Episode Transcript
[00:00:08] Hi, I'm Mike, also known as Fatty.
[00:00:12] You know, no cancer diagnosis is easy.
[00:00:15] Some just have different journeys than others.
[00:00:19] I would like to talk about how to navigate round two.
[00:00:23] Thirteen years ago, I had a diagnosis of an invasive melanoma on the side of my head.
[00:00:29] Went through surgery, found that I had clean margins, but a small margin on the bottom next to the skull. So I went through radiation.
[00:00:39] So all in all, the treatment for my first melanoma was about five months.
[00:00:44] Seemed pretty easy, but again, no cancer is easy.
[00:00:50] And then 13 years later, I get the diagnosis of a metastatic melanoma on the side of my face in a salivary gland.
[00:01:02] The second diagnosis of cancer is something that you just don't want to hear.
[00:01:06] So here's round two. It's not my first rodeo.
[00:01:10] My first rodeo seemed to me to be, you know, follow the boxes, check the boxes, do what you're supposed to do, and then you're done.
[00:01:20] Second rodeo was a real slap in the face.
[00:01:24] It's not something that you expect to hear. You've got cancer, it's spread, it's metastatic.
[00:01:30] And of course, when you hear the word metastatic, you automatically go down into the darkest places.
[00:01:37] And that's what I did for a while.
[00:01:39] And then I realized that what I really needed to do was to sit back, relax, know that this truly wasn't my first rodeo, that I had been through this before.
[00:01:51] And what I needed to do was to assemble my team, listen to the advice they gave, and make the best decisions possible for my next round of treatment.
[00:02:01] And that's what I did.
[00:02:03] After the initial, oh, shit, I said, okay, I can do this.
[00:02:10] And so I went to the experts. Started with Value Hospital here in Glenwood.
[00:02:16] Started with a great oncologist. They sent me over to UC Health in Denver, got an opinion from an amazing melanoma expert and Dr. Medina, and she assured me that metastatic melanoma was not something that I had to fear.
[00:02:31] So what I had to do is I had to let go of my fear, embrace uncertainty, because right now, you're not really sure what is going on with you, and to begin to check the boxes again.
[00:02:44] So as I went through round two, I began to realize that what I really needed to do was take care of myself, take care of those around me.
[00:02:56] Remember that I had a great outcome to the last diagnosis and that I can't move on beyond this one, too. This one was just going to take a little while longer.
[00:03:09] So after one year of treatment, immunotherapy, radiation, surgery, I'M now on the other side of a second diagnosis, and the one thing that I have to remember is that when you're in the middle of it, you have to let go of certainty and embrace the unknown.
[00:03:28] So what I'd like to do is just end this. How to with one of my favorite quotes.
[00:03:33] Life is amazing and then it's awful. And then it's amazing again. And in between the amazing and the awful, it is ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary.
[00:03:52] That's just living a heartbreaking soul healing and extraordinary life.
[00:03:59] And it's breathtakingly beautiful.
[00:04:02] LR Korst so hang on through part two. If you're going through it, listen to your experts and come out the other side and live beyond.
[00:04:14] Thank you.
