Rejoice, rejoice, we have no choice but to carry on.
Stephen Stills
This could be my mantra. I've always been a little disappointed I never got to be a competitive trail and endurance rider, but life compensated me by requiring other types of endurance. The thyroid cancer was a pain in the ass, destroying my attention span and draining my energy every time I had to go hypothyroid for a scan. I had teenagers and certainly could have made use of some brain cells at the time. Before a scan, I'd have to go off of my Synthroid for as long as it took to become depleted of the thyroid hormones. Not chemo awful, but awful enough. A few years down the road, a wonderful drug, Thyrogen came on the market. I could take a giant pill and be artificially thrown into hypothyroidism without the fuss and muss of a lengthy recovery period from the old fashioned method. No more hair stubble or long periods of staring at a wall wondering what it was. It would have been nice if Thyrogen had been available a few years sooner, but it still saved me a lot of brainless months.
Four years ago, a surgeon was amusing herself at my expense, trying to remove a cyst with a robotic device. The last thing she said to me was that I'd be home sleeping in my own bed that night. I found the thought to be very comforting. With the surprise discovery of cancer on one of my ovaries, another round of enduring began. No teenagers to worry about this time, but it was a lot bigger hole to climb out of this time. The next few months were miserable. I endured. My family and friends endured. We all carried on. The queen would be proud of us.
If you're not happy, and not doing something about it, you're making a big mistake. Life can't be entirely about personal gratification, but you can try to achieve some sort of a balance between the business side of life while still attending to your own needs. You never know if or when you'll be blindsided by something requiring endurance. Be prepared to carry on. It's always good advice.
Stephen Stills
This could be my mantra. I've always been a little disappointed I never got to be a competitive trail and endurance rider, but life compensated me by requiring other types of endurance. The thyroid cancer was a pain in the ass, destroying my attention span and draining my energy every time I had to go hypothyroid for a scan. I had teenagers and certainly could have made use of some brain cells at the time. Before a scan, I'd have to go off of my Synthroid for as long as it took to become depleted of the thyroid hormones. Not chemo awful, but awful enough. A few years down the road, a wonderful drug, Thyrogen came on the market. I could take a giant pill and be artificially thrown into hypothyroidism without the fuss and muss of a lengthy recovery period from the old fashioned method. No more hair stubble or long periods of staring at a wall wondering what it was. It would have been nice if Thyrogen had been available a few years sooner, but it still saved me a lot of brainless months.
Four years ago, a surgeon was amusing herself at my expense, trying to remove a cyst with a robotic device. The last thing she said to me was that I'd be home sleeping in my own bed that night. I found the thought to be very comforting. With the surprise discovery of cancer on one of my ovaries, another round of enduring began. No teenagers to worry about this time, but it was a lot bigger hole to climb out of this time. The next few months were miserable. I endured. My family and friends endured. We all carried on. The queen would be proud of us.
If you're not happy, and not doing something about it, you're making a big mistake. Life can't be entirely about personal gratification, but you can try to achieve some sort of a balance between the business side of life while still attending to your own needs. You never know if or when you'll be blindsided by something requiring endurance. Be prepared to carry on. It's always good advice.
This has nothing to do with the post, but I like the photo.
Thanks for writing about this...so many people I know going through the cancer jungle.
ReplyDeleteIt's a big jungle. Thank goodness for modern medicine, eh?
ReplyDelete