Remission; A Cause for Celebration

By Larry Puls @larrypulsauthor

Remission from Cancer, Celebration

Remission. A coveted word. The sought-after goal. A destination that encapsulates both hope and light in the midst of a precarious future.

Over my career, I have witnessed numerous reactions to that word, to that idea. And in all those observations, one thing I have undoubtedly learned was that achieving remission could incite unpredictable responses.

Walking into the room, I had finished studying the chart and her CT scans. I was hopeful that her chemotherapy was now relegated to the past. Remission, which is what I was hoping for, had at one time seemed almost untenable. But now I had a hunch it might happen. Call it the oncologist's sixth sense. We had likely achieved what initially seemed impossible. The patient sitting before me was probably wondering where our conversation would go. In some ways, I wondered too.

Denial and the Enormous Ovarian Mass; A Story of Surviving Ovarian Cancer

By Larry Puls @Larrypulsauthor

Ovarian Cancer Surgery

Midday, Friday afternoon, a long week. There’s a call on the line. A referral. One that my memory will not let go of—even after two decades. Transport will have her here in two hours.

I walk into her room—now five o’clock. A glance defines a thousand words. Her shoulders yield information—skin over bone, a starving patient? I look back at the chart. She is over three hundred pounds. Really? I turn again to this woman. Those shoulders, those emaciated shoulders, say malnourished. My eyes move lower. There under the covers is something that I cannot adequately describe. A mass. A growth. Big, beyond comprehension. My eyes rudely continue their stare. Shock and awe. The power of denial lived out in front of me. How long has that been there? I can only imagine.