It's scary for any woman to be told they have breast cancer. Having to have a lumpectomy is devastating enough but to lose your breast... that's difficult to comprehend. I was diagnosed with breast cancer and Paget's disease of the nipple, a rare form of cancer and the only solution was to have a mastectomy. Talk about living your fear... it's hard to imagine.
The word mastectomy provokes horror in most women. Before cancer if I was told about someone having to have a mastectomy I would feel a shudder of fear and remorse for the victim. Personally I didn't know anyone who had a mastectomy but relatives and friends knew of some poor soul that this happened to and now my name is on that dreaded list.
Finding the courage and strength to get through this living nightmare has made me stronger than I ever thought possible. Facing the possibility of death, having my breast removed because of cancer, feeling like I was losing part of my femininity... those are big gruesome fears... to live through them makes you stronger, you realize if you could do that then you could do anything.
We are all going to die some day, we all know that. Luckily we aren't privy to the day of our demise... but maybe if we were we'd all live each day like it was our last! Interesting thought isn't it? Now having lived through my fear I am choosing to live life to the fullest. Does it take an extraordinarily difficult crisis to wake us up?
My wakeup call was having breast cancer. Today I look at life as a gift and I try and live each day with gratitude and happiness. Being thankful for everything. I faced my fear and made it through it, that makes me grateful to be alive. I am not saying I would ever want to live through that experience again but I did live through it, it is part of my story now.
Like so many women before me who beat cancer I am a survivor. Living through my fear, the most difficult crisis I could ever imagine happen to me, breast cancer, Paget's disease of the nipple and a mastectomy but I am getting on with living my life. After any crisis there is a choice to be made. To be bitter and angry for having to go through such suffering or choose to be happy and grateful you made it through. I am choosing to be happy and grateful for everything.
The word mastectomy provokes horror in most women. Before cancer if I was told about someone having to have a mastectomy I would feel a shudder of fear and remorse for the victim. Personally I didn't know anyone who had a mastectomy but relatives and friends knew of some poor soul that this happened to and now my name is on that dreaded list.
Finding the courage and strength to get through this living nightmare has made me stronger than I ever thought possible. Facing the possibility of death, having my breast removed because of cancer, feeling like I was losing part of my femininity... those are big gruesome fears... to live through them makes you stronger, you realize if you could do that then you could do anything.
We are all going to die some day, we all know that. Luckily we aren't privy to the day of our demise... but maybe if we were we'd all live each day like it was our last! Interesting thought isn't it? Now having lived through my fear I am choosing to live life to the fullest. Does it take an extraordinarily difficult crisis to wake us up?
My wakeup call was having breast cancer. Today I look at life as a gift and I try and live each day with gratitude and happiness. Being thankful for everything. I faced my fear and made it through it, that makes me grateful to be alive. I am not saying I would ever want to live through that experience again but I did live through it, it is part of my story now.
Like so many women before me who beat cancer I am a survivor. Living through my fear, the most difficult crisis I could ever imagine happen to me, breast cancer, Paget's disease of the nipple and a mastectomy but I am getting on with living my life. After any crisis there is a choice to be made. To be bitter and angry for having to go through such suffering or choose to be happy and grateful you made it through. I am choosing to be happy and grateful for everything.
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