My Personal D-Day...

(This is me in Breckenridge, Colorado, a month before my D-Day.)

The following is the 1999 email I sent out to family & friends explaining to them my cancer diagnosis. I was living in Oklahoma City at the time; so I was unable to tell a good portion of people in person. This is how I compensated for that fact. In a couple days, I will post the email that I sent out after I finished all of my treatments.

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February 19, 1999

To my dear friends,

To some of you it has been some time since we have talked. For that I apologize for and I also apologize for having to initiate contact with some bad news. I would very much like to tell all of you in person or over the phone but doing that would be very difficult for multiple reasons. And I also want to let you know before you should find out from anyone else and also that you will not receive any false information. So here it goes:

Approximately around the first of the year, I had a sinus infection (not unusual for me living here in Oklahoma). So before going to Colorado I went to the doctor to get some medication. I got some drugs (yeah!!) and I was on my way to the slopes. I finished my prescription, got better, and had a wonderful time up in Breckenridge.

After getting back from Colorado, while shaving one morning I noticed I had a lump on the side of my neck. I waited for a week or so for it to go away but it never did. So I decided to go back to the doctor to have it checked out. The doctor said it was probably a swollen lymph node due to the sinus infection that I had. He gave me some more medication to help it go back down to its normal size. 10 days later with all the medication taken, it had still not gone down in size, so back to the doctor I went. The doctor said it probably something other than just a swollen lymph node ... perhaps it was infected or something along those lines ... so he suggested that I go see an Ear, Nose, & Throat Specialist.

I had my first appointment with the Ear, Nose, & Throat Specialist on Monday the 15th. He did things to my ears, nose and throat that I thought was not humanly possible!! :-) He is a such a cool doctor!!!! Well, he first took some fluid samples from my lump in my neck by sticking me with a needle. Then in inspecting my nasal passages he discovered a large mass of tissue back there ... so he took a nasal biopsy ... and sent both samples to the lab. We had an appointment to meet and talk about the results on Wednesday.

Wednesday was one of the darkest days of my life. The diagnosis: cancer. I have a tumor that has attached itself to the back of my throat that has grown to where it is blocking my nasal passage to where I have trouble breathing through my nose. This explains the problems I have had the past couple months with congestion. The cancer has spread to my lymph glands which explains the lump in my throat. I had blood work done on Wednesday and CAT scans done Thursday and today. I will be told of the results on Monday the 21st and then I will talk with my doctors as to where we go from here.

I tell you all this for I consider you friends. I ask you for your prayers in this journey that I am about to embark on. My God ... your God ... our God is a good God. He is a big God. He is a powerful God. He is a God that can easily heal me of this disease and I believe He will. I have no doubt. So I ask you to pray with me in intercession and petition of our loving Father.

If you should have any questions for me or just want to talk, feel free to give me a call or drop me a line via email. Once again, thank you for your friendship and for your prayers. May God continue to richly bless and inspire us all!!! Until next time, take care and have a great one!

Loving God Through Loving Others,

Neil Clayton