At the Cancer Center.

I am currently writing this from the waiting floor of the cancer center.
There is Wi-Fi available, and there are plenty of table seats, so it is quite comfortable.
There is also a call buzzer, so it doesn't matter where you are in the hospital.

I don't think there are many people who are as relaxed as I am at a cancer center.
After all, it is a cancer center.

Five years ago, I had surgery for thyroid cancer, and I have been coming here for regular checkups ever since.
I had a total thyroidectomy, and since it had spread quite a bit to the left lymph nodes, those were removed as well.
Because I don't have a thyroid, I have to take hormone replacement medication for the rest of my life.

It is said to be a relatively mild cancer, but depending on the type, it can be life-threatening.
Fortunately, after the surgery and one round of internal radiation therapy, I have only needed follow-up visits and have been able to live a normal life.
I have a scar about 20 centimeters long, but it has been treated so beautifully that you can hardly see it unless you look closely.
Modern medicine is amazing.

Now then.
In recent years, cancer is a disease that affects people of all ages and genders.
There are many celebrities and YouTubers who have come out about their diagnoses, aren't there?

It's the same here.
There are as many patients here as there are at a shopping center in the middle of the week.
There are people accompanying them, but every patient here is either battling cancer or here for tests due to a suspected case.

I imagine everyone here thought, "It couldn't happen to me."
Yet, they all ended up coming in for a consultation.

To all of you healthy people reading this.

Please make sure to get your health checkups so that you don't end up saying, "It couldn't happen to me."
And if you feel like something is wrong, please go see a doctor.
It might not catch everything,
but if you ever do encounter that "It couldn't happen to me" moment, I think you will have fewer regrets.

By the way, for me, the feeling of "It finally happened" was stronger than "It couldn't happen to me."

I'll save that story for another day.