Kicking cancer's ass - day 2178

Today is National Surgical Oncologist Day.  Did you know there was a day for that?  I didn't.  But I'm glad.  These doctors are heroes.

For one thing, can you imagine having the fortitude to go to a job every day where (more or less) someone's life is in your hands?  Can you imagine having a job where you might have to tell someone those awful words "you have cancer"?  Can you imagine working in such a place, filled with fear and hope and tears and anxiety?  You'd have to have nerves of steel.  I couldn't do it.  I see someone cry and it makes me cry.

I'll never forget my first appointment with my surgical oncologist, Dr. L.  I was scared stiff.  All I knew was I had cancer, and it was bad.  We drove three hours to Dallas, and my appointment was in a cancer center.  It was surreal.  What was I doing there?  I was forty years old.  I was young and healthy and active.  Cancer center?????

Dr L is smart as a whip, no nonsense and has a heart of gold.  Her staff treated me so kindly.  My friend Allyson met us there for that appointment (to take notes and pay attention so Hubby could hold me up) and I remember vividly walking out of the exam room, turning to hug Allyson and just breaking down.  It was so overwhelming and sad and frightening.  I did not want to be there.  But I was there for a reason.

I didn't pick Dr L's name out of the phone book.  There's a connection, and I thank God for it.  The nurse practitioner at my gynecologist's office went to nursing school with one of the nurses who work for Dr L.  When I was diagnosed, she told me about a friend who works for a breast surgeon at UT Southwestern.  I had no clue where to go or what to do, so we called her.  Smart decision.

Everyone associated with UT Southwestern has called my team of doctors there the "dream team".  My surgical oncologist and my plastic surgeon are considered the best of the best.  What dumb luck on my part!

Six years ago I was scared I was going to die.  Today I am happy and healthy and flipping the bird at cancer every chance I get.  I still see Dr L every six months, and after every appointment I say "thank you".  Those words are inadequate but heartfelt.

Happy Surgical Oncologist Day, Dr L.