March 6, 2007
Lawyers Can Get Sick, Too
It is March 6th and I’m on my way into the operating room at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. These folks are the experts when it comes to colon rectal surgery and Dr. Ian Lavery is going to try today to put me back together after cancer surgery in 2004 rerouted my plumbing.
Here is a warning for those of you addicted to work. Don’t neglect your own health. Don’t skip annual physicals. And whatever you do, don’t forgo those periodic tests that none of us like. More Partner Income isn’t worth much if you aren’t around to enjoy the wealth it helped you accumulate. If you have ever had one, you know that preparing for a colonoscopy test isn’t much fun. So I skipped them. That cost me a lot and almost cost me my life. In fact, my original surgeon thought it had. The diagnosis was stage four colon cancer and his prognosis was that I would not be around to write this blog entry.
I was lucky. Tennessee Oncology is emerging as one of the nation’s great cancer treatment centers and Dr. Dave Spigel, at the Center, had just started a new experimental chemotherapy protocol involving a combination of traditional treatment and a new experimental drug for my kind of cancer. Today CT scans show no evidence of cancer remaining.
Never for a minute think that going through cancer treatment is easy. The photo below was taken earlier in my chemo treatments. The skin rash got better over time but never went away and other side effects can be disabling as well. The drugs that kill cancer are powerful and take their toll on healthy cells as well. Treatment continued for almost a full year. Ask anyone who has been through this and they will tell you that chemo is the gift that just keeps on giving. The good news is I survived the chemicals and apparently the cancer did not. On the good side, I finally lost weight and got a new hairstyle. I met a lot of wonderful people while going through chemo treatments. Their stories for the most part, like mine, were stories of cancer survival. But, chemo is a high price to pay for forgoing preventative periodic checkups and recommended tests.
Back to the subject of the Cleveland Clinic—it has another claim to fame. If you have been toying with the notion that government-run universal health care might be a good idea, you should know about the Clinic's other claim to fame. It is one of one medical centers Canadians travel to for treatment outside of their government-run medical rationing system. That should tell you something.
I expect to remain in the hospital for five or seven days and then travel back to Nashville for another couple of weeks of recovery. But, true to my workaholic nature I have inventoried a number of posts that the team back at Juris has agreed to post for me during my absence.
Let me close by reminding you, once again: don’t neglect your health, don’t skip annual physicals and do not forgo those couple of tests that can catch problems before they threaten or cost you your life. The benefits of “More Partner Income” are meant to be enjoyed by you and your family—not just your heirs.
Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income, go to www.Juris.com.
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Filed under Blog by Tom Collins