http://www.articletrader.com/ Articles at ArticleTrader en-us http://www.articletrader.com/health/cancer/my-battle-with-testicular-cancer.html http://www.articletrader.com/health/cancer/my-battle-with-testicular-cancer.html Thu, 28 Sep 2006 00:00:00 -0500
The week started like any other, I went to work on Monday and something just wasn’t right. As it turns out something was more than just wrong. An ultrasound on Tuesday would indicate cancer had invaded my right testicle and my fears were confirmed. Wednesday brought a meeting with the urologist that would remove the testicle and Thursday was surgery. In less than seven days, my life changed.

You also have to understand that my medical life was so very charmed before all this. I’d never broken a bone, had a cavity, I still have all my wisdom teeth, and I’d never had surgery before. To be honest my worst fear was that I’d wake up with a tube down my throat like on ER and have to deal with that. To my great comfort there was no tube, just a bandage virtually duct taped to my hip and a missing testicle upon my waking in the recovery room. As I walked out of the hospital that day I realized there was a long road ahead.

Before I could begin chemotherapy, I had to bank sperm (in case the drugs left me sterile), undergo breathing tests (since the Bleoymicin can scar your lungs) and have an additional consultation with a radiation oncologist should my condition require radiation as part of treatment. I was lucky since a pure seminoma responds well to chemotherapy and likely would not require radiation.

I had heard the horror stories of chemo, loosing weight, frequent bouts of vomiting, and a generally miserable time. I prepared for all that, but it never came. During the course of my treatment, I never got sick, actually gained weight, and the worst thing that happened was that I perpetually felt tired. It’s a difficult feeling to describe, what chemo feels like that is. I used to say, it feels like I’m hung over and walking through loose sand all the time. But as I read the description it doesn’t make a ton of sense to me either, but that’s the way it felt.

The bottom line is that I made it through and have been fine ever since. My chemo lasted from October to December and between each cycle I had a CAT and PET scan to judge the progress. All along the way we saw the infected lymph nodes get smaller and the disease gradually die.

You might be asking, so how did he get through? What allowed him to cope? I’ll be honest – I gave in to the simple fact that I didn’t cause this. I had no hand in causing my disease; it’s not like lung cancer from smoking of ruining your liver from drinking. Once I came to this realization, my focus shifted to killing the disease and getting it out of my body. While I can’t say that I enjoyed the weekly IV sticks and the daily trips to the cancer treatment center, I didn’t mind them as much. Beyond the mental shift, my family played a tremendous role in my recovery. For the surgery and the chemo my family was by my side and kept me going. While I could have done virtually all of it on my own, it was very helpful to have someone at the house since I really wasn’t working at this time and too much time alone would not have been good.

While this story seems very positive, there are a few aspects of my cancer diagnosis that require some attention. First, I have this feeling that I’m not out of the woods yet. I have kept up with all my follow-up visits and have regular CAT and PET scans, blood work, and physical exams. However, there’s a voice in the back of my head that every now and again whispers to me – beware…And finally, while my surgical scar has healed and I’ve lost the weight I gained during chemo, there are emotional issues that I’ve yet to deal with fully. I think some upfront counseling would have helped, but that didn’t happen and now I’m dealing with it.

Bottom line – testicular cancer is beatable with modern medicine. The thing is if you think there’s a problem, get it checked out. Find a doctor you trust and tell them the facts, while we all hope for the best case, you need to be more prepared for the truth than I was. Should the diagnosis be cancer, understand that it’s not the end of the world and there are places to turn like the American Cancer Society for advice and a friendly person to talk to who has been where you are now.


--
I live in South Florida and run two websites, www.swisswatchdeal.com and www.govjobswap.com

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/writing/public-speaking/guide-to-a-successful-briefing.html http://www.articletrader.com/writing/public-speaking/guide-to-a-successful-briefing.html Thu, 28 Sep 2006 00:00:00 -0500
First, in my opinion, success begins with your slide show and its set up. This is one case where less is more. PowerPoint is a powerful piece of software with a ton of good features that have their place, however, fancy transitions, embedded sounds, and odd colors can cloud a presentation and distract from you objective – getting your point across. So, with that being said, I offer the following suggestions:
• Use a slide master – found under View – Master – Slide Master. If you set this up right you can eliminate a lot of formatting later.
• Follow the KISS (Keep it Simple, Stupid) Principle. Eliminate the flowery background and the fancy fonts – a simple black and white slide that outlines your points in quick succession will go much further than a pretty slide lacking content. Also these stripped down presentations will be smaller and load quicker, reducing wait times when you’re briefing away from your personal computer.
• Show the “Bottom Line Up Front” that is, from the beginning, let your audience know what your point is and reinforce it along the way.

Second, how you give the presentation tells a lot about your comfort with the information and your preparation. Remember you’re the one giving the presentation, and therefore you’re in control of the information flowing and you can lead the audience where you want them to go. I offer the following suggestions:
• Watch your body language – what are you doing with your hands and arms? Are your arms crossed over your chest or do you frequently gesture with your hands? Neither is 100% right or wrong but I submit that keeping your arms crossed over your chest sends a signal that you don’t want to be there and frequent hand/arm gestures can distract from your presentation.
• How do you give the information? Don’t be the presenter that reads the slide verbatim to the audience. If you’ve done your homework you should have set up your presentation so that as the audience reads your slides, your narration amplifies what’s on the screen or provides clarification for complex slides. Nothing frustrates an audience more than having a slide read to them.
• Make eye contact and keep the audience involved. You’ve come to tell them something or sell them something, etc…so to that end, the more you involve them and make it clear why you’re there; then your point is more likely to sink in.
• Utilize concrete examples in your presentation and be able to articulate where you got your information from. While some presentations can make use of emotions, I submit that empirical data goes further than raw emotion 9 times out of 10.

In summation, I think GEN Colon Powell said it best in his book, MY AMERICAN JOURNEY, when briefing – tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you said. It’s a good construct to follow. Have an agenda slide, give the presentation, and then recap for your audience. Utilize the opportunity to engage your audience and never ever read slides to your audience.

Not everyone has an instant affinity for public speaking and working with PowerPoint. However, with some practice and keeping a few simple tips in mind, you can greatly improve your public speaking ability by adding PowerPoint slides.


--
I live in South Florida and run two websites, www.swisswatchdeal.com and www.govjobswap.com

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]>