehashed the night's event, we counted our blessings. One, so many people came out to celebrate Rick's milestone birthday. Two, we have awesome families. Three, we have wonderful friends.
A few months after the party, things began to fall apart for Rick. Being a responsible adult, Rick decided to get a physical and start taking a more active role in the health. It was that fall that we found out that Rick had prostate cancer. After much discussion with Dr. Stallworth, a course of treatment was established. Rick had six weeks of radiation and then had the radiation seeds implanted in his prostate. We were blessed with a wonderful doctor and health care workers. A special shout out to the Riverside radiation center. They are the best people ever! We were blessed to have good insurance. When you compare a couple of $1000 to a couple of $100,000, you realize there is no comparison. We were blessed with generous people who rode with Rick to radiation everyday.
The biggest blessing was the prostate cancer. You see, during a routine pre-op x-ray, a spot was found on Rick's lung. Because he was in treatment, the doctors couldn't do anything about it. Long story short, last March Rick had thoracic surgery at Mount Carmel East. Dr. Tishko removed the spot and biopsied it in the operating room. The results were cancer. He had a portion of his lung removed. The blessings were numerous. One, Dr. Tishko found it early and, therefore, Rick did not need chemo! Two, we were blessed with a wonderful doctor and superb health care workers. Three, we had health insurance, thousands instead of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Four, we have wonderful co-workers and administrators who supported us in so many different ways. Five, we have family and friends who brought meals, said prayers, babysat Rick, sent cards, made phone calls, etc.
Yesterday Rick went to see Dr. Tishko for his one year check up. He was given a clean bill of health for another 3 months. He goes to see Dr. Stallworth in two weeks. I'm positive the news will be just a promising. As we drove home from Columbus yesterday, we talked about all of our blessings. Sometimes it is hard to see them when you are in the throes of adversity. That is when you have to dig deeper to notice what is right in front of you.
Never in my life did I think I would be thanking cancer for so many blessings in my life. Who knows what would have happened if Rick's lung cancer would have gone undiagnosed. So I count my blessings everytime Rick criticizes my driving or leaves all of his junk laying around the house, or snores so loud I can't sleep, or channel surfs for hours, or naps 4 different times on Saturday. Well, let's be honest, I'm not counting them as blessings in the moment. But when I'm feeling overwhelmed or down or sorry for myself, I take the time to realize what I have in my life. It always makes me feel better. I'm a lucky girl.
Make Every Day Count
Denise
The biggest blessing was the prostate cancer. You see, during a routine pre-op x-ray, a spot was found on Rick's lung. Because he was in treatment, the doctors couldn't do anything about it. Long story short, last March Rick had thoracic surgery at Mount Carmel East. Dr. Tishko removed the spot and biopsied it in the operating room. The results were cancer. He had a portion of his lung removed. The blessings were numerous. One, Dr. Tishko found it early and, therefore, Rick did not need chemo! Two, we were blessed with a wonderful doctor and superb health care workers. Three, we had health insurance, thousands instead of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Four, we have wonderful co-workers and administrators who supported us in so many different ways. Five, we have family and friends who brought meals, said prayers, babysat Rick, sent cards, made phone calls, etc.
Yesterday Rick went to see Dr. Tishko for his one year check up. He was given a clean bill of health for another 3 months. He goes to see Dr. Stallworth in two weeks. I'm positive the news will be just a promising. As we drove home from Columbus yesterday, we talked about all of our blessings. Sometimes it is hard to see them when you are in the throes of adversity. That is when you have to dig deeper to notice what is right in front of you.
Never in my life did I think I would be thanking cancer for so many blessings in my life. Who knows what would have happened if Rick's lung cancer would have gone undiagnosed. So I count my blessings everytime Rick criticizes my driving or leaves all of his junk laying around the house, or snores so loud I can't sleep, or channel surfs for hours, or naps 4 different times on Saturday. Well, let's be honest, I'm not counting them as blessings in the moment. But when I'm feeling overwhelmed or down or sorry for myself, I take the time to realize what I have in my life. It always makes me feel better. I'm a lucky girl.
Make Every Day Count
Denise
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