When I think about my journey with an incurable cancer, I can’t help to think that everyone is dealing with some sort of cancer. Whether a broken relationship, an absent parent or a rare disease like cancer, we all have something that is nagging us, no one is left unharmed in this world.
Knowing this gives me personal comfort in that I am not alone, and even greater, I feel a sense of community, a sense of shared purpose to overcome the darkness.
One year ago I took what I hoped to be my last dose of chemotherapy. I had been cancer free for a year and completed 3.5 years of treatment. I was sick of being sick and ready to dominate life without this disease; with out a daily dose of chemo.
Well, almost one year after stopping treatment, I sat in the doctor’s office on Wednesday to learn that my Myeloma is officially back and measurable. The last few blood tests showed a trace amount, but it wasn’t even significant enough to measure.
As the news starts to circulate, I start to get the, “I am soooooooo sorry to hear this.” This morning I received a text from one of my best friends that said, “Dude, I just heard about your M spike that you obviously didn’t tell me about while I was whining about my much less important garbage. You guys holding up okay?”
My response back to my good friend, “I didn’t want to detract from the conversation. Myeloma has consumed us for many years, no need to have it dominate our conversation last night.”
You see, I want people to not look at my mountain as harder or more significant that the mountain in their own life. More important, I want to be able to support others, especially those close to me in their efforts to overcome their own difficult and uncertain journey.
So how am I doing? I am hanging in there, but how are you doing? How’s your marriage? How’s your relationship with your daughter? How are you living out your strengths? What’s holding you back in life, in your career? What changes do you need to make?
Myeloma, yes, it has returned…but we have climbed this mountain before and we will scale it again. But what about your mountain?
-Phil
(Thanks mom for the Dr. Seuss quote, it inspired this post)
