Episode Transcript
[00:00:12] Hello, I'm Skip Pogue and I'd like to welcome you to Imagine the Possibilities.
[00:00:19] There are moments in life when time just stops.
[00:00:25] When a few simple words change everything you thought you knew.
[00:00:31] For me, those words were, you have cancer.
[00:00:37] If you've ever heard words like that.
[00:00:40] The kind of words that just suck all the air out of the room.
[00:00:45] Cause every emotion that you have to hit you all at once.
[00:00:51] If you haven't had that experience, I want to tell you a little bit about it.
[00:00:59] Your head races, your heart tightens.
[00:01:03] And your soul just tries to understand what's happening.
[00:01:09] My wife and I sat across the desk from our doctor.
[00:01:12] When he told us that, we didn't say much.
[00:01:17] We just looked at each other and cried.
[00:01:24] For me, in that moment, logic disappeared, plans disappeared. And all that was left was reality.
[00:01:35] Those words turned every emotion I had. Fear, confusion, hope, love.
[00:01:41] They were all fighting for space inside my head and inside my heart.
[00:01:47] When we left the office that day, my head went into overdrive.
[00:01:52] I wanted to know everything.
[00:01:55] Everything about prostate cancer. Every option, every risk, every outcome.
[00:02:02] But sometimes the head isn't where peace begins.
[00:02:07] The doctor scheduled a follow up for the next week.
[00:02:10] He wanted us to think about what we wanted to do next.
[00:02:15] And I did what I figured anyone else would do.
[00:02:21] I got on the Internet.
[00:02:23] I started reading everything I could find. No filter, no plan. I just wanted information.
[00:02:31] Now, I didn't know what was true. I didn't know what wasn't true.
[00:02:36] I didn't know the good or the bad.
[00:02:39] Whatever popped up, I read it.
[00:02:43] Looking back, I wasn't really searching for facts. I was searching for some sense of control.
[00:02:52] When we went back for the follow up, the first thing my doctor asked was, so have you scared the hell out of yourself yet?
[00:03:01] I'm pretty sure you've been reading all that stuff you could find on Internet.
[00:03:07] I answered him simply. I said yes.
[00:03:11] He handed me a book and said, read this before you go back on the Internet.
[00:03:17] Now, that simple act, that bit of wisdom on his part, was the first time I realized that not everything the head chases is what the heart needs.
[00:03:30] After that second appointment, my head was still racing.
[00:03:34] But now it was filled with facts and statistics and fear.
[00:03:40] But when we got home, my wife did something that stopped all that noise.
[00:03:45] She prayed.
[00:03:47] She didn't ask why.
[00:03:49] She didn't ask for some guarantee.
[00:03:51] She just talked to God like she always does. With honesty, faith and love.
[00:03:58] It wasn't a long prayer.
[00:04:00] It wasn't fancy, but it was real.
[00:04:04] And as she prayed, I Felt something shift inside of me.
[00:04:10] Up to that point, my head had been running the show, trying to fix, solve, understand, whatever it come up with.
[00:04:19] But her prayer reminded me that some things aren't meant to be figured out.
[00:04:25] They are simply meant to be felt.
[00:04:29] That night, when the house got quiet, I had my own conversation with God.
[00:04:35] I didn't plead with him. I didn't offer to bargain something with him.
[00:04:40] I just listened.
[00:04:43] And in that stillness, I heard it. Not loud, but deep in my soul.
[00:04:51] It's going to be okay now. The peace didn't erase the fear, but it gave me something stronger.
[00:05:01] Faith.
[00:05:05] Over the next few days, my wife and I had sat down I don't know how many times, and talked about what to do next.
[00:05:13] We both prayed, thought about it, and then we came to the same conclusion. With God's guidance, it was time to do something. It was time to take action.
[00:05:26] When we walked back in the doctor's office, I told him, I want the cancer out and I want it out now.
[00:05:37] He kind of smiled, and I suspected he already knew what my answer was going to be.
[00:05:43] Sometimes faith isn't just about waiting.
