Two months since I found out about the cancer in my body, I try to enforce a change in my lifestyle.
Nothing swiftly radical: just a change of pace, actually a slow-down in the work place, less crowds, more quiet time, more veggies in each meal, fruits each day, Zumba even right after the once-a-week chemo treatment, and the hardest part, learning to avoid stress and trying to sleep before midnight.
A few well-meaning friends are warmer now, sending me prayers, fruits, and positive vibes.
Some close family members call and show up more often.
My own staff struggle to work better, to avoid causing me undue stress.
Acquaintances at my Clients' workplaces are sympathetic when they learn of my condition or
take notice of the headband I wear to cover my baldness.
Neighbours, even strangers I meet on the road and in the clinics and a few public places look kindly.
I feel blessed for the tireless support of my Beloved who has even become more affectionate since the cancer set in. She patiently accompanies me in the weekly blood works and the 6-hour chemo session each week, and on top of these, has to go through what could be an ordeal of listening to a litany of my reads, discoveries, and complaints as I cope with the mild side effects of the ongoing treatment.
The handful of well-trained nurses and caring staff under Surgeon-Onco Dr. Romeo Diaz of the Springfield Breast Care Center in SMX are like family now. Friends and colleagues from long ago suddenly make their presence felt and friends of friends reach out with words of Faith and courage.
I thank God for all the support, as I go through the changes in my lifestyle, and in the way I feel about the reality of a Stage 3B cancer in my body, and the "85% recurrence rate as Stage 4"
(a new reality that I have to put on a watch forever starting on the third month after what I am hoping will just have to be a partial mastectomy.)
But there is One Reality I realise will never change.
I refer to them as an Odd Couple, not to mean oddness for strange, but odd for being different and totally separate from the support system described above. Before any of this life-changing experience happened, I had felt they never really accepted me despite my many efforts to reach out in both subtle and open ways.
I refer to them as an Odd Couple, not to mean oddness for strange, but odd for being different and totally separate from the support system described above. Before any of this life-changing experience happened, I had felt they never really accepted me despite my many efforts to reach out in both subtle and open ways.
I struggle not to get hurt each time I am in the same place with the Odd Couple, a situation that couldn't be avoided. For the longest time, I had been hoping to cultivate at least a friendship, and I had thought my new situation with a fatal disease could become an opening.
I hoped that perhaps they can become compassionate out of pity for someone who has cancer, or be gentler out of plain courtesy to an almost-elderly, or just kinder to someone who will live "no more than five years".
I was wrong in thinking that things between us would change once they learn of my condition.
Every day, I pray for The Miracle of Healing. Heal my body of the disease, and Heal my Soul of the hurt. This is the cross I carry each day, the One Reality I have to learn to accept so I can laugh inside a little more.
I hoped that perhaps they can become compassionate out of pity for someone who has cancer, or be gentler out of plain courtesy to an almost-elderly, or just kinder to someone who will live "no more than five years".
I was wrong in thinking that things between us would change once they learn of my condition.
Every day, I pray for The Miracle of Healing. Heal my body of the disease, and Heal my Soul of the hurt. This is the cross I carry each day, the One Reality I have to learn to accept so I can laugh inside a little more.
