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Where I’ve Been
My year of cancer treatment
It was a year ago in June that I felt a lump under my right arm. It was twenty years ago that my mother died of breast cancer. So I took immediate action and went to my doctor.
After ultrasounds and mammograms, it was confirmed that I had cancerous lesions in both breasts and in the lymph node under my right arm.
I am so thankful to be living in a country where health care is reasonable and efficient. I got appointments as soon as I needed them and the costs were a fraction of what I would have paid if I was still in the US.
My attitude towards cancer
Through all this I never thought of myself as having a disease, or that I was facing a battle. I’m not an aggressive person, so I don’t think in terms of fighting or defeating. All the literature about anger and visualizing a battle were lost on me. I learned long ago that generating anger to accomplish a task just left me feeling drained. It was a metaphor that never worked for me.
When my mother was diagnosed, cancer became part of her identity. She’d cheerfully introduce herself saying Hi, I’m Marie. I’m a cancer patient. It seemed odd to me. Before anyone had a chance to get to know her as a person, she had introduced herself as a medical condition. It also pretty much…
