You wrote: "what upsets me
is something called cancer was found in my body and I just can't shake
it..."
G.... There is no one here that
doesn't know what that feeling is/was for themselves or a loved one....
How I wish I could give you a pill to swallow that would make it go
away... I wish that I could give one to everyone with cancer and make it
all go away, but I can't and neither can anyone else right now..
So that leaves reality.. One of
the things that we must all learn to do is to let go of the past, afterall it is
over and there is nothing that we can do to change what happened
yesterday.. To live in the present means that we have cancer and showering
won't wash it away and wishing won't take us back to pre-cancer days
either... Acceptance doesn't mean that we have to have a terminal
disease. It simply means that we have cancer. Cancer does not have
to be a death sentence.
I know that none of us were given an opportunity to just say no to cancer,
if so I don't think that any of us would have chosen this for our life. No
amount of wishing will remove the fact that we have/had cancer. So what do
we do now? Well, that is what we all come together for. We realize
that each day that we live, we are a cancering survivor. We share faith,
information, treatments; both conventional and alternative, lifestyles, humor,
advice, smiles and tears.. As we do, we have become friends and when we
are really lucky, we have learned to love eachother.
Love here is given with risk.. just like anyother relationship.
There are no guarantees for our relationships and no guarantee as to how long
each one will last.. All we can guarantee is that we are here today and we
either have/had cancer, or someone we love a whole lot has/had cancer.
Greg Anderson wrote a book called "50 Essential things to Do when the
Doctor says it is cancer", calls it cancering.. Why? because it is a
verb and denotes action... the action that we can all put into living as a
cancering survivor. He calls it the Cancering (verb) Journey. I have
come to believe that is because a journey is an adventure and it is not like
going out to your car and driving to the post office. Instead it is like
getting in your car and leaving your home to travel the country.. We don't
know what each day holds in store for us, but we have learned to embrace the
beauty of the day and look forward to another one.
I truly believe with all of my heart
that everyone who is a member of this forum, has made changes in their lives
since they started on the cancering journey.. I know that I was just like
you and was in a form of shock and just wanted to shake it off and make it go
away. But you have to change that feeling to one of accepting that you
have had cancer and then determining what you can do to be a cancering
survivor.. I believe that everyone here can tell you about something
wonderful that they only discovered after they were on the cancering
journey.
I hope that I have helped you a
little... We are a somewhat like a support group here, but until Ross
started his album..we haven't been able to see eachother and until we are one
day able to meet eachother, we haven't been able to hug one another... My
prayer for you is to be able to start on the cancering journey and understand
that each day you are a cancering survivor... I hope that you will stay
with us and join in with all the wonderful people here and who knows... you may
also opt to go to your local support group... We have to be open to
change....to be open to change is to believe that we can live... May God
bless you... Carla
