In a new interview with Border City Rock Talk, The Dead Daisies’ Doug Aldrich shared a new update on his health.
After his successful throat cancer surgery, he spoke about how he discovered the seriousness of his diagnosis. “Once I met with the oncologist, he said, ‘Hey, this is very treatable. You’re gonna be fine. It’s gonna be a pain in the ass, but it’s very treatable.’ But prior to that — it was about two or three weeks [earlier] when I got the news that it was cancerous, it was definitely cancer — I didn’t know what kind of cancer [it was] and how advanced it was. That’s the scary part, because, man, I was, like… It was just a nerve-racking situation because I’ve got kids. I’ve lived a great life, I’m super blessed and lucky, and if it’s my time, I’ll go, but I don’t wanna leave yet because I’ve gotta help my kids get through life a little bit.”
“It was definitely a setback mentally,” Aldrich continued. “And I just had to kind of go, ‘Look, I’m gonna leave it in God’s hands and just whatever it is, it is, and I’ll just deal with it my best I can.’ And then the doctor said it was very treatable and it would be a pain in the ass. It would be a surgery and also radiation. And I thought, ‘Okay, the surgery is the worst part of it,’ but actually radiation is [the worst]… Fortunately, I didn’t have to have chemo, so that was good. They took out my tonsil where it was, and then they took out a bunch of lymph nodes right here. And the scar is pretty good, actually.”
Earlier this month, the guitarist revealed whether or not he was cancer-free. “I don’t know if I’m clear. I guess it takes five or seven years before you’re actually clear, but the doctors — the surgery was really good. Everything was positive, and they fried me really good for six weeks, so I’m pretty sure everything else that was left over is gone. But I got some blood work done last week. We’ll see what that says. And then I’ve got to get a PET scan, and that’s a full body scan again to determine if everything’s good.”
Aldrich had to miss the band’s recent European tour due to surgery. Meanwhile, Reb Beach stepped in as his temporary replacement. The rocker will hit the road next month.
