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LDAfeatureDr. Ed Moody IIHow I Spent My Spring Vacation orLife on the Other End of the InstrumentsThe first Great Ruleof Life: Thereare no rules exceptthose that apply toour actions. Theresults are anotherissue entirely...ungoverned... theproverbial wild cardif you will. I know,I know; there areno coincidences andeverything happensfor a reason. I’mon board withthat as a conceptbut since thosemeaningful resultsare unpredictableuntil they happen,they might as well be random. In February of lastyear, I had that concept brought home to me in avery personal way. It came in the form of a confirmedbiopsy of squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue. Me!No impersonal third person tragedy... me! I haven’tsmoked since 1979 and I’m a light “social” consumerof alcohol... I mean, I’m Irish. I have to drink a littleor the cosmos would become unbalanced. I have neverdipped snuff and I see my dentist every day at theoffice because he’s my son. See? Even if it all happensfor a reason, there’s that unpredictability thing.Okay, so I’ve picked my metaphorical self up fromthe floor where I landed upon receiving the bad news,right? So what’s next? Treatment options and someoneto perform them would be a good starting point. Mylocal oral surgeon buddies don’t get into this sort ofadventure but they knew someone who does, Dr.Ghali E. Ghali… the surgeon so nice they named himtwice. Unfortunately for him, but very lucky for us,he deals with thissort of cataclysm ona regular basis. Alsovery lucky for me,he turned out to benot only immenselycapable but a trulycompassionatehuman being whowould get me and myfamily through thisroller coaster ride.Okay, he is a gunner,but it’s okay to useup a lot of the oxygenin the room if you’renot wasting it, right?Time out here fora couple of caveats...first, my tumor andthe course of treatment was about as good as one canhave with cancer. The only thing significantly betterwould have been not to have cancer at all. Second,remember the “me and my family” phrase? Pay attentionhere, this is important, cancer does not happen to aperson, it happens to the family. It is by nature a teamsport. Unlike solo synchronized swimming (whatever thatmay be) it involves the entire group we refer to as family.Okay, back to the story now. At that point I wasdealing with palpable fear and tons of uncertainty.What would the rest of my life be like, and wouldthere be any “rest of my life” to even worry about?What would the result look like? I mean, at 54 yearsold, I had finally gotten used to what I looked likepre-surgery; would I have to get used to some sortof elephant man countenance? I was just getting intomy destined role of grandpa and now I might end uplooking too scary for the kids to look at me. I had solittle experience to rely on because fortunately very(Front row, from left) son-in-law Wesley, daughter Jacky, granddaughter Annabelle, grandsonCollin, wife Marita, granddaughter Jillian, and daughter-in-law Crystal. (Back row, from left)future daughter-in-law Jenny, son Bryan, author Dr. Ed Moody II, and dental partner and sonDr. Ed Moody III.34 LDA Journal