How the rest of the medical community deals with cancer

PHOTO: Me doing awesome things at the gym.

Cancer has been following me around the past two weeks.

I had my routine lady-doctor exam and all is well. Then the OB/GYN asked how everything was going with... um, you know... the brain cancer thing.

"It's the same," I told her.

My primary care doctor sent me to see a new physical therapist for a back muscle injury. The therapist looked at my medical chart. Then he looked up at me. Then back to my medical chart. Then to me.

"And you are... 33? ... You are so... young."

I saw a new optometrist. She had a one-page medical history form I needed to complete. Various medical issues were listed and I had to check the YES or NO boxes if I had the issue or if I had an immediate family member with the issue.

Heart disease? No. Arthritis? No. Diabetes? No.

Cancer? Yes. Relationship? Self.

"What kind of cancer?" asked the eye doctor.

"Brain cancer."

"But wow... you are only 33!"

"And I was 29 when I was diagnosed, and that is even younger than 33!"

Eventually I visited a chiropractor to deal with the back muscle strain. Again, I completed an obligatory medical history form, except this time it asked about surgeries I've had.

"Why did you have two brain surgeries?" asked the chiropractor.

"For brain tumor removal." (BTW, I love to deliver this information with as blank of an expression as I can muster. It really confuses people when they don't see a worried look on my face.)

"Wow! So you are all good now?"

"No. I still have brain cancer."

(Insert two minutes of me explaining why a malignant brain tumor is impossible to remove.)

"Well, I am glad you are doing well. I will help you with your back but I am not going to adjust your neck. I want to be cautious of anyone dealing with things related to the central nervous system."

Noted.