Just Some Observations

[Hopeful]

I had my Herceptin treatment today; the treatment rooms were all full. I saw some familiar faces, that I see routinely on my three weekly visits. One gentleman has brain cancer; he moved across country (USA) about five months ago, and was diagnosed shortly thereafter. His wife always comes with him; I take him to be about 60 years old, more or less. They seem very likeable, positive people. His wife told me her sister is a bc survivor, who managed fine with bc but was later diagnosed with colon cancer and is now battling that disease. There is also the very warm woman with lukemia, whose husband is a minister in a local church, who comes with her to all her treatments. They both laugh and joke with everyone.

This time, I was seated next to a woman about my age (early 50's), accompanied by her husband. She was very quiet. The onc nurses tried to talk to her and draw her out. She has pancreatic cancer. She has been told that fever is a bad sign, and she is so afraid, she has been taking her temperature every 20 minutes for the last four months! The nurses tried to joke her out of it; they all came and talked to her for over an hour, trying to make her see that her fear was robbing her of the quality of life that she can still enjoy. She eventually laughed, and quite a bit, her husband said more than she had in several months.

Back when I was receiving radiation, the other patients in my appointment group had a wide variety of dire illnesses with not very favorable prognosis: a nice man who had brain cancer, with a nice wife and two small children, a young man with esophogeal cancer, a woman with squamous cancer in her sinuses who was very fair, and dehydrated terribly with her radiation treatments, to the point where she had to be hospitalized to finish, and a man my age with eye cancer. They were all very positive and had a great outlook on life.

I have learned alot about the human spirit since this diagnosis last year. I also look at many of these brave people, and feel that, even with Her2+ bc, they have a much harder road to hoe than I do. I read so many posts on this board of people who are later stage than I am, full of fight and taking on life. I admire everyone and find inspiration in them.

This post isn't appropo of anything except that this has been on my mind, and I wanted to share my thoughts. Thanks for listening.

Hopeful