Stanley's Story: Lung Cancer

Recorded July 24, 2002

Listen With 13 minutes, 29 seconds.

My name is Stanley. I live in a suburb outside of the Big Apple, and it has been my primary residence for about the last 42, 43 years. I built one of the first little California redwood ranches in the suburban area. I had a fantastic, happy married life raising three children and bringing them into this world, and enjoying their development and growth. Unfortunately, my wife became ill and through several complications she passed away some 15 years ago. And I have been left to enjoy my children by myself, and she has been cheated.

A Lucky Early Detection

About three years ago, I went to an emergency room, because I suffer from a chronic disease called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD], which I started developing at 15 when I started smoking and went through the army, went through married life. Bottom line, I smoked for the best part of it. Because I was fortunate enough to go to a rehab for COPD, I was aware enough what to look for. I became worried one weekend when I had more difficulty than I had been experiencing. Very quickly I went to an emergency room just to have my blood stats checked, to make sure everything was OK and I was getting adequate oxygen. Bottom line, out of the serendipity of going for one thing, I was fortunate enough to have an ER doctor--I was blessed--to find that I had a sign on my lung that indicated something was new in there.

We then went in rapid rate of diagnosis, where I went to the local pulmonologist that I had been seeing, had PET scans done and this was the diagnosis. We went back to this doctor--I say we, my son followed with me--and I was told that I have lung cancer. And asked the doctor--well, I had done some reading and I knew there was small cell. There was other carcinomas. I said, "Well, don't you have to do a biopsy to verify that?" And I was told point- blank, "We cannot do a biopsy, because we can end up with a pneumothorax, which is a traumatic thing, a collapse of the lung, and you'll be a pulmonary cripple for the rest of your life." If cancer didn't scare me, the word "cancer," that sure scared me, because I was told in so many words to [laughs] take my bow and arrow, get in my canoe, and sail off from the tribe.

Bottom line, I was fortunate enough to have a primary care physician that said, "You don't listen here. You've got to pursue it further." I went to one of the most world-renowned primary cancer hospitals in the world, which is located in New York City, and I was fortunate enough to find my "Lady of the Lake," if you remember your Wordsworth. I found a surgeon who took me in her tow. And we did all the tests. We did stress tests. Then there was a question that they thought there was a metastasis into the adrenal gland, and I had biopsies done of my adrenal gland, only to find out that everything was negative. There was no [cancerous] lymph nodes--they did all the tests necessary. They did stress tests. I had catheter angiograms. They found that my heart was good. My blood lines were good. Bottom line, even though I was 70 years old, had bad COPD, I was still a candidate for surgery.

Surgery and Diagnosis of Stage I Lung Cancer

I was operated on for an adenocarcinoma. A portion of the lung was excised. Within a week I went to a rehab home, because I live alone in a large house, and I would have needed somebody at home. But I thought it would be better to be in a rehab home where there were medical facilities constantly. They kept me there for five days and said, "You're taking up space." They let me go home to my own home. And the diagnosis had come back that it was stage I. There were no metastases, and I began to think, "How in blazes could I be this lucky?" And I guess I was. I had a fantastic crew of doctors at the hospital that I was at, at the rehab group, and they represent what a doctor should be. Not a profession but a calling. And I was, again, very fortunate with the doctors I eventually ended up with. I was given a lot of advice, which I knew about because of the COPD. I do an ET routine. [laughs] Every day I do five miles riding a recumbent bike. I do Nordic Track exercises to maintain muscle strength, and I was cured of that.

Well, I feel that it was important for me to stay alive for the sake of my children, my grandchildren, because we had a family of love. My children were brought up with love, and fortunately my children give the same love, to an exponential value, to their children. [laughs] And then again, I'm selfish enough to be high on life and enjoy life, and therefore I think the primary motivation was to stay alive, to keep doing. In the pursuits that I followed my whole life, I always lived on the edge, creating, and I felt I have so much more to give to this world and to reap from this world, that one must have a love of living to be able to go through this.

Jousting Windmills and Other Joys

You know, one of the questions put is, "What do I think about throughout this time?" I think a tremendous amount about a book I'm contemplating writing. It's called, "How Do I Waste the Days?" [laughs] I waste the days in watching the trees grow, or not specifically the trees grow, but watching--well, I lost a day watching, through one of my windows bordering on a nature preserve, some caterpillars coming out of their larvae and spreading their wings into butterflies, and watching them dry their wings in the sun and then taking off. I picked up the name of Don Quixote de la Mancha many years ago, and I want to continue being able to live that life and enjoy it.

I believe that the strength of one's will and desire to be part of life can cure a lot of ills. Therefore I believe that life is to be cherished and enjoyed, and I've always looked at my glass as being half full. I take nothing for granted, having gone through the same hardships that most people have, but being able to continue on has been an important thing. If there are any lessons to be learned, it's not to accept your first diagnosis, but it's to continue searching for any help that you can get, as there are knowledgeable people out there. It's a matter of filtering through a tremendous amount of hype [laughs] and superlatives to find what the essence is that you are capable of understanding.

I hope whoever listens to this and hears will glean the hope and the aspiration that I had, because I was very fortunate in this particular circumstance of my life to meet up with the surgeon that I had. She was fabulous! She gave me an edict to follow through, and she told me I would have to stop smoking. I said, "I did." And she looked at me, you know, quizzically, like, "I don't quite believe you." And my son said, "No, he did stop at least two years ago, because the house doesn't smell and reek of smoke anymore. If my father told you he stopped, he stopped. Because that's the thing we learned in our life is tell my father the truth. He'll defend you against murder." She then told me--as she's telling me this, you know, after the surgery, "I told you to give up your juniper berry juice in the evening." [laughs] That was my martinis in the evening. She says, "You did. I told you to build yourself up to withstand the surgery, you really did. You worked your butt. You did your walking down by the beach, but you built your body up again, you know, to the point of where you could take the surgery." She says, "I guess the real reason I operated on you is you are feisty. We really saw eye to eye, and she was so pleased to tell me that it was at stage I.

And again, the important thing is I come down to the fact that it's all knowledge. It is a matter of fact that lung cancer kills more people than breast, colon and prostate combined. You know why? Because unfortunately, lung cancer is not known until it manifests itself with physical signs, and then usually it's too late. Therefore, when I talk about knowledge, they now have this new method of CAT scan where they're capable of picking it up at a so much earlier stage. So intuitive knowledge and following up and questioning constantly is what's going to cure it. I repeat, and then a tremendous faith, because without faith, whether it be in your own individual psyche, in God, in any belief that you have, any tenet, it's important to believe, because only with belief can you succeed and recuperate. And the bottom line is love. And I wish everyone that may hear this as much luck and receive as much love as I have been fortunate enough to have in my life.

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