In a follow up to my diary the other day as expected, the mass is cancerous. There is good news-my CT scan is otherwise clear along with-as stated previously, good blood work.
The available evidence is that it was likely caught early, and most kidney cancer progresses slowly. We will see. I am optimistic.
So,
Not in order but on my mind-
There is a world at risk because of a virus. There is a whole group of especially vulnerable that need healthcare more than ever.
There is an election to win. There is a wife to love. There is a faith to sustain. There is a family to look after. There is a life to lead and a purpose to fulfill.
And that isn’t me I am talking about. That is all of us.
You see I am not important, not singularly. But if through this I am able to magnify the voices of the Joes and Janes like me, and remind the world that we are all important, equally and unequivocally, then it will be worth it.
But also because of this I will not on this blog be endorsing any candidate during the primary. I am not going to weaponize my own illness against our own. Yuck. Political agenda and my healthcare is separate and must remain so until..
I can help the winner, if chosen to do so, use my story to underscore the life and death importance of healthcare.
But no, I will not personalize this illness and draw contrasts against our own, because these candidates are like my own family-because they fight for families.
As for me? Cancer is in me.
But no matter how it turns out, Cancer is not me.
In the coming days I will be releasing relevant descriptions of my illness to crowdsource opinions and get an idea of what to prepare for. Like, I don’t know what lobulated means. Or hydrodensities.
Stuff like that. For now I don’t want to get too much into the weeds on this.
Also, if I can, I am going to be doing a series of diaries called “The Conscience of a Liberal, As It Developed.”
This will be about why I am so bleeding heart, and near as I can written in the perspective of the person I can remember being. In other words, some of it in my 6 year old self, some of it in my present self. Does that make sense? I just want people to walk through my process and see if it can inspire other people to be Democrats with pride, not Democrats who hide.
I will, again if I can, be giving it to you in diaries here so I can share it with my anonymous liberal family.
It is just something in me, other than blasted cancer, I want to get out.
Thanks for love and support.
I am small-but WE ARE BIG.
Let’s win this for the WE!
-ROC