Tag Archives: cancerville

Stolen Samples – Cancer Diagnosis

It seemed like an eternity had passed. The doctor had left with stolen samples of my neck tissue. Laura, my wife, rocked on her heels, waiting and watching for the door to crack open and spill the truth about my diagnosis. Her hand searched out mine and found it grasping firmly. I looked into her eyes and lied to her for the first time in my life, I said, “It’s going to be fine.”

The doctor returned wearing a professional and yet somehow cold smile. Her lips parted and out rolled the sum of her expertise.

“Mr. Sedberry upon my initial examination you have cancer. I cannot tell you what specific kind you have until the test results come back on Monday,”

My sanity began to waver but I caught sight of Laura. The look on her face was terrifying. I could see in her eyes that her world was crashing down around her, all of her hopes and dreams were shattered upon the floor. Her eyes were swelling to the brim with tears and she broke into a sobbing, blubbering mess.

I reached out and pulled her deep into an embrace. As her tears soaked my shirt,  I realized that I must stay strong for her and I instantly buried all emotion. I tell her “We will get through this.” I don’t know that I believe it but my words help Laura regain her strength. As Laura grows stronger I felt myself tightening up and sealing in the edges.

Laura kissed me, looked deep into my eyes and said, “Don, I love you, we will get through this, I promise.”

I make the effort to look unconcerned and say with finality, “I know, I love you so much..” I had never felt such fear in my life. I thought that I was going die almost immediately, like I had run out of time, I couldn’t catch my breath and I felt like I was falling fast to the ground. There’s nothing more dizzying than a cancer diagnosis. Worst of all I felt I had to hide those feelings from Laura, that was a mistake I would never redeem myself from.

It all starts somewhere…

The descent into Cancerville began on a week like any other. The only difference was that my throat had become a little ticklish and I had an occasional irritating cough.  There wasn’t any real indication of something dangerous. My week was a simple schedule, no work, my biggest concern was choosing between two job options. I had just graduated from college and I was either going to work for The Prosper Group or for Givelify. I was on top of the world; I was excited for myself that life was just working out..

My throat progressively got worse and a lump developed on the side of my neck and I eventually went to an immediate care clinic, run out of Community East Hospital, to check to see if I potentially had strep throat or something similar. The doctor looked perplexed and suggested that I had a goiter. I didn’t believe his diagnosis because in my mind a goiter is caused by a lack of iodized salt and I live in America… land of the salty goodness. It started to worry me that I didn’t know what was actually wrong with me, though had no idea that cancer was a consideration at this point. I remember being afraid, but not knowing why, or what to be afraid of.

It was ultimately a good thing I didn’t believe him. Within a day, the lump grew in size to the point that it started to crush my windpipe and it increased the pitch of my voice considerably. I spoke high-pitched like a small female child. I remember becoming something just short of terrified as we rushed to the emergency room.

This also caused Laura to panic. While I was at the Community East Emergency Room, Laura informed the physician’s assistant that I had taken pain medicine and drank a bit of beer (honest mistake, I poured it out as soon as I realized it was a bad idea). However, that’s all it took for the physician’s assistant to assume that my high pitched voice was the result of that stupid sip of beer and not of a larger issue. She refused to care about the massive lump in my neck and continued with the assumption that it was a goiter and a subsequent allergic reaction. I was extremely frustrated and did my best to let the physician’s assistant know it, but she never let me talk to the actual doctor because I wasn’t deemed important enough. I will never forget my treatment at Community Hospital and I will never ever return there for anything.

If you are certain you are right, or that your questions and illness isn’t being properly cared for, speak up! Don’t let assumptions ruin your health care!

We called my primary care physician and let him know about my condition. He recommended an ear nose and throat specialist and he in turn ordered a biopsy be performed after looking down my throat and noting no internal reasons for the swollen lymph nodes.