Thursday, November 6, 2014

[there's no point in being mad at cancer for being cancer]

Timothy Spall was on Graham Norton's show talking about how back in 1996, doctors gave him 3 days to live. With all due respect, if doctors told me that I had 3 days to live, I would say "I'd like a second opinion". Turns out that he had leukaemia. 3 days went by and he was still around.

He said that it made him very philosophical, which I think happens a LOT when you're faced with a life-threatening illness. It struck a chord with me, because I am a 12-year cancer survivor. I probably had a lot less challenges than some, but in other ways(certain parts of my recovery were less than perfect),I really did. With hindsight, you realise that those were life experiences  were important.

With me,(at first)I didn't like the constant doctor's visits, having to get poked and prodded to find out what was going on.But after a few times of it,I was-for lack of a better word-blase about it. Which came in handy when I found out I was diabetic-that also involved a lot of doctor's visits and poking and prodding.

Anyways, when I hear stories like Timothy Spall's, I can relate, for sure. The subject line for this entry is from an episode of Hannibal where a character is talking about having cancer. It's so damn true that it hurts. Later on in the episode Hannibal says "You will feel fine,up until the precise moment you don't". With me, I had some symptoms, but felt fine otherwise. Fortunately,my cancer was caught early, I got surgery, and that was the end of it.

We're so much more fortunate now, I think. Early detection and going to the doctor are what saved my life.

 Cancers that used to kill a lot of people get caught earlier because of screenings and awareness.I know that was the case recently, with a family member.

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