[00:05:47] Sometimes it's about moving forward with courage and trust that God will walk beside us.
[00:05:54] That decision, made with my wife, God, and my doctor, was the real first step toward healing.
[00:06:05] From that point on, I began to see how God was working.
[00:06:09] Not just through prayer, but through people.
[00:06:12] Through hands that healed, words that comforted, and hearts that truly cared.
[00:06:20] Something changed in me.
[00:06:22] I didn't have all the answers, and I still had fear. I still had questions. But underneath it all, I had peace.
[00:06:31] In looking back, I can see God's hand in every step of my journey.
[00:06:38] He placed the right doctors in my path. People who not only knew how to treat my body, but how to care for my spirit.
[00:06:47] The nurses offered encouragement. The technicians just smiled.
[00:06:53] The friends that checked in. Every one of them felt like a part of a bigger plan than I could see at the time.
[00:07:02] At the time, I called it good fortune.
[00:07:05] But now I know better.
[00:07:07] That wasn't luck.
[00:07:09] That was grace.
[00:07:12] Sometimes God doesn't change the path we walk.
[00:07:16] He just walks it with us. He places people along the way to remind us that we're not alone now. It wasn't always easy.
[00:07:26] There were days of worry, of waiting and wondering what came next.
[00:07:30] But through it all, there was this steady sense that I was being guided not just toward healing, but toward understanding.
[00:07:43] When I finally reached that point where I could look back, I realized something.
[00:07:48] Healing isn't just physical. It is spiritual.
[00:07:53] It's the soul learning to rest in the assurance that we're loved, guided, and never abandoned that brings me to where I am today, 18 years later, still standing, still grateful, and still learning from that gentle whisper that said, it's going to be okay.
[00:08:17] Eventually, the day came for surgery.
[00:08:20] It was a procedure that was going to be done by two doctors and using what's called a da Vinci robot.
[00:08:28] Now, the name may sound like a machine doing all the work, but it's really just a tool.
[00:08:35] It's guided by the surgeon's skilled hands.
[00:08:39] I remember laying there before surgery, thinking about how far we'd come from those first words, you have cancer, to this moment of trust.
[00:08:53] I prayed, my wife prayed, and we both believed that God had placed the right people in the right place at the right time.
[00:09:03] That day, I trusted two surgeons, but I also trusted the one guiding them for me. It's amazing how God can use the minds of doctors, the precision of technology, and the power of prayer altogether for good.
[00:09:23] When I woke up, I didn't just feel relief. I felt gratitude.
[00:09:29] Gratitude for the skill of those surgeons, for the nurses who cared for me, and for the quiet assurance that I wasn't alone in that operating room.
[00:09:40] There came a point where my faith was tested.
[00:09:45] After the surgery, my doctor came in my hospital room. He smiled and said, everything went fine. You did great.
[00:09:55] Everything worked just the way it's supposed to.
[00:09:59] Except we didn't get all the cancer.
[00:10:05] It seems that the margins of the tissue they removed tested positive for cancer.
[00:10:11] They weren't supposed to.
[00:10:13] It wasn't what I wanted to hear.
[00:10:16] My head wanted to take over again. It was filled with questions. What now? What's next?
[00:10:22] But somewhere deep inside my heart and soul had already learned something that fear doesn't have the final word.
[00:10:32] I remember I said to myself, okay, then, this isn't the end of the story.
[00:10:38] Because if God has brought me this far, he wasn't about to stop now.
[00:10:45] My wife and I prayed again, talked again, and decided we'd face whatever came next the same way we'd faced everything else, together and with faith.
[00:10:58] After I healed from the surgery, the next step was to see another doctor, a radiation specialist.
[00:11:07] She explained to me that even though most of the cancer was gone, there were still traces left behind.
[00:11:15] So her plan was simple. 39 radiation treatments.
[00:11:21] Every morning, I showed up. Same time, same faces, same quiet waiting room.
[00:11:28] Before every treatment, I took a breath and reminded myself that God was still with me in that room, in that machine, and in the heart and hands of These remarkable doctors that were guiding my care.
