Being a victim is a state of body. Being a survivor is a state of mind.
"A victim fears hair falling out. A survivor knows bald is beautiful.
A victim knows about feeling down. A survivor knows feeling down is okay.
A victim is amazed at all the tears. A survivor never leaves home without Kleenex.
A victim goes to "see" a doctor. A survivor "consults" with his or her physician.
A victim gets caught in despair. A survivor prays a lot.
A victim feels helpless. A survivor says "thanks" with dignity and grace.
A victim enjoys a good laugh. A survivor loves one.
From the moment we are diagnosed, we are victims. We must choose to be survivors."
-Paula Koskey (chicken soup for the surviving soul)I found this a few months back and meant to post it then, I just never got around to it. Tonight seemed as good a time as any.
Dawn and I had a looong talk about how we've been affected by cancer in our lives. We've each lost a grandparent to it, several years ago Dawn lost a good friend to it and we have attended a wake or two of family members of good friends who lost their battle to it. We continue to be astounded by the damage cancer leaves behind.
With this in mind and because of the encouragement many people have given me regarding my writing and the reactions some people have had to our story (many of whom keep saying 'you should write a book') that includes my Insurance guy Bob in an email a few weeks ago...
I'm going to write this story down for all time. I don't know how long it will take to get down but it needs to be done.
And I am going to include in it all the "ugly parts" as I call them because the severity of our situation isn't entirely being represented here. Many personal details are left out of this blog and these details will have to be included if I am going to get the story right.
Ours is a story some people might learn something from, situations exist that many people may not realize have developed, aside from how much emotional, mental and physical damage this disease has caused us to live thru and how much we still have to sort out.
I watch people everyday running around, some trying to keep up, some trying to stay afloat, some living the high life (and they don't realize it), some oblivious to the world they live in and none of them are prepared for the kick in the nuts an unexpected illness can deliver (because I wasn't) add an unrelated job loss to that and things get real interesting, real fast.
We (as screwed up human beings) are too busy to realize how fast life gets away from us and how out of wack our priorities are, sometimes. Until it's almost too late.
But life has a way of waking you up when you're not paying attention.
