Roll With It

I was sitting in a medical center a few weeks ago, waiting to be called to have blood drawn for laboratory testing, when an older gentleman walked through the waiting area.

He was rolling down his sleeve, freshly picked by the needle himself.

The nurse offered him a few words of encouragement while he was leaving.

He turned around and said, "You know the strange thing is it's not the cancer that causes all the problems. It's the treatments."

Amen.

Well the cancer is what IS causing all the problems. But I knew exactly what he was talking about. The treatments for cancer are certainly harsh.

I have been on chemotherapy virtually continuously for more than two-years now. It's certainly been trying at times. But it does amaze me how the body can change, adapt and adjust.

It has required a total lifestyle adjustment, major changes. But with family and friends help I've somehow been able to keep rolling with the changes and adapting as necessary to endure.

Mixed with the chemotherapy has been the occasional radiation treatments, the invisible, deadly gas.

All of these things just add up, becoming part of the body's chemistry over time. I have a drawer and a shoe box filled with drugs I once took during this struggle. I could open a pharmacy. There are so many.

One thing I've learned over time is that less is more. The less drugs I can take the better. At first the doctor tried to help me out by prescribing medications to offset all of the chemo side effects. But it seems that every drug brings along its own side effects, and it all just builds and builds.

Over two-years of chemo I've noticed too that there is an escalating effect all of this has on the body. I have little complaints, like for example every now and then my vision will go blurry.

The first reaction is "Is it the cancer?"

But the conclusion is, no it's the treatments.

I just keep adapting. I just keep rolling with it. I just keep smiling.