There’s No “I” in Team

In January I was diagnosed with throat cancer. That came as a surprise for a couple reasons. I didn’t have any symptoms. I hadn’t chewed Copenhagen for 25 years. And I hadn’t had a drink in 10 years.

And then I found out it was caused by HPV.

HPV is transmitted sexually. Somewhere between 80 and 85 percent of people have it. Fortunately there is a vaccine for it now (that wasn’t available when I was a teenager).

This magnificent beast is an HPV molecule. It looks like an exotic fruit from Hawaii.

Interestingly HPV can reside in you for decades before causing problems.

HPV causes cervical cancer in women. And it can cause throat cancer in men and women. But mostly men end up with throat cancer.

In February and March I had radiation (35 treatments) and chemotherapy (3 infusions). All the doctors told me that radiation was pretty brutal. I naively thought that it was probably brutal for most people but wouldn’t really be that bad. I was wrong.

I couldn’t eat, drink or really speak for about three weeks. It felt like my body was consuming itself. I lost 50 pounds.

Fortunately, everything was running normally at the office. Why? Because we work as a team and have redundancy built into all or systems and the way we handle cases. It was and remains super-important to me that if one of us has an unexpected health issue it has zero effect on the efficiency with which we handle cases and the results we achieve.

At Myers & Company we take a team approach to handling cases. It provides continuity. And honors the expression: None of us are as smart as all of us.

I’ve bounced back. But have a whole new appreciation for how horrible it’s possible to feel.