They say that time flies when you’re having fun. No, I’m not going to try to convince you that having cancer is fun - by any stretch of the imagination. But I will say that over the past 41 months, it has been interesting; and in retrospect passed rather quickly.
Like many other life-altering (and lifestyle altering) diseases, cancer consumes a disproportionate amount of each day. And as is often the case, when afflicting the chronologically advantaged, dealing with a medical/medicine change or a setback can take many more “days” than anticipated to recover and rest. But unlike most other health conditions, cancer never really goes away, never REALLY is cured, never really leaves you alone. Not unlike the sword of Damocles, it hangs over your head - particularly in the case of Multiple Myeloma which is still brewing and bubbling inside of me, as my Onc team and their finely-tuned maintenance regimen seek to hold back the advancing enemy lines.
As I'm sure you can predict, I'm going to spout some blather about how it is within us (patients, caregivers and supporters) to not let this actuality turn into a sentence - as it settles in over the months/years. Trite as it sounds - and to borrow a phrase from another challenging disease whose relentless grip never lets go - you really do have to just take it one day at a time. That's more than just a pithy pillow proverb, it acknowledges that there are certain things which are scientifically out of our control, and yet philosophically we CAN take control of the moment and survive, as we inch toward resolution or at minimum: respite.
You can probably see where I am headed with this: an hour becomes a day, a day becomes a week, a week becomes a month, a month becomes a year, and voila. Here we are 191 posts later - with plans for as many ahead as behind.
