Cancer is such a lonely disease. Seems wierd in view of the fact that each one of us knows several people who have been affected by some form of this disease? Why do we then feel so isolated?
I marvel each time I walk into our CancerCare Building. I am consistently shocked at how many people there are waiting for appointments, in the hematology lab, chemo, radiation, etc, etc. How can this be, I wonder, when I feel so alone?
I think it is an isolating disease because of the fear the word itself invokes. Cancer. We give that word a great deal of power and what is isolating is our fear. We don't talk about our fear. We don't talk about dying yet each and every one of us will - some day, some how. My surgeon once told me I would die from this cancer - or I would die from something else. Smart man (and a bit of a smart ass).
I think once we share our fear and find someone to talk to, we begin to take away the power we have given that "C" word.
We are here with you.
Donna