Facing another cancer related surgery tomorrow and I need to to repost this ...

[Dem2theMax]

107. I swear, you and my friend could practically be twins.

The one big difference is that he did smoke. He did quit a number of years ago. His wife did a lot of research once they found out about the cancer. She spoke to a friend who is a nurse in oncology, and one of the things she specifically mentioned was that smoking and bladder cancer are definitely connected.

My dad, and his whole side of the family, they all smoked. They have all passed away, and I sit here wondering what all of that secondhand smoke did to me. My dad quit in his 50s, but I had a good 15 years of being around that smoke all the time. Even when we try to be healthy, we never know what's coming down the road.

I read the whole way through both of the links you provided, and I got quite an education.

I was in high school when the Vietnam war finally wound down. That second link you provided, all of that was absolutely new to me. My jaw dropped a number of times while reading it. It was flabbergasting to read that for every thousand soldiers, half of them went AWOL, amazing. The numbers don't lie in telling one how horrible it had to be over there.

I have to admit that I laughed at the ingenuity the troops were using to get their point across. From sabotage, to sneaking in newspapers full of information, to utterly refusing to take orders, and paying the price for doing so.

Bravery obviously comes in all forms. Thank goodness that so many used that bravery to show us all that that war never should have happened.

I do have to make one silly comment. I have watched Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, at least 20 times. Most recently, last week. And in that movie, the USS Enterprise, the ship, not the spaceship, is docked in Alameda. Because, of course, that is where the 'nuclear wessels' are stationed. Just ask Chekhov.

So I really got a kick out of reading the article you provided, and it mentioned USS Enterprise being docked in Alameda!

And by the way, my friend who is going through the same thing you are, he was in Vietnam as well. I can't remember which branch of the service, but I will find out. He is being treated at the VA in La Jolla, California.