Far more than just a story, the narrative told by my fellow prostate patients and me is a myth. A myth, in the sense I'm using the word, is not a false story but rather a peculiarly true one. Here's a definition: a myth is a story that encapsulates, celebrates, and communicates what a community or culture believes about themselves and the world in which they live. In the words of Christopher Vogler (The Writer's Journey), “A myth . . . is a metaphor for a mystery beyond human comprehension. . . . A myth, in this way of thinking, is not an untruth but a way of reaching profound truth.”
According to Vogler, myths, which have been told since the beginnings of speech, typically utilize several archetypical characters and follow a common story pattern.
Many of the archetypes of myth appear in the Proton Story—the Hero (the patient himself) who must go on a quest to secure an invaluable prize (in this case, his health); the Mentor, an old sage who, like Obi Wan Kanobe or Gandalf, guides the Hero on his quest (in the Proton Story James Slater, the founder of Loma Linda's proton program, or maybe Bob Marckini, author of You Can Beat Prostate Cancer); Allies who assist the Hero (here represented by the proton program staff from receptionists to nutritionist to physicians); and, of course, the Shadow who opposes the Hero and sometimes turns out to be a Shapeshifter who is not always who he seems to be (in this Story, the urologist who seems to be an Ally and perhaps even a Mentor to the Hero until proton treatment is mentioned, at which point he becomes the chief villain).
The mythic story line follows typical stages. It begins in the Ordinary World—the pre-diagnosis world of the Patient. Then a Herald, in the form of a PSA and biopsy, issues the Call to Adventure. The Patient/Hero may at first Resist the Call, assuming as I did, that the surgery offered by the one I took to be my Mentor was the only answer to my dilemma. But then, sometimes introduced by an Ally, the true Mentor (Marckini) appears in the form of his book or ProtonBoB.com or even in person or by telephone. The Patient/Hero now Accepts the Quest for the Elixir (Healing With Quality Of Life Preserved) and faces the First Threshold when the Trickster Shadow urologist throws off his Mentor-healer mask and instead opposes the Hero. Defying the Shadow, the Hero then enters Act II of the story—the Quest Proper—as he undergoes treatment, encounters tests and new Allies, and eventually Seizes the Reward of a clean bill of health. Act III sees the Hero on the Road Back, undergoing periodic tests in the form of PSAs which sometimes threaten him momentarily with "PSA bounce." But in the end, he experiences mythic Resurrection—the experience of Health With Quality of Life Preserved and even greater Wholeness in the form of a new understanding of himself and his world. He goes on to Share the Elixir with others who, like he did in that long-ago Ordinary World, receive the diagnosis and the Call.
This is why the stories told by us patients are so similar—not only because that was our experience, but also because we instinctively narrate our story in the ageless form of the Myth of the Hero. In so doing, we give meaning to what might otherwise be just a chaotic sequence of random experiences.
However, there's a very strange variation in the Proton Story. In the typical mythic story—such as the original Star Wars or the Lord of the Rings, to which I alluded earlier—the suspense and excitement grow and grow until the final showdown near the end of Act II. In stark contrast, in the Proton Story, the real excitement peaks at the end of Act I when the Hero crosses the First Threshold and the Shadow is left behind, never to reappear. The quest itself—the treatment program—is so uneventful and conflict free as to be almost boring. In other words, the Proton Story would make a lousy movie; all the excitement would top out before the film was a third of the way finished.
Like all such variations in typical phenomena, this peculiarity in the Proton Story has its own mysteries to reveal, mysteries that hold deep truths. I have some guesses about those truths. I'll talk about them another time.
By the way, The Balloon, to which I have not referred for some time, figures significantly in the Proton Mythos and Cultus. More about that later, too.
Treatment count: 26 down, 19 to go.
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