DARRYL: We lived in, what can only be called a hippie
commune.
We were the original hippies, um, but we were the serious hippies.
(SONG: KEEP YOUR HEAD UP HIGH)
DARRYL: So Leslie, my wife, I picked her up hitchhiking.
That’s the short version.
(LAUGH) So Leslie and this other girl were by the side of the road and my bus picked
them up.
LESLIE: We got on that bus, and there was Darryl.
DARRYL: My friend Nicholas and I, we both looked at
each other and uh, this is cool…
And we’re driving along (LAUGH) and pretty soon the two of them are singing, in harmony.
We’ve got a couple of angels here.
And we married ‘em!
(LAUGH) Went looking for a place to buy a farm.
Found a place in Tennessee.
We bought it, moved into the woods and made a life.
And we ultimately ended up doing our own medical care, delivered our own babies, did our own
schools, published our own books, invented stuff, we were a bunch of city slickers and
we did it.
I went in to the dentist for a tooth cleaning.
Tooth cleaning!
They did an X-ray and they saw there was a three-rooted tooth.
Only one was completely in bone.
There was a tooth that’s no longer there, the last tooth, that uncorked the genie.
They found cancer there when they pulled the tooth out.
DR.
MANSFIELD: This is a stage 4 tumor.
It was deeply invading the bone.
It deeply invades the skull base.
DARRYL: Well, one of the things that Dr. Mansfield
established was, we’re no longer trying to deal with a tooth here, we’re trying
to save your life.
DR.
MANSFIELD: Untreated, Darryl wouldn’t survive more
than several months to a year.
The cancer has grown and eaten away all of these holes in the bone.
We have to remove this entire segment in one piece.
LESLIE: When Dr. Mansfield actually showed us how
much they’re going to take this, and this out, we were both like…
DARRYL: They’re going to be carving out huge chunks
of my skull and stuff, and he comes up with this little gizmo that corks it all and makes
it normal!
Even if I were to go into a decline now, be hard to bitch.
I’ve had a great life.
DR.
MANSFIELD: There will be a combination of treatments.
A surgery initially, followed by radiation therapy and chemotherapy.
Two thumbs up…we’ll see you inside.
As a result, we’ll have a much higher success rate in curing the cancer than simply with
surgery alone.
DR.
COREY: You’re the king.
We’re taking care of you.
Everybody in that room is there to take care of you.
You tell us what we need to do.
While that’s happening, blood pressure cuff, ecogram leads, pulsoximeter on your finger.
None of this will hurt.
Then I’m going to give you some very special medicines in your IV.
Whoosh…off to sleep.
Next thing you know – (POPPING SOUND) – awake, finished…I will be with you every second…
okay…relax, if you can.
Let me worry for you.
DARRYL: At 69, I’ve been playing goalie for things
like strokes and heart attacks…and now (LAUGH) broadsided by this cancer…really never occurred
to me.
LESLIE: You’re just going along living your life…and
suddenly, new movie.
DARRYL: Last time I’ll have this much of a smile.
(SONG: KEEP YOUR HEAD UP HIGH)
DR.
MANSFIELD: Lights off.
Let’s go green.
There’s a very nice view of the tumor.
You see a bulge here.
This is a tip of the iceberg where that’s just the beginning of the tumor.
Prepare the saw.
I will actually use a saw to make the incision through the cheekbone into the nose, across
the cheek and into the skull base.
We’re very close to delivering this.
Look how that fractures out.
Just beautiful.
Tumor’s out.
So what we’re doing now is taking samples of the peripheral margins for biopsy.
These tumors could have already spread, and that’s a reality that we
all have to live with.
That we go through this entire process and sometimes down the road we find that there
really was something small…we just couldn’t see it.
And there’s where the tumor was located.
Now there’s a large hole.
We don’t fix that…everything he eats goes out his nose.
All right, let’s get the obturator ready.
So there’s the obturator fitted.
A beautiful fit.
All done.
Went great.
Let me give you a big hug.
He’s great.
He’s fine.
First time you’re seeing him after all this…
LESLIE: Yeah…You made it!
DARRYL: Yeah.
LESLIE: You look like you looked going in.
You look…you’re still handsome!
DR.
MANSFIELD: Two thumbs up?
Two thumbs up.
LESLIE: This is the worst.
And you’re surviving it.
DARRYL: COUNTING – GARBLED
DR.
MANSFIELD: Okay, give that a try.
It’s got to snap in.
You’ve got to feel it.
There you go.
DARRYL: COUNTING TO TEN – CLEAR
DR.
MANSFIELD: Thank God we build those obturators!
DARRYL: Good grief!
I’d be a monster.
DR.
MANSFIELD: Okay, so why don’t we chat a little bit
about the pathology.
Come on, sit over here with your wife if you don’t mind so I can face both of you together.
So one of the most important parts of the surgery is to
decide what type of cancer we were dealing with, how the cancer is behaving.
And today I have really difficult news about the cancer.
And one of the most important questions I need to ask you as we go
through this is a decision whether you want to have the cameras in the background or whether
you want to talk privately first.
DARRYL: Privately first.
DR.
MANSFIELD: Okay.
DARRYL: Uh, it was bad.
A biopsy of the cells was much more aggressive.
They’re in the prime of life, kicking butt.
Mine.
LESLIE: With the operation, you feel like you’ve
come through something really big and you want it to be done.
And then you realize, oh, it’s still here (SMALL LAUGH).
DARRYL: It doesn’t change the treatment.
It doesn’t require further surgery.
Uh…..chemo and radiation were inevitable in any case.
DR.
KOSSMAN: Your drip is about one-third done already.
What we’re going to do is clear any residual microscopic cancer that might be there.
RADIATION TECH: All right.
Ready to start?
DARRYL: I’m not afraid of dying.
The problem with my dying would be the impact on the people left behind, not on me.
My wife would be upset for a while, but she has a dog.
(LAUGH)
RADIATION TECH: You doing okay?
LESLIE: You just want to appreciate and love what
you have.
And get on with it.
Not waste any more time you know, being bummed.
Get on, live our life.
DARRYL: I’m in good spirits.
Because your attitude is optional.
You choose it.
RADIATION TECH: You did awesome.
DARRYL: Look at the resources being expended on this.
I’m 69!
RADIATION TECH: That was your first one!
DARRYL: I feel obligated to do something worthwhile…this
is free time from now on…
DR.
MANSFIELD: So first and foremost, you’re finally finished
your radiation therapy.
Quite a journey.
So where we stand right now, we don’t feel at this point that further treatment is necessary.
DARRYL: Boy, do I ever like hearing that.
DR.
MANSFIELD: So what I’m really sharing with you today
is that you are cancer-free.
We have been able to effect an early cure for your cancer.
DARRYL: You guys did it.
LESLIE: Wow.
Didn’t expect this.
DARRYL: Thank you for getting me through all this.
LESLIE: Just a bump in the road.