What I Want Every Survivor to Know

There’s something that every Survivor wishes everyone around them could know. (If you missed what I’m talking about, click here for the latest blog post)

But there’s something that I want every Survivor to know…no, it isn’t over, but it can still be ok. In fact, life can…and will…be great again, despite the unexpected “new normal” you are navigating through today.

To tell the truth, cancer is a bit like an atom bomb landed on your life. The atom bomb is one of the worst disasters humanity can think of. When dropped, it does devastating damage and it changes everything. The people are not the same, physically or emotionally, and the landscape is completely destroyed. But they rebuild. When they do, the landscape looks different, and it might even be better than before, but they will never forget the history of what happened. There is life before cancer, and life after cancer, and they seem like two completely different narratives.

During treatment, cancer didn’t define me, but it did get to define a lot of things about my life. For example, I became used to doctor appointments being the number-one most important commitment, and everything else is canceled to work around them – work, social, family, whatever. I am used to scheduling life around meds, around surgeries, around whether or not I felt well. I am used to my heart jumping into my throat when the phone rings and dropping everything to answer.  Cancer got to take first place in a lot of areas while I was going through treatment.

What I’ve learned now that I’m on the other side is that fighting cancer, while probably one of the most important things in my life, no longer has to be the highest commitment in my life.

This new season of survivorship holds a shift that I get to determine what is important now, and I get to determine which things are subject to change. Cancer gets to listen to how I want my life to be lived, and it will no longer dictate my schedule, my commitments, or my emotions for me. To quote the movie Captain Phillips, “I’m the Captain now!”

I am out of the “treatment” stage and cancer-free. I am victorious. No, the fight isn’t over, it’s just a different kind of warfare now. I used to be in the trenches – wounded, bald, and actively clawing my way through the battle to survive.

Now, I’m more like a general – strategically looking at the bigger picture, a long-term picture. Continuing to monitor all the little battles along the way, still nursing some scars and battle wounds, but the most important thing is – I won!

Do not let cancer define you. Especially if you are done with treatments, now that you have come this far! You didn’t fight to get your life back only to let cancer tell you how to live it. YOU are the Captain now!

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