In about eight hundred days…

The here and now may not be perfect but its an altogether better place than where I was around 800 days ago. Eight hundred sounds like a lot when you add it up in days, but in years it’s less than three. Just a tiny fraction of the longevity most of us hope to achieve in our lifetimes.

Long before my tussle with cancer began I developed a trait that has proven increasingly useful, particularly during the most challenging four hundred of the eight hundred day mountain climb I’ve taken on in the last few years. Though I haven’t consciously cultivated it, and on occasion even considered it problematic, looking back I can see just how helpful it’s been when the world seemed to be coming undone. Some might call it mindfulness or being in the present, others might say its selective amnesia. Whatever it is and however it happens, closing down frightening, painful or just plain bad memories so they no longer invade daily thoughts or conjure negative emotions is something I now consider a blessing. A body marred by the evidence of physical surgery and some serious chemical bombardment doesn’t need to retain a matching set of psychological scars.

As far as I can tell being anchored in the past makes it impossible to live in the present or imagine anything might have the potential to be different in future. Like many others dealing with cancer, my future is far from guaranteed but being permanently bonded to the fear, confusion and isolation that come with a cancer diagnosis isn’t something I want to sustain. Taking the lessons from past experiences is important, constantly reliving them isn’t. Closing the door on negative memories and the emotions that went along with them has helped me remain relatively calm and stable during some very unstable situations.

It’s about two and a half years down the line now and small signs of normality continue to emerge. A visit to the oncologist last week resulted in confirmation that all seems well so from now on we move to annual rather than six-monthly check ups. There are some things that won’t improve or mend – ankles, knees and hearing – but that’s fine, I can get by with them as they are. The same isn’t true of cancer and though I like my oncologist, I like the thought of a year away from him much more. Being able to go out in public without looking like a medical experiment, walking like a very senior citizen (well over 100) or having what appears to be a constant cold are all welcome steps forward too. They’re small steps but that doesn’t matter because they all contribute to renewed invisibility – it’s hard for chemo patients to blend in! – improving agility and a general sense that slowly but surely, health is beginning to return.