A rare moment’s maturity meant doctors caught my cancer early
Iread somewhere recently that every day in New Zealand, something like 61 people are told they have cancer. December 21 last year was that day for me.
A few weeks before, I had gone to my doctor for something completely unrelated but, shall we delicately say, in the neighbourhood.
I had, like many blokes, considered going for a while with this nagging problem but hadn’t got around to it.
Luckily a gap in the diary and a moment’s rare maturity led me to go see him and due to his skill and dedication I started down an unexpected road.
My Dad died of prostate cancer and as a result, I was on a regular PSA blood test regime, but my next test wasn’t due for another two years.
If it weren’t for my going to see my GP that day and his great skill from there, the outcome for me would have been entirely different.
Let me tell you something, and guys in particular listen up; when you have a specialist tell you that you have cancer but his very next words are ‘‘but we have got it early’’, you simply cling to those words like a life raft through the journey ahead.
So please; that thing you’ve been wondering about for a while, that headache that won’t go away, that test you’re worried about getting; get to your doctor and get it checked out.
We hear a lot about problems in our health services and I have no doubt that they exist and that not everyone has had the smooth journey I have had, but my experience has been an extremely positive one and makes me, as ever, immensely grateful to be a New Zealander.
I was just over four months from that original doctor’s appointment, under two months from having the biopsy diagnosis, to surgery, and that includes Christmas.
The care I received at every stage of the journey was tremendous and I can only stand in utter admiration of the kindness and professionalism of the people that I met along the way.
Support from family, friends and the community has been utterly humbling.
I have received hundreds of messages of support from people far and wide and each one of those has lifted my spirits at times when those spirits certainly needed lifting.
If it weren’t for my going to see my GP that day and his great skill from there, the outcome for me would have been entirely different.
Gifts of home-cooked meals have made a huge difference in getting through those first couple of weeks home from hospital when I was good for little but moaning and groaning, as did people popping in to say hi and bring a bit of happiness.
I have also been blessed to have colleagues who took the helm with ease and grace during my enforced absence.
And then there is my gratitude to my family.
The kids, not that they are kids any more, have just been superb, and by my side through it all has been my wife Linda, with her rare and wonderful combination of kindness and strength.
I am truly a lucky man.