EXPECTATIONS

It seems inconceivable to me that I just found out

this week that I have cancer.

It seems like I have known it all my life.

Yet no one was more astounded than we were

when the doctor gave us the bad news

at my appointment on Monday.

I thought my ordeal was over and

we would breeze through this

like every other time.

Both the surgeon

and the thyroid cancer specialist

recommend that I do not have surgery at this time

to remove the other half of my thyroid.

The tumor was small; slow growing . . .

There is no way to know if cancer is in the other half.

We could wait and watch

OR if you prefer,

we can treat it aggressively with surgery and

radioactive iodine.

Of course, I chose to wait and watch.

I’m in no mood to go through surgery again.

It’s only been two weeks.

Already I’ve been put on the medicine

we left half my thyroid in to avoid.

You know what my worst nightmare is?

You need a little background to grasp this.

Last week, the chiropractor DeRay and I paid $5,000 each

with promises that he would cure DeRay’s diabetes and

my Hashimoto’s disease,

was arrested and put in jail

for bilking the elderly of money with his scheme

to reverse diabetes

on his program that tends to cheat, exploit,

and endanger both the physical and fiscal health

of elderly patients.

The next day he was released when he posted a $200,000 bond.

Does it seem ironic that he would bail himself out

with the money he stole that put him in jail?

This is my nightmare:
(totally fictional)

Dr. A, the thyroid cancer specialist,
 and Dr. B, the surgeon,

are arrested and put in jail

for bilking elderly people with their exorbitant fees

and for making false promises.

Records show that patients die of thyroid cancer

within six months without aggressive treatment.
Further investigation proves
that neither doctor is board certified 
and each is practicing medicine 
under an assumed name and identity.

They share a cell.