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should have arrived at this page from Gary Stanley's Cyber
News.
Forward: A couple of years ago my wife and I were standing in line waiting for the shuttle bus to take us back to the parking lot. It had been a long fun day at the Barrett-Jackson Car Show in Scottsdale, Arizona. We struck up a conversation with a couple in line with us and within minutes it seemed liked we had known them forever. They lived in Utah and spent winters in Phoenix. We agreed to meet for dinner and drinks the following weekend. We did and a bonding friendship began. We did a lot of fun things with this couple as we had many things in common. They had motorcycles and I had just bought a new Gold Wing. We both had RVs, infact they lived in theirs while staying here. One weekend we invited them to go ATVing. Since they didn't own one they arranged to rent and we spent a day riding in the mountains north of Wickenburg, Az. They loved it so much that it wasn't long before they owned a his and her model. More good times followed riding in the wilderness and always stopping in some spot in the middle of nowhere to have a picnic lunch. We went to motorcycle shows, to Barrett-Jackson again the next year and crammed an awful lot into just three seasons with them. A month ago, just before they left to go home for the summer, we rode our Quads with them in the mountains southeast of Phoenix. It was only about an hour into our ride that Kent complained of a pain in his side. Even though we had a fun day planned I said, "let's not take any changes and head home." We did and later that day he passed a kidney stone. Well, that was just a start of things to come. This is the email that I received from him on May 31st: (Printed with his permission.) Hi
Gary and Diane, It has certainly been an adventurous and nightmarish few weeks since we left Arizona. As
you probably know, after my bout with the kidney stone, when we got
home, I had to have the procedure done to open the blocked artery in my
heart. It involved the angioplasty using the balloon to open the
artery and inserting a stint to keep it open. I felt better almost
immediately except for tightness in my chest, which I attributed to
getting used to the stint. After
a couple weeks of the tightness not going away, the heart doctor had me
do another thallium test, (yes my 2nd one), which is where
they put radioactive dye in your blood stream, take two sets of CT scans
of my heart before and after working out on the treadmill. They
wanted to see if the artery was fully operational on both sides of the stint. Then
I had to go to a lung doctor because during my visit at We
went to that doctor on the 22nd to look at the CT scan that
was taken of my chest while I was in getting the heart worked on.
It showed a large spot about the size of a quarter and some other
smaller spots behind it. The
doctor gave us the bad news. 75% chance of lung cancer. Needless
to say, we were in shock. Instantly we knew that this might be a
death sentence. I would need Chemo Therapy & Radiation for at
least a year and if I were real lucky, then surgery to take out part or
the entire lung. The
doctor also ordered a biopsy of the lung for the following Wednesday the
27th to see just how bad this thing was. You
can imagine how the time went for us after that news. Deanne was
taking calls of sympathy for me, telling the story over and over.
We had a very hard time sleeping through the night. When you wake
up at 2 or 3 AM and you start to think that your time on earth is
limited, it is hard to sleep. Deanne
would get up and sit in the chair downstairs and cry and I would have to
turn on the radio just to listen to something to take my mind off of
dying. I
even signed a contract with myself stating that I would fight and not
give up no matter what. The
27th came and I went in for the lung biopsy. It is
actually a neat procedure because it isn’t really painful, except for
the darn IV’s they have to keep sticking in you. I
breathed in something to make my lungs numb, and then they put a drug in
to sedate me but not put me completely to sleep. Then the doctor
squeezed something in my nose to deaden the inside and put a tube with a
camera through my nose into my lungs. I was lying there watching
a TV and he was telling me what everything was while the tube went
inside me. I wanted to watch because it was like scuba diving and
seeing things that were living in a coral reef. Even though the
doctor said I watched the whole thing, I don’t remember any more of
it. Once
inside the lung, they took a small piece of the spot with some little
tweezer like things and sucked it out. Then he had a little brush
that rubbed more of the thing off and finally sprayed it with a solution
and sucked all of that out. The whole procedure only took about 30 minutes and about an hour after I checked in, I was on my way home. We had an appointment on the 29th at 3 PM to get the final verdict. Finally
we started to get some peace within ourselves. If I was going to
die, then I would get to find out for sure what the hereafter is like,
and that was interesting to me. I
told Deanne that I wanted to wake up from this nightmare because we
still, really, couldn’t believe it was happening. But I couldn’t
wake up. Normally, if I have a nightmare, I tell myself that it
isn’t real and that I don’t want to be there anymore. Then I
wake up. But I couldn’t do it from this nightmare. Thursday the 28th came and we decided that we would try and continue to live as normal as possible and would even go to our usual Friday night gathering of friends. We
even continued to work with clients showing houses. And guess
what, we have three under contract. About
5 PM on Thursday, Deanne decided she would cut the lawn because riding
on the mower soothes her and may just take her mind off of everything. I
was on the computer checking out more houses for other clients when the
phone rang. It was the lung doctor. He said the test results
were in from the biopsy and he didn’t want to make us wait until the
next day to hear the news. I braced for what he was about to say,
but still being pretty numb from the whole deal, I thought it wouldn’t
matter anyway. Then
he said “The biopsy came back Negative…….NO CANCER !!”
Did
I hear right?? Just a few days ago, it was 75% sure and even after
Deanne talked to him after the biopsy, he had told her that he still
thought I had cancer. I
went outside and told Deanne to turn off the lawnmower. She said I
looked terrible because I had been crying. I didn’t think I had
any tears in me because men are supposed to be strong but I was flowing.
When I told her, we jumped around the grass hugging and squealing.
It still makes me get choked up as I write this because of the emotions
involved. I
now had another chance. I can go 4 wheeling with you guys. I can take my
grandsons fishing and golfing. I can taste food again, and I won’t
leave my beautiful wife alone. The birds are singing and I can
hear them. The sun is up and I did wake up from the
nightmare…….. By
the way, I have valley fever… Only 5% of the people who get valley
fever get the spots or lesions on their lungs and of course that is me. On
an X-ray or CT scan it shows up as cancer. Only with a biopsy do
you know for sure. I was checked in I
have to take an anti-fungal drug for 6 months and get a blood test once
a month to check on my liver, but I will take it. And
yes, I can have a beer or wine and it will not hurt me. Our
Friday night gathering turned into a party instead of a wake. Oh
yea……I drank a little! During
this ordeal, Deanne has developed an ulcer. We have to go in on
Tuesday for a scan of her stomach. It is a similar procedure to
what I had. They
want to make sure there is nothing else causing her the discomfort.
She is confidant that it is nothing we can’t overcome. Sorry
for this long epistle but I wanted you to know what is happening because
we love and miss you both! Oh…I
almost forgot, when we were in the lung doctor figuring out my treatment
on Friday, my phone rang and it was the heart doctor. Not
to worry….my heart is normal! I have the heart rate and
blood pressure of a teenager! I just wish I had a bit more
testosterone! Let’s
keep in touch! You two are very special to us! Talk
to you soon. Kent Epilog: I received this email just a few minutes before leaving for church. I didn't tell Diane so she wouldn't be a basket case during the service. We called them as soon as we got home to share their joy. Kent and Deanne were high school sweethearts and have been married forever. I hope Kent's email is an example of how we should live for TODAY. You can see pictures of Kent and Deanne that I took at the Barrett-Jackson Car Show. God Bless........ Gary
Stanley
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