Dr. Arn…your biopsy came back positive. I’m afraid you have prostate cancer.”
I thought he must have been talking to someone else in the room. But we were alone…and the doctor was looking straight at me.
“Are you sure?” was all I could think of to say.
“Well, you are certainly welcome to get another opinion. But these biopsies are seldom wrong.”
“So, now what?” I asked, which led to a 20-minute conversation about what this newly discovered disease was…how far advanced it might be…and what were the options.
To make a long story short, three months after the biopsy report I had an IV in my arm and was being wheeled down the hallway at the City of Hope Medical Center to what would be a 3-hour surgery. (Robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy to be exact.) For those of you (men) who have been there and done that, I won’t remind you. For those who haven’t, I won’t bore you. But as I think back on the events of the past three months, I’d like to share with you what I learned from hospital staff, doctors, nurses, and even patients at the City of Hope about being a newcomer. I realize that a cancer hospital may not be the first place you would look for insights on welcoming church visitors and new members. But then, again, maybe there are more similarities than we might think…. Keep reading
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