Important anniversaries

It was one year ago today that I had an MRI that determined the cancer I had was far more serious and extensive than doctors had first thought.

The anniversary of my biopsy results was August 25th.  That’s when I was told I had Stage 4 throat cancer, the worst possible.

It’s funny. I forgot the date.  The anniversary passed.  But anyway, the doctor said it appeared to be limited to my tonsil—they could see the tumour— and they said they could get at it and literally remove my tonsil and that would be it.

But two days later--a year ago today-- I had the MRI, which is like a PET scan of my head and neck, and they discovered that the cancer went from the base of my neck to the top of my tongue.

And they said it was growing up and down, which was not good. The good news was they they didn’t find cancer anywhere else in my body.

In the short time from a year ago today to October 1st when I started chemotherapy, the cancer kept growing.  It had grown sideways-- which it normally doesn’t do, and it dug what they call “fingers” in the cartilage of my throat.  All in less than five weeks!

And that was not good.  That’s why I was doused with chemotherapy.

It didn’t work and they didn’t get the “fingers” out until I went to The Klinik and had what’s called embolism treatment, which allowed me to get the Cyberknife to get the “fingers” out.

We’ll be getting to all that in The Klinik.

Meanwhile, I’ve been getting a lot of emails, as you know, but lately I’ve been hearing  from a lot of people in the medical profession: nurses, people who work in MRI, catscan and X-ray departments, all kinds of technicians.

One is a friend named Julie who teaches at a small nursing college on Ottawa, Canada.  She asked if she could show The Klinik website to her colleagues and students. (Of course!)

And they’re all fascinated and asked, Why isn’t this treatment available everywhere?  Why do you have to go to Germany? 

The answer is simple:

The pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies and doctors.

Ha!  I’m sounding like Michael Moore and I don’t want to sound like Michael Moore.


I’ve told you about the people I met at the Fest for Beatles Fans in Chicago. One of them runs a Paul McCartney website and she put together a page. Check it out by clicking here.

Thanks to “Sweet Banana” and all of you who’ve put together pages and photos like the one above.

And there’s one more thing about this week’s anniversaries:  From the very first time the doctor told me I had cancer, I was determined to not waste any time-- and to get this thing out of my body!

I’ll get into that as I keep up with the story of my year.  And I’ll try to remember the important anniversaries!