I'm feeling a bit down this week as I've had to switch from
Taxotere to weekly Taxol. So it's a good
time to go back to my challenge - to find genuinely good outcomes that wouldn't
have come about without the Cancer (whilst accepting that Having Cancer Totally
Sucks). I am grateful for things like living in a country with good healthcare
or the fact that they caught it when they did, but these are merely mitigating
factors not good outcomes.
A few weeks ago I did a list of 10 Good Things About Having
Cancer - here are another five.
1. Everyone thinks your amazing
Seriously. Just plaster a smile to your face and crack a few jokes about being bald and everyone will shake their heads and declare that you are just so brave. Am I brave? Of course not! It's not like I have any choice, I've been dealt a crap hand and I just have to get on with living life as best as I can. Yet somehow this brings me close to sainthood status. This is cool. Enjoy.
Seriously. Just plaster a smile to your face and crack a few jokes about being bald and everyone will shake their heads and declare that you are just so brave. Am I brave? Of course not! It's not like I have any choice, I've been dealt a crap hand and I just have to get on with living life as best as I can. Yet somehow this brings me close to sainthood status. This is cool. Enjoy.
2. No nits
The signs have gone up on school warning that those dreaded head lice are creeping through our children's hair again. Usually the mere idea is enough to have me scratching away until my scalp hurts. Not this time. Even if my kids get it, I will be a bald, Nit-Free Zone.
The signs have gone up on school warning that those dreaded head lice are creeping through our children's hair again. Usually the mere idea is enough to have me scratching away until my scalp hurts. Not this time. Even if my kids get it, I will be a bald, Nit-Free Zone.
3. No shaving
I have no hair on my head - nor pretty much anywhere else. Usually as winter approaches I get rather lazy about shaving and end up cultivating a jungle of hair on my legs, which can be toe curlingly embarrassing if they get exposed unexpectedly. Not this year. My legs and under-arms are effortlessly smooth.
I have no hair on my head - nor pretty much anywhere else. Usually as winter approaches I get rather lazy about shaving and end up cultivating a jungle of hair on my legs, which can be toe curlingly embarrassing if they get exposed unexpectedly. Not this year. My legs and under-arms are effortlessly smooth.
4. Expanding your culinary range
My experience has been that people really want to help. Really. So a friend has organised them into a dinner rota and now everyone takes it in turns to cook for me each night for a week after each chemo session. What luxury! And what fabulous dishes. Most of us are guilty of falling into a culinary rut, but this is opening my eyes to a world of alternative supper menus.
My experience has been that people really want to help. Really. So a friend has organised them into a dinner rota and now everyone takes it in turns to cook for me each night for a week after each chemo session. What luxury! And what fabulous dishes. Most of us are guilty of falling into a culinary rut, but this is opening my eyes to a world of alternative supper menus.
5. Guilt free chat sessions
It's so difficult to find proper time to catch up with friends and easy to feel guilty about snatched coffees when really you should be doing laundry/shopping/ironing. But I've taken to inviting people to join me at the hospital while I have my chemo session. Hours of guilt free chatting, it's not like you can be doing much else while hooked up to an IV after all!
It's so difficult to find proper time to catch up with friends and easy to feel guilty about snatched coffees when really you should be doing laundry/shopping/ironing. But I've taken to inviting people to join me at the hospital while I have my chemo session. Hours of guilt free chatting, it's not like you can be doing much else while hooked up to an IV after all!
I have nine sessions of Taxol, radiotherapy and hormone
therapy still ahead so plenty of time to find a few more. Can I get this list to twenty? Suggestions welcome!
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