Episode 1: Finding out at Gen-Con that you have Cancer

For those of that don't know what Gen-Con is, I won't go into a lot of detail other than that it is a 4 day convention where 50,000+ gaming enthusiasts, movie lovers, costume players, and many other assorted stripe of nerds get together to let their nerd flags fly proudly in the air, myself included. I go as often as I can and it's a lot of fun.  If you want to know more about the con, hit up the Google or go to their home page.  You will easily find more than you bargained for.

So: it's the afternoon of the first day of the con and I'm happily playing a game with a table of brand new friends/acquaintances when I get the call from my doctor's office.

They tell me that the biopsy tested positive for carcinoma and that the biopsy did not remove it all. They have no idea how deep or widely spread it is, and refer me to a specialist/surgeon who will be calling me shortly at home to set up the appointment. At this point I'm not feeling the shock yet and my main concern is that I call my wife and she hear it from me rather than from the specialist's receptionist. I call her and ask her to get the appointment as soon as possible when she gets the call.

I sit back down at the table and try to pay attention to the game but my mind is racing and wandering.
I'd cemented my role at the table as the fun and funny guy earlier, but now I'm quiet. Nobody notices because one of my new friends (Nicole) has lost her wallet and everybody (but me) is throwing the lounge to find it. So I sit quietly with my thoughts.

During this time my wife has set up the appointment and texts me the details.  I'm standing reading the details when Nicole and her boyfriend, Mike come over to apologize for losing her composure and bringing down the game.  I feel like I'm on autopilot and tell her that she doesn't need to apologize and that I'm also trying to not lose my composure because my doctor just told me that I have cancer.

They both hugged me and gave me condolences.  I didn't realize how much the news was affecting me until then, because my knees buckled and the two of them having their hands on me kept me from losing my balance entirely.

Here's where serendipity come into play.  Nicole tells me that she is a cancer survivor.  She and Mike spend a few minutes talking me down from my sudden panic.  They quickly escalate from "new friends" to two of my favorite people.  They were exactly the right people at exactly the right place at exactly the right time.