To avoid thinking about Syria, I have decided to think about my cancers.  Both subjects are equally distasteful but the cancer is a bit closer to home.  Just like the Syrian situation, I am waiting to see what’s going to happen with the cancer.  I have my next PET/CT scan in a few weeks so the apprehension and tension sweeping America over whether to invade Syria is also playing out with me inside my neck.  Interestingly, the possibility of “military action” (again) in the Middle East and the invasion of esophageal cancer (again) in my throat have produced for me the same kind of mind games.   In both cases it comes down to the same questions.  We attack Syria or we don’t.  The cancer comes back or it doesn’t. It we do and it does, what happens next?  If we don’t and it doesn’t, what happens next?  Of course, for me the best case scenario is we stay out of Syria and the cancer stays out of me.  But as an optimistic pessimist might say:  Hope for the best but prepare for the worst.  So I am bracing for a new war in the Middle East and the return of the esophageal cancer.  From previous experience in both cases, we know the results can be disastrous.  Our adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan have caused a lot of pain, misery and suffering.  I can say esophageal cancer does the same thing.  So I hope we stay out of Syria and… you finish the thought.