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ammebarb · 12-19-2009, 11:04 AM

Hi MJo. My breast cancer was 26 years ago--They didn't test for HER2 then, but I'm guessing I'm negative. Anyway, I know exactly what kind of enhanced perspective a cancer diagnosis can give and how much we all wish we could hang onto the best parts of that perspective.....but inevitably, stresses and woes, worries and struggles happen and it is all too easy to slip back into the old perspective. For me, a worrier by nature, I figure the best I can do is "snap" backwards, at least momentarily and claim the special understanding I had right after my cancer diagnosis. I've found that I can't stay there, as it's almost too intense or poignant (for want of a better word), but it makes me realize the blessings of the moment and the insignificance of some of the worries....and I'm grateful. Knowing that your survival is a gift is a good way to come back to that better perspective about what is important and what isn't. Our every experience makes us who we are, and it's especially true of the cancer experience. I'd never have chosen to have this disease, but it does give me profound gratitude for the "now". You'll get beyond this!

Warm hugs,
Barb A.

12-19-2009, 11:04 AM	#3
ammebarb Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 508	Re: Kvetching Hi MJo. My breast cancer was 26 years ago--They didn't test for HER2 then, but I'm guessing I'm negative. Anyway, I know exactly what kind of enhanced perspective a cancer diagnosis can give and how much we all wish we could hang onto the best parts of that perspective.....but inevitably, stresses and woes, worries and struggles happen and it is all too easy to slip back into the old perspective. For me, a worrier by nature, I figure the best I can do is "snap" backwards, at least momentarily and claim the special understanding I had right after my cancer diagnosis. I've found that I can't stay there, as it's almost too intense or poignant (for want of a better word), but it makes me realize the blessings of the moment and the insignificance of some of the worries....and I'm grateful. Knowing that your survival is a gift is a good way to come back to that better perspective about what is important and what isn't. Our every experience makes us who we are, and it's especially true of the cancer experience. I'd never have chosen to have this disease, but it does give me profound gratitude for the "now". You'll get beyond this! Warm hugs, Barb A.