In a few days I’ll be 50. It’s a milestone I wasn’t sure I’d see and although it’s almost here it feels a little ethereal and bewildering. I’m one of an incredibly small number of women in my family to make it this far.
I don’t quite understand how I’m still doing OK when all our paths have been so similar. Most petered out at 40-something yet here I am, mostly intact, mostly functional, and mostly able to do the things 50, 40 or 30 year olds can do.
I’m enormously grateful for the extra time cancer care and treatment has offered me, though treatment itself was not a walk in the park. Regaining anything like my former levels of stamina, fitness and overall wellness has proven tougher still but at last this hard, hard, slog is paying off:
– 15kg lighter
– back at “healthy” BMI
– almost as strong / fit as pre-surgery
– auto-immune conditions in check
These are all such tiny things, the kind we take for granted when all is well. They may as well be miracles though because they make such a big difference to me. Time and improved quality of life are the most priceless gifts, and unexpected presents for a birthday I thought I might never achieve. Other women in my family endured extensive cancer treatment too, some even had the same chemo regime, but no-one can explain why I’m here and they’re not.
This is a mystery I’ll never solve and my time, precious as it is, will always be tinged with sadness for those who didn’t make it to the other side of cancer. They wanted, and deserved, another chance too.
It’s taken a lot of soul-searching to reluctantly accept we don’t all reach the other side of cancer treatment. This whole experience, mine and my family members, made me think very deeply about how I spend the ‘extra’ time I never quite thought I’d have. In death there is little I can do for my many loved ones lost far too young to cancer except honour their memory in the most wholehearted way possible. So it seems timely and personally meaningful that surviving cancer helped me chose a new direction in life, one where I can make a difference for others when they might need it most.
I know this won’t be easy but I’m thrilled to have been accepted to train as a nurse. I hope in time I’ll be able to give back some of the care, kindness and compassion that helped heal me enough to truly appreciate the value of life, the importance of choice and the significance of dignity in dying and death.
FEC-THis 