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Page 2 of 2  “I was ready for a vacation; however, this wasn't the destination I had in mind." - Merv Griffin, 82.
Merv Griffin, who created “Jeopardy,” “Wheel of Fortune,” and other TV game shows, is undergoing treatment after his prostate cancer came back.
“I'd rather play 'Jeopardy!' than live it," the 82-year-old Griffin quipped.
I'd rather watch "Jeopardy" than live it. Do I worry about my own prostate cancer coming back? Funny you should ask: I go back in August to my urologist for my six-month PSA blood test to see if the dreaded demon has returned. For nearly five years, I've been cancer free, after my doctor removed my prostate and its tumor during surgery.
Yeah, I’m getting a little apprehensive, and who wouldn’t? Who wants to tussle with cancer a second time? Yet, three friends have battled breast cancer more than once – and live to tell about defeating it, again.
I don’t know Merv’s original treatment – radiation or surgery – but I chose surgery, otherwise known as a radical prostatectomy, which I bet you can’t say quickly 15 times without twisting your tongue in knots. Fortunately for me, my cancer was confined to the gland, and surgeons found no traces of cancer in the surrounding lymph nodes.
The tumor was so small that out of 14 samples of my prostate taken in a biopsy, the cancer turned up on only two – and then it was only 50% on one sample, and a measly 3% on another sample.
Since the surgery, my PSA blood tests – taken every six months – have been a big, fat zero, and that’s good. Unlike the zero on my SAT.
Right now, a friend popped into my mind. She and I were on a date, recalling our experiences with cancer. Suddenly, she grew very anxious, shaking. Her fork literally beat out a tune on her plate of spinach salad.
“I worry every day that my breast cancer will come back,” she said, haltingly.
As for me, I’ve learned to live my life by chances: what are the chances my cancer will rear its ugly head, again? In the recovery room, my urologist told me my cure rate was 90% over my lifetime. That means there’s a 10% chance that doctors missed a tiny bit of cancer that was undetectable to the eye or the most sophisticated microscopes.
I know that if it returns, I’ll get radiation, possibly hormonal therapy, and beat it for a second time. And cancer is beatable – if you keep up with your doctor’s visits.
So my choice is simple: Worry about the 10% – or rejoice in the 90%?
I’ve chosen the latter. Still . . .
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