Fran's Blog - "It's Cancer" - Excerpt from CANCER SCHMANCER

June 12, 2000

When the phone rang I was in the bathroom.  Since becoming single I always like to have a handset wherever I am in the house, in the event of an emergency.  As long as the phone is within arm's reach, I'm never really alone.  When I heard it was Doctor #8 I went into my bedroom to grab a pen and paper.  I'd learned from experience:  When speaking with a doctor about anything that concerns you, get in the habit of taking notes.

That's when it happened.  In that moment.  Reality with a capital R came and bit me on the ass.  On the phone, sitting on the edge of the bed, in my workout clothes, clutching a tiny pad, I wrote down that I had cancer as tears rolled down my cheeks.

How could this be happening?  How could this be true?  No one else said I had cancer, and I'd had blood tests.  Ins't cancer supposed to be indicated by your blood count?  I'd had many ultrasounds of my uterus -- why didn't the cancer show up there?  Why, why, why?

I hung up the phone in a complete state of shock.  Was I going to die?  Was I now to become another medical statistic?  How could this have been going on for so long undiagnosed?  Scribbled on my pad was an appointment on Friday to meet with a gynecologic oncologist.  Friday?  But this was Monday!  How could I, why should I have to wait four days before taking the next step?  You know what my answer was?  "Because that's when she sees new patients."  Who cares about some new-patient policy when I have cancer, for God's sake?

But the world doesn't change itself because you have cancer.  The only world that changes is yours!  

Excerpted from Cancer Schmancer by Fran Drescher 

Available at Amazon.com with a percentage of proceeds donated to Cancer Schmancer.