§ Gaining strength through the pain of others.
I look around myself in the context of getting cancer and I have a lot of experience to draw from. My father who survived prostate cancer and currently suffers early stages of Parkinson’s disease. My friend Alex who still fights colon cancer. My friend Geoff who had testicular cancer and endured an RPLND (do not want!). The girl in the oncology ward who was there before I showed up and still there when I left.
All people who have it worse than me. All people who are getting through it. Some with better fates than others, but of those that I have contact with—I didn’t talk with the young woman at the oncology ward—there’s no sign of faltering. Just a resolve to do what’s necessary to get through.
There’s only one path as far as I see it. Giving up, running away, or ignoring it was never an option. And if these fine folks are getting through it with nary a sign of self pity I know that all I have to do is follow the regimen and stay healthy.
I can’t even say I have to fight. I need to follow. Let the experience of my family and friends guide me along with the expertise of the doctors and nurses as my disposal. This isn’t heroism. Its determination to just make it from one end of the regimen to the other. I think I can do that.
My survival rests on me having the resolve to get my ass out of bed in the morning, let these people do their jobs, and trying not to whimper too much along the way.
Tagged as: cancer experience friends strength
