More Words

Yesterday on Facebook, CINJ posted a link to the NY Times Well Blog entry "With Cancer , Let's Face It Words are Inadequate" by Dana Jennings, an editor who is post prostate cancer.

I read it with interest. When I got to the end I felt that reading Dana Jennings' entry was like listening to the women in the different support groups I attend talking about WORDS they use to describe themselves and WORDS they heard - good and bad. Even when you limit the discussion to patients who experienced Gynecological Cancer patients there is still a wide range of opinion on what words we use. One word is not better than another they are just that - different. And differing opinions makes life interesting.

For the record:

• I had one of those not so good cancers.Right now I am disease free.
  
• I am on a cancer Journey. It is with me for life. Sometimes the fun of life gets rained out like a baseball game but most of the time the journey is like a football game - played in all kinds of weather.
• I do not think of myself as a victim or unlucky. I did not do anything to cause this cancer the genes in my cells went ( in unscientific terms) a little nuts. Back in 2005 I was sad that I had cancer. Now I accept cancer as part of my life.
• I do not think of myself as brave or a fighter. I've done what I had to do to live- surgery , chemo (9) and two and a half years later- surgery and chemo( 6) again. I lost my hair and was tired and my toes and fingers still tingle and I have trouble remembering names of things but if I recur I will do what I need to do all over again.
• I have been told on occasion " You have such a positive attitude". Ask my family and very close friends and they will tell you the negative does slip in there.
• I am a survivor- I have experienced something that other people have not. NCI studies have shown that 30% of the people who live the cancer experience may exhibit post traumatic stress syndrome just like others who have experienced highly stressful and life-threatening situations. So I am a survivor!

I will continue to LiveSTRONG.

Dee
Every Day is a Blessing!