I spent 10 solid days staring into the abyss, and now I'm back to give a great big howdy from the void, so to speak.

-- Tarzan the Ape Man (tarzan@swingingthroughthejunglewithouta.net), October 10, 2000

Answers

Great news Tarz. Tell us more if you want to.

regards,

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), October 10, 2000.

Lars-

My fiance discovered a strange lump in one of my testicles. It turns out to be cancerous. However, my doctor misread some of my lab results and told me the cancer had already metastisized throughout my lymphatic system and into my lungs. Fortunately, it not only hasn't metastisized but it's the most treatable type of testicular cancer to have, and we seem to have caught it in the early stages.

The nurse I spoke to today told me she'd never seen anyone so happy to have cancer in her life.

-- Tarzan the Ape Man (tarzan@swingingthroughthejunglewithouta.net), October 10, 2000.

That's great news, all things considered. An acquaintance came up (or is it "came down"?) with it when he was but late 20's. Beat it like a champ.

Thanks for letting us know, Tarzan. I promise not to pray for you. ;0)

BTW, great subject heading!

Rich

-- Bingo1 (howe9@shentel.net), October 10, 2000.

>> I'm back to give a great big howdy from the void, so to speak. <<

Welcome back to the land of the living. I'm sure the weather's better out here than it was back where you were last week. If I knew how to spell the Tarzan yodel, I'd type you a good, long one...

-- Brian McLaughlin (brianm@ims.com), October 10, 2000.

Wonderful, you are really fortunate to have this arrested in it's early stages. Just keep up with those regular checkups.

BTW, does Jane mudwrestle?

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.cum), October 10, 2000.

And a great big howdy back at ya; that's great news!!

I'll bet even this place looks better than the "abyss" ;-)

-- Patricia (PatriciaS@lasvegas.com), October 10, 2000.

Bingo-

Thanks for the good thoughts. When I was first told that the cancer had metastasized and I had about 12-18 months to live, I was devastated. I walked to the front desk to pay my bill and the nurse who'd been in the room with me during the diagnosis said that I should consider myself lucky for having time to get right with god. Talk about opportunistic!

KOS-

Jane's taken, but Cheetah would be happy to mudwrestle you any time!

Patricia-

Damn straight this place looks better. After my diagnosis, I hit the road for a few days, drove out to the coast and spent three or four days feeling sorry for myself. I took vacation time at work and told my fiance I needed some personal time. She didn't know my diagnosis, I didn't have the heart to tell her, but I suppose she guessed. She's a great lady for letting me go.

I got sick of feeling sorry for myself, and came home. I spent the next few days trying to pack sixty years of living into one. Three days ago, I got the call from my doctor's office about the lab results. I went to another doctor today to get a second opinion, and I'll probably go get a third one just to be safe. Right now, I'm dancing on air!

-- Tarzan the Ape Man (tarzan@swingingthroughthejunglewithouta.net), October 10, 2000.

Tarzan, I don't make it by here very often these days, and I'm always missing something. Glad to here the good news, but what you must have went through when you got the erroneous bad news, geesh.

I can't promise not to pray for ya, already did when I read the thread.... hey, who would I have to argue with 'bout religion and whatever, gotta keep you around! I also contribute to medical research on occasion though, I get to do that 'cause I believe in God AND the study of what God has created, i.e. science. Am I hedging my bet here? Naaaahhhh...;)

-- David ("FF") (David@bzn.com), October 10, 2000.

I don't know what to say Tarzan so I'll simply say: I am very happy to welcome you back.

-- Debra (Thisis@it.com), October 10, 2000.

My fiance discovered a strange lump in one of my testicles.

Nope, aint touchin that one!

Heres to your continued good health Ape-Man.

-- I (h@ve.spoken), October 10, 2000.

Wow, what a story! Congratulations Tarzan, and hope you enjoy life as much as possible. Stay well!

-- Celia Thaxter (celiathaxter@yahoo.com), October 10, 2000.

My fiance discovered a strange lump in one of my testicles.

Is she still your fiance?

-- (packin@double.barrel), October 10, 2000.

Yep, she's still my fiance. We had always planned on adopting kids anyway rather than making our own, so there's no conflict there. She's just glad I'm going to be around next year!

-- Tarzan the Ape Man (tarzan@swingingthroughthejunglewithouta.net), October 10, 2000.

