Cancer has been a sometimes difficult blessing. I won't say that it's easy. It's not. Physically, it takes a toll. Chemotherapy attacks your body in an effort to get rid of the cancer. Staying physically active becomes increasingly difficult. This makes it more difficult to stay in shape. It depletes your energy. This makes it more difficult to keep up family and work activities. In my case, I have 3 children who are 3 years old or younger. So, when they want to spend time with daddy and play, they don't understand when my energy is low. Even when I'm tired, I try to get up and play with them. They are little only once, and I want them to remember me. It's difficult on Julia, my wife. In addition to her concerns for me and the difficulty in planning for a secure future that cancer causes, she also has to take more responsibility for the children. This makes her tired. We try not to worry one another, which means that we don't always talk about the cancer. So, we have to be careful that we communicate. Also, when you have cancer, you are around others with cancer. We certainly see those who do not survive. It's like losing a comrade in arms. They fight beside you and they die beside you. It's especially difficult when the person is young.
Nonetheless, Cancer has been a blessing. Cancer teaches you to live life completely differently from everyone else. Risk doesn't mean the same thing to you as it means to everyone else. My own experience has led me to live life with few reservations. It's not an accident that I keep choosing courses that others wouldn't dare choose. I think I've really lived. Navy, Desert Shield/Storm, Honors grad at the Defense Language Institute, I graduated first in class in my college graduating class, I worked at the national security agency, worked for a congressman in Washington, and went to a top 25 law school. I started and grew a law firm, have had adventure travels, have circumnavigated the globe 4 times, and even had the persistence to chase the girl of my dreams until she gave up and married me. I think I owe all of these things to HD. Cancer certainly teaches you that life is worth living. Live it!
But there is more, too. Hodgkin's gives me opportunities to reach out to others. People with cancer are afraid. Their families are afraid. I'm not afraid (rarely anyway.) People see me, still strong, still working, raising my family after a 28 year experience with Hodgkin's. It gives me an opportunity to show them that even if remission doesn't occur or if there is a recurrence, life goes on. At work, I have the opportunity to remain active. Younger attorneys have a chance to see me and decide that they can overcome the obstacles in front of them. People always model the behavior of others. Never forget that people are watching you. Rise to the occasion, not for your own sake, but to benefit those around you. So often people do not have good examples that teach how to handle adversity. Through drama and other church activities, I generally have a number of young people in my life. This is my chance to model for them. This is my moment and my mission. God has given me this opportunity. I can only pray to Him that I am strong enough to use it well.
Faith:
Faith. I have learned that faith is not a matter that can be half-hearted. It either is or it is not. You cannot have one hand holding on to Christ and another holding on to other hopes. You cannot say, "I am strong and will do it on my own." You cannot say, "I am a good person, and that will be good enough." You cannot say, "Maybe I believe." You must choose your faith and hold onto it wholly.
This is not to say that you will be perfect. You will not be. But conduct and faith are not the same. Faith leads to conduct as a motivator. God's promise is that despite imperfection, you will be preserved. Christ has intervened on behalf of each of us. Through that intervention, you will be saved. It is in this promise and in the nature of God that you place your faith.
Faith is only faith if you commit wholly. There can be no tepid commitment. WIth both feet you leap into the water of faith. When your time comes, you cannot say, "I generally believed in the promise of Christ." You have one chance, one hope, one opportunity for salvation. Choose carefully where you place your faith and commit. You cannot remake your choice.
Father, God in Heaven, thank you for your promise. I cling only to You.
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There are 4 classical and one non-classical forms
of HD. They are as follows:
of HD. They are as follows:
- Nodular sclerosis(NS)
NS accounts for 60-70% of Hodgkin's cases. - Lymphocyte predominance (LP).
LP accounts for 5% of Hodgkin's cases. - Mixed Cellularity (MC)
MC accounts for 20-30% of Hodgkin's cases. - Lymphocyte depleted (LD)
LD accounts for about 5% of Hodgkin's cases.
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