Upon learning about my illness, a friend wrote to me:  "I don't know why, but you were one I thought would never have anything like this."  I never thought I would have anything like this either.  I know where my friend is coming from.  If you have a friend who is five feet eleven inches tall, 205 pounds, active, energetic, and thoroughly enjoying life, you certainly don't think, uh-oh here comes cancer.  Think about your friends and relatives.  Can you look at any one of them and say, "Hey, Walter looks like he's about to have cancer."? Cancer does not have an early warning system.  In my case, once we suspected something was cancerously wrong, it was.  My melanoma of two years ago was just a little smooth lump.  Even the surgeon had his doubts and had the biopsy done twice.  Last November I had a slight discomfort when swallowing which I attributed to a minor cold I had at the time. I enjoyed a great holiday season--mountains of food and rivers of drink.  Three months later I'm getting radiation and chemotherapy.  Perhaps I am taking issue with the current medical position that too many tests like annual physical exams and PSA are unnecessary and too costly.  Undoubtedly some of them are.  But, based on my experience, when there's a valid suspicion of cancer, do the test.  If a CEO and a professional football player are worth tens of millions of dollars, I guess I'm worth a PET scan.