No Goodbye From Me Yet
Within fifteen minutes of posting my recent piece, Saying Goodbye, I got a call from my close friend Jon, my boating and crabbing buddy. “Are you OK?” he asked. “You didn’t tell me you were sick.”
I have since heard similar concerns from others, and I want to be clear.
No, I am not acutely ill.
I am very much alive and living a good life, thanks to my wife, family and friends, my doctors, the many caregivers who have helped me along the way, and the advances made by pharmaceutical companies. Over the past year I have swum with whale sharks twice, surfed in the Seychelles, and played two hours of tennis just this past week.
My recent chapter was difficult to write. It reflected on saying goodbye in medicine, family, and life. It was meant to offer some solace to those who have lived through similar experiences. It was not my own farewell. As I wrote in the very first chapter of this series, my intention has been to write about prostate cancer as both a patient and a doctor, and about travel, music, my interests, relationships, reflection, and life itself. Along the way, I have also been using my time enjoying life and quietly reconciling parts of my own past in private. I have been fortunate to make wonderful friends, both in person and online, through this writing. I expect to keep writing, and I will let you know directly if things ever do go sideways for me.
Thank you for reading my writing. I also appreciate your comments. They encourage me to keep writing.
For those who have started reading recently, the chapters can be read in any order. I hope they offer some comfort. If you think a chapter might help a friend, please feel free to let them know about it.
Thank you, my friends, for your concern about me and my health.
I read your Ch 30 post and then this one. My first wife died nearly 5 years ago from a brain aneurysm. Literally here one day and gone the next. No warning signs. My cousin died in the spring of last year. Suffered for years from a tumor growing in her head. It was sad to see her in this condition and nothing could be done. My 90 year old mother died August 23 last year. Too many medical issues that crashed like a big wave and she just got tired of the battle. Instead she opted for hospice and passed away peacefully 3 weeks later. Death is a part of life and it comes at people from all directions. We won’t have much say it how it becomes part of our own experience. Thanks for your posts and I look forward to reading them all.