Cathy, my very dear sister-in-law, and I were having one of our long conversations.  She is in New York.  I am here.  If we were in the same place, we would spend a lot of time together.  She was saying we have no choice but to carry on.  We were discussing difficult times and when someone says, “How’s it going?”,  she says what choice do we have but to say fine because we have to carry on.

Her husband, my brother, died of metastatic colon(appendix) cancer about two and a half years ago.  She’s had a hard time.  They were married over 40 years. They were a good fit.  Being alone has been hard for her. I am always missing my brother so it has been hard for me too.

I have two cancers.  I had to be tested, to have surgery, to have radiation treatments, to have new pills and then more doctors’ visits.  New news is shocking, life changing.  There is the adjustment period. Then  adaptation and just keep going.  With the nature of my situation, I will have more cancers.  I wondered how I will be.  I know now.  I will just proceed through a variation of the above steps and I would carry on.

That is what we all do. We go through the necessary steps and then we carry on.

Everyone says I have a great attitude. I don’t see it as a requirement to being a cancer patient. My attitude is good, in part, because I have had much intense adversity in my life.  I am used to difficult times.  My attitude is good also because I find a great deal of pleasure in the day to day.  I know how to be happy in the present moment, just like a little kid.

I carry on even though I have very difficult times. I carry on because I do in fact love the little things in life. I would miss them to much if I didn’t carry on.