Funny, I have been easy to anger my whole life. I can get angry in traffic, or impatient with a waiter, etc. or someone who treats me disrespectfully. However since my diagnosis I rarely get angry anymore. I never once asked
" why me?" or got angry that I had been stricken with this cursed disease. If anything, getting sick, and now getting well, has made me more mellow and accepting of people in general.
Has it changed me into a Pollyanna who appreciates every person and every flower and every moment? No, I am still me, but with a different perspective and a lot better understanding of and compassion for human suffering and sickness than I had before.

Someone asked me how I was doing. I replied that I know that I am a lot better because I am back to insulting/teasing people in the elevator at the courthouse again.

I still have my edge, but it is definitely not as jagged as it once was. There are not a lot of good things about getting oral cancer, but the dissipation of anger is one of them.

Danny G.