The DU Lounge

When it was my wife’s turn, at age 49, it WAS cancer. Because she has/had “second class” (sort of tourist class) health insurance, even though a malignancy was detected, she was put in line, and told to wait six months while they found her an operation time slot. She was only 49, and the cancer grew aggressively while she was waiting. She survived the operation, the chemo, the radiation and the rehab, but she suffered terribly, and unnecessarily. She is a fighter, and she received unwavering support from our daughters, her mom, her friends, and, of course, me. But it was no picnic, although it was good preparation for the next time she had cancer, the second time being a form of cancer known here as “the murderer.” It is called that because it spreads quickly and silently, only showing itself when it is too late to save the patient. She was that one out of maybe ten thousand in the last two decades to survive it, due to a completely accidental discovery in its initial stage.