Tarzan, Ward had the same type of scare as you did. However, it was caught early and everything turned out okay. Many don't know this, but I too had cancer and it was caught in it's early stages--that was many years ago and I'm still around. It's true that positive thinking on your out-look on life has a lot to do with your speedy recovery. Best to you and your fiance'.

-- Mrs. Cleaver (Mrs. Cleaver@LITBBBB.vcom), October 10, 2000.

Tarz:

I'll add my congrats to the rest. Dang, that was scary! I have a good friend who had testicle cancer. It was treated, or removed, or whatever, and the only problem he had after that was when he wanted to give blood for an operation they were doing on his daughter. Don't be surprised if the Count doesn't come knocking on your bedroom window. It seems silly to me, and it seemed silly to him, but, hey...some folks don't sit on toilet seats either.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), October 10, 2000.

"Great news Tarz. Tell us more if you want to." --Lars

"My fiance discovered a strange lump in one of my testicles...." "I spent 10 solid days staring into the abyss, and now I'm back to give a great big howdy from the void, so to speak."--Tarzan

Men have a grip on emotions and words. With these few sentences, I believe I went on a scaled down version of Tarzan's roller-coaster ride in a fraction of the time he went through his (certainly not the same thing, but that's my way of saying I'm emotional.)

Tarzan, I echo everything everyone else said, just to spare you my rambling. Enjoy your new life.

-- (smarty@wannabe.one), October 10, 2000.

Ape-Dude,

If you needed her to find it you ain't watchin TV the right way. It only takes ONE hand to work the remote.

Congrats on your reprieve, I'm happy for you.

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), October 10, 2000.

Welcome back, Tarzan. Whew -- great news, though! When you have a chance, I'm very interested to know more on what went through your mind, and in what ways you might have changed, in as much detail as you care to give.

-- eve (eve_rebekah@yahoo.com), October 10, 2000.

Hang in Tarzan. Think about Lance Armstrong.

-- Carlos (riffraff1@cybertime.net), October 10, 2000.

Tarzan,

Whew, what a wild couple of weeks you've had. I had a similar scare a couple of years ago and it taught me a few things about what's really important in life. Maybe it'll do the same for you. Here's hoping all the opinions turn out well for you.

-- Jim Cooke (JJCooke@yahoo.com), October 10, 2000.

Tarzan,

I'll second what Jim said,Congrats.Maybe you should play the lottery,seems like luck is on your side.

-- capnfun (capnfun1@excite.com), October 11, 2000.

Great news, glad to hear it. Don't be so harsh on the nurse; she probably wanted to find comforting words and couldn't. My father was given the same diagnosis and died only a short six weeks later.

Unk, only you LOL.

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), October 11, 2000.

Tarzan,

What'd they find, if you don't mind saying? Seminoma, non-seminomatous germ cell tumor or some 8-ball like sarcoma?

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), October 11, 2000.

Tarz: I am very happy for you.

Shhhoot that was a close one. Glad to hear it is not what they first thought. Get as many opinion's as necessary.

Great to have ya back

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), October 11, 2000.

Both seminoma and non-seminomatous, which I'm told is not unusual.

-- Tarzan the Ape Man (tarzan@swingingthroughthejunglewithouta.net), October 11, 2000.

Tarzan,

Follow your chemo regimen, and for God's sake FOLLOW-UP WITH YOUR DOCTOR for repeat scans etc. If your tumor does come back, you want to know earlier rather than later.

Sincerely,

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), October 11, 2000.

"When I look into the abyss, the abyss looks back" - Nietche

-- god (@ .), October 11, 2000.

Just chiming in to add my "WAHOO!" ;-)

Mar.

-- Not now, not like this (AgentSmith0110@aol.com), October 11, 2000.

I'm glad they caught it in time. My father had surgery for bladder cancer two years ago. He got something to drink a couple days after surgery. His epiglottis didn't close fully when he swallowed and he go twater in his lungs. It caused pneumonia which killed him thirty days later.

You didn't say if you've already had the surgery. I hop it all goes well.

-- John Littmann (littmannj@aol.com), October 12, 2000.

tarzan -- glad to hear the good report. I'll be thinking good thoughts for you. Glad you made it back from the "abyss". Been there myself a time or two! ;-)

-- (doomerstomper@usa.net), October 12, 2000.

Tarzan -- I'm really glad to hear you're not as sick as they thought you were at first. Do keep a close eye on things!

-- helen (a@a.a), October 17, 2000.