[00:11:44] Some days were easier than others. Some days I was tired.
[00:11:49] Some days I just wanted it be over. But every day, I walked in with gratitude. For the doctor, for the team that worked beside her, for the strength to keep going, and for one more chance to live one more Day.
[00:12:07] After 39 treatments were finished, the moment of truth finally came. The first PSA test.
[00:12:15] When the results came back, my PSA was 50.
[00:12:20] Now, that number might not mean much to everybody, but to me, it meant hope.
[00:12:28] After months of surgery, healing, and radiation, seeing that number felt like a victory.
[00:12:34] Not just over the cancer, but over fear.
[00:12:39] Now my doctor told me to have my PSA checked every six months.
[00:12:44] For years after those radiation treatments, I kept doing my PSA test every six months, just like the doctor told me.
[00:12:53] Then one day, it changed. It went up.
[00:12:57] Not a lot, just 1/10 of 1%.
[00:13:02] Over the next few years, it kept creeping up.
[00:13:07] We had moved, and I had a new doctor, a really good doctor who understood where I've been and where I wanted to go.
[00:13:18] My PSA numbers kept going up and up, and when the time was right, he started me on hormonal therapy.
[00:13:29] Every six months, I headed in for a shot. And yes, it goes right in the.
[00:13:36] Just think, Forrest Gump.
[00:13:39] I've been doing these shots for a while now, and I plan to keep doing them till I'm 125 years old or God calls me home, whichever comes first, every appointment I have is truly a reminder that I'm still here, still breathing, still laughing, and still grateful.
[00:14:02] It's been 18 years since I heard those words.
[00:14:05] You have cancer.
[00:14:07] 18 years of prayers, appointments, surgeries, treatments, and even a few Forrest Gump moments.
[00:14:15] But more than anything, it's been 18 years of grace.
[00:14:21] Somewhere along the way, I realized something.
[00:14:24] No matter the problem, no matter the challenge, through faith, you learn the one thing you need to do is enjoy the path you're walking.
[00:14:34] Enjoy life to the fullest.
[00:14:37] For a while, cancer was always in the back of my mind. I'd start thinking about it a month before my shot.
[00:14:44] Then that became two weeks.
[00:14:47] And after a few more hormonal treatments, which were working, I noticed something shift.
[00:14:56] If it weren't for my calendar reminding me of the appointment, I probably wouldn't even have thought about it.
[00:15:03] That's when I knew I wasn't living with cancer anymore.
[00:15:09] I was just living.
[00:15:13] Cancer taught me that healing isn't always about being cured.
[00:15:18] Sometimes it's simply about being content with your life.
[00:15:24] It reminded me that strength doesn't always roar.
[00:15:29] Sometimes it whispers, keep going.
[00:15:33] And it proved to me that faith doesn't erase the hard things. It gives a meaning.
[00:15:39] But that's all.
[00:15:42] So today, as I look back, I'm not defined by those three words, you have cancer.
[00:15:49] I'm defined by the 18 years that followed. Years filled with love, with family dinners, birthdays, Christmases, watching eagles fly, sunrises and sunsets, and all the things God has surrounded us with for our enjoyment.
[00:16:05] Years filled with faith, healing and gratitude.
[00:16:11] I just want to tell you that if you're faced with something like that, let God walk beside you.
[00:16:19] Let him help you through it, because he will be positive.
[00:16:26] Even when I got the doldrums, I guess is a good word. Even when I was a little down, it didn't take much for me to get back up because I knew through faith that things were going to get better, that everything was going to be okay.
[00:16:46] If you're going through something similar or you just want to drop me a line, make a comment or something, feel free to do so.
[00:16:54] My email address is imaginethepossibilities.lifemail.com I wish you much success.
[00:17:06] Remember that your future belongs to you.
[00:17:10] Stay humble, be kind, love unconditionally, and laugh often.
[00:17:17] I hope you have a super day and I pray that God blesses you in a super way.
[00:17:25] Thanks again and God bless.
