Life is a Cancer

All the negative news these past few weeks has exposed the cancer that has been festering in our society for decades. The civil rights and equal rights movements of the 1960s and 70s may have driven it underground, but it has never truly gone away. We were lulled into a false sense of complacency and this has been our wake-up call.

On a completely different note, I am now also struggling with actual cancer on two other fronts. Back in June I had my first appointment with an endocrinologist, and he did a routine gland check. He felt a swelling on my thyroid and ordered me to get an ultrasound. Each successive test afterward remained inconclusive, but raised the chance of malignancy. At this point I’m looking at surgery on my thyroid to remove the nodules that were found. The chance of them being malignant is about 50% and it’s best not to take any chances.

Just last week, I received  equally troubling news in regards to my dog, Joey. Except there was nothing inconclusive about his test. He has a tumor just to the side and above his right eye, and it’s growing progressively larger every day. Admittedly I’m very worried. He’s only 8.5 and still full of energy and life. I’m not ready to lose him yet.

The joy I should be feeling after having published my first novel is being greatly overshadowed by all of these events. I’m grateful I have a roof over my head and food on my plate, but I’m getting a little tired of life constantly throwing me these curveballs.