One of the things with having been through cancer treatment and emerged flabbier but still intact is that you become a bit of a touchstone for other people. People that you don't really know. Friends of friends call a lot and say thing like "My neighbor's daughter has leukemia; would you talk to them?"
You know that they're looking for empathy, advice and most of all hope. You're the embodiment that all might be well after all. Like the 98 year old marathon running grandpa who smoked 60 a day.
I try to listen. And what I usually hear is simplicity. I want to live. I want to have more time with the people that I love. I want to enjoy more.
Of course it takes 6 weeks to turn back into the asshole you always were once cured but that doesn't matter.
I've watched people go through this. I've talked to them as they've had organ after organ hacked away - their bodies like Russia being burned ahead of the enemy. And while I want to be free of it I'm glad that I can help. I've said before that I'm not much of a candle carrier... but the responsibility for hope I can bear.
All of that said am allergy cough and swollen gland has me looking up chemo phone numbers today. The fear it seems takes a greater hold than a cancer ever could
No comments:
Post a Comment