In the long trajectory of “Living with Cancer” there are so many twists and turns, ups and downs, surprises and disappointments, laughter and tears, stress and joy, unexpected good news, discouraging test results – it’s like being swept up with the ever changing clouds and changes in weather. We move along and don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Everything keeps changing.
Cancer patients are part of a very special underground network in the medical community: we frequent the clinics for blood draws, we are on the elevators, in the corridors, walking the grounds of the hospitals, sitting in the waiting rooms waiting for our scans, contrasts, radioactive glucose, chemotherapy, radiation, trying to find a parking spot.
Just when our lives with cancer seem so boring and only filled with medical appointments, things can change in an instant. We can make a new friend after seeing each other in the waiting room, exchange a warm encouraging hug, receive a “God bless you” and big smile from another patient or a staff member, receive an invitation to go to lunch. And when these things happen, IT’S A GAME CHANGER. Suddenly life is not so bad. Our moods and hearts are buoyed up. Life becomes exciting and unpredictable in a good way. We look forward to what tomorrow might bring.
Cancer patients notice each other’s battle wounds and give each other a silent nod. We look into the other’s eyes and see a pool of emotion and shared experiences. Somehow that acknowledgment makes us feel less isolated, less alone, more understood. We have a shared “knowing.”
We are a “band of brothers and sisters” not unlike veterans of wars. We have been in the trenches and the fox holes; we are in the hospital beds; we walk or move with our scars and changed bodies.
But you know what? We are a motley crew of courageous and inspiring individuals.
What makes the journey worthwhile is the HUMAN CONNECTION with fellow patients, our doctors and nurses, technicians, the hospital employees, our families. We all want the same thing: to live as long as we can with a high quality of life and loving relationships. We help and inspire each other and shine a light on what “CANCER” looks like.
I send my Love, Prayers, Support and Encouragement to cancer patients and their families around the world.
Keep believing in Your Ability to Heal and Overcome Cancer.
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(Photo Credit: Agi Hirshberg’s Summer Party for Pancreatic Cancer Survivors and Families)
Ode To Cancer Patients and The Cancer Support Community
