9 Things Most Cancer Patients Wish They Were Told - Pt. 1

Sometimes I stop and think about all the changes that my grandparents have seen in their lifetimes.  I mean - they couldn't even fathom the internet, and even for me it seems so long ago that we had to wait for the paper to arrive in order to look up movie times back when I was a kid.  But things change fast - especially these days.  One reminder of that for me is the wealth of on-line support for cancer patients these days.  When I was diagnosed 10 years ago, my ill-advised internet searches turned up little more than horror stories posted on message boards that few people had ever heard of.

(I hope you heard that in an "I had to walk up hill to school both ways" voice,

because I totally wrote it with that voice in my head.)

One of the groups that I love for their spirit and enthusiasm is Fxck Cancer.  You can find them here, telling cancer on the daily just where it can stick its threats.

They kind of rock.

In the last month they have been running a series through Instagram and Twitter on called "9 Things Most Cancer Patients Wish They Were Told After Being Diagnosed".  I've enjoyed following it and reflecting on their thoughts.  I thought I would repost them here for all of you, with a few notes from me on my experience.  1-5 are here today.  Ill bring you 6-9 later in the month.

My relationships definitely changed after my diagnosis.  Most for the better.  I was amazed by some of the people who I had not been close to before my diagnosis who reached out and supported me in ways I couldnt have imagined.  And there were people who were already close to me who stepped up in crazy amazing ways.

Oh dear, how true this is.  Particularly the part about losing your old self and never being the same again.  This is a post of its own.  Because its really that true.

Yes.  I didn't want to give into the fear for a long time.  But when Dr. Ginder had to tell me the chemo wasn't working as we hoped and that I needed extra rounds, I finally broke down and cried.  Know what else?  The fear doesn't go away.  I see Dr. Ginder next week and I'm already nervous.  And thats 10 years later. 

A lot of my friends didnt tell me they were scared until all was said and done.  I think just as there are things about surviving cancer that they will never understand, there are things about what it was like for them that I will never understand.  We experienced the same world in two very different - equally difficult - ways. 

While I never let myself believe that cancer would kill me, I learned quickly at 23 what mortality is.  Its changed the way I live my life.  The way I think.  The way I act.  The choices I make.  Its given me a love of life I never had before I had to look that reality in the face.  I am mortal.  Tomorrow isnt guaranteed.

Cancer gets a well-deserved bad rap, but as I've said before, its got its positives too.  From each of these five truths I have taken life-changing notions that have placed me where I am today.  And for that, I would have to tell cancer "thank you".

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And don't forget to come say hi to me tonight at Ellwood Thompson as Yoga Source graces us with a yoga class to benefit the Massey Challenge!  Get centered and do good tonight at 7pm.  See you there!