Breathing is important when you’re living in cancer world.

I know that sounds crazy, but there are days when breathing is interrupted.  Those are the days when you find yourself sitting in an exam room waiting for the door to open.  The doctor walks in, and in an instant, you try to read what’s in his eyes.  Is he smiling? Is he nervous? Is there small talk ahead of what you really want to hear; what did the scan show?

Nan and her husband just went through this with good results so their breathing returned to normal; inhale and exhale.

I remember those days so well.

I’m reading a small, local neighborhood newspaper today and there’s a column written by a young man and he’s writing about his day with his oncologist.  Same scene; a post scan appointment that didn’t go so well.  His doctor told him the scan has revealed something “fluffy” in his left lung.  It’s not well defined, so the diagnosis is not complete.  It could be a new tumor or it could turn out to be a pneumonia, they just don’t know yet.

So this young man has decided to take the high road with the information and as he said “rationalize it, understand it and ultimately deal with it.”

When he heard the words “You have cancer” his prognosis was 13 months to 2-years.

That was back in 2009, in fact, Friday is the 6th anniversary of hearing those words.

It really is all about the breathing….