I sometimes am jealous of the people who can experience life peripherally. Things happen, they put them in a box up on the "life shelf" and that is it. I just dive into the deep end and find my way around. I think it is a compulsion for information, and the illusion that it brings safety. Maybe if I find out as much as I can I am better armed and more prepared. sometimes though too much information is not a good thing. In this case - the cancer case, I am still wading through and determining how much is too much. In this case maybe there is never too much information, help or compassion.
At the conference I made it through the first half, still recovering from the hernia surgery. By the time the workshops rolled around I was beat; crying through the survivors stories, scared and overwhelmed with detail from the update from the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting. I was already pretty on top of the topics (some I need work on - maybe the "living beyond"). Click the link above to go to the conference page and see the offering.
In spite of my early departure I am glad I went. I still hate being a part of this club. I am grateful though - the people are extraordinary. The will to live and the priorities in peoples lives are so clear. And the cancer professionals are catching up with the disease. The cures are personal and treatments are being geared in that direction. No two cancers are alike - with each individual being looked at as the whole person with targeted therapies. Unconventional support is becoming mainstream in the ways of "live plant diets", yoga and meditation and even Reiki - all ideas that even just five years ago were marginalized.
I am looking forward to learning to better accept my membership and living with it for a very very long time.
xoxoxo
Jen
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