Some of the people on my Oral Cancer forum question what they "did wrong". I have to concur that we didn't "do anything wrong" philosophy. We all now know that Oral cancer is caused by, drinking, eating, hot coffee, tea, hot cocoa, not brushing your teeth regularly, sex, drugs & rock-n-roll. All rock stars would be dead now if a bad life style was the cause. I lived a not-so-bad-style for 60 years before I received the "C" gift.
I live better and healthier now than I ever did before, I don't even stand close to the speakers at concerts anymore and I brush my teeth every night. Otherwise, I think I am good for another 60 and by then I will probably be too spent to care. My doctor told me don't smoke and don't drink too much to avoid other issues more prevalent than oral cancer, other than that, she said doctors really don't know what causes oral cancer or they would tell us specifically...being human and enjoying life can cause cancer [do monks get cancer?] just the luck of the draw...kind of like why I hardly ever win at rock, paper, scissors.
My advice is to live the remainder of your time fully, with no regrets, love those who mean the most, work on your legacy to be remembered by, mend all the bridges and for God's sake don't stop enjoying your life. There is always a bottle of good wine at the table (only 1/2 glass a night - I usually forget where I left it somewhere in the house-ha), I use my parent's heirloom china for spaghetti & meatballs instead of just at Thanksgiving, I hand-write and snail-mail note cards, the old fashioned way - not emails- to all my kids, my in-laws and my 3 college buddies as often as I can. I bought all the "Best of..." cds from the 60's-70's and crank 'em up on the car stereo everywhere I go. I have heard it on the forum many times before, can't change it - it is what it is - even if we knew now what we did wrong when we were 24...so what? Can't change it. We may not have the power over the quantity of time left, BUT WE CERTAINLY HAVE POWER OVER THE QUALITY OF THE TIME LEFT!
Go to bed every night with a smile on your face because you had another great day. I have finally come to believe my struggle with tonsil cancer is a gift. I never thought I was going to live forever, but I did put off a lot of personal stuff thinking I had endless days before I got "really old". I now have a renewed sense of purpose. I have traveled everywhere and done a ton of cool stuff. My "bucket list" is personal & private. Nobody but me can drive or fly me there.
My quote of the moment is:
"When you get old, don't slow down. Speed up. There is less time left".
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