As I followed Hurricane Ian and the destruction in Florida I was led to another analogy to cancer and what I’ve been through. I will add my thoughts go out to all those in Florida who lost a lot in the wake of the hurricane. We are grateful that Chris’ uncle and aunt who live in Ruskin made out ok.
The path of a hurricane is unpredictable. Hurricanes are terrifying and can inflict a lot of damage. They can arise suddenly and devastate beautiful areas.
I felt like my cancer arose suddenly. I had just made my fifth pregnancy “Facebook official” and was enjoying working with students again at the college for the first time since winter of 2020. Then the storm came.
The cancer caused a lot of damage, more emotional that physical. I lost my hair, which was just temporary, I lost my breasts which I had reconstructed and I will eventually lose my ovaries to reduce my risk from this terrible disease.
The wind and pounding rain can leave so much destruction much like the chemo. There’s a brief calm when the eye of the storm approaches but you know there is still more ahead. There was a sense of relief when the chemo was over but I still had a mastectomy three weeks after that was going to be rough as well.
Then the storm passes. We assess the damage while oddly enjoying what seems to be nice and beautiful weather. The calm after the storm. It’s over. The worst is behind us. We may have a lot to dig out of and recover from, but with help and support we can recover. It’s not easy but we pick ourselves up after we’ve been hit.
Cancer is like a hurricane. It wrecks destruction on us and can leave a lot of damage but we are often able to recover and overcome the storm.
Both a cancer and hurricane are frightening. They are things we want to avoid at all costs if we can. But sometimes we find ourselves in the path of the storm and have to focus on our survival.
Cancer and hurricanes are about survival. We may be beat up and hurt after dealing with these storms, but that’s ok. The sun will rise another day and the calmer weather will return, reminding us we made it through the worst and we are stronger for what we have gone through.
#breastcancerbattle #weatheringthestorm #chemo #bilateralmastecomy #pregnantwithcancer #thecalmafterthestorm #survivingcancer #dealingwithcancer