We have been different since the words “You have cancer.”
Something inside us shifted when those words were spoken. As a patient, there was an immediate call to arms…how can I control this? How can I fight this? How can, or CAN I beat this? Big changes happened
As a care giver, there was “What do I do now?” “How can I control this?” “Will he/she die from this?”
And then as the days, weeks and months rolled-on, the patient and the care giver took on those new rolls.
I wonder if we realized we were changing each and every day? The disease would do different things and we would too.
By the end of Leroy’s life, I saw the cracks it caused, not just in my heart, but in places that would impact my life forever. My spirit was damaged. My resolve was dented. And he had changed too. He tried to show such great strength over the struggle, but his disease was unrelenting.
Plans shift, goals are re-examined, futures modified.
Cancer; the great changer.
July 4, 2013 @ 8:55 am
Once you get the diagnosis you hit the ground running but the routine of all things related, slowly take over your life and you don’t even realize how it has impacted you. We all know the balancing act of work, family and all of the appointments but they became routine and suddenly it all stopped. We are left to deal with the “what do I do now”. We struggle to find a new normal.