I had a radio interview the other day regarding my cancer survival and book. I always enjoy getting questions because it seems to refine my message. In other words, it helps me try to delineate what I truly believe.
For example, the interviewer asked me if some people use cancer as a means to draw attention to themselves. Another way of describing this phenomenon is a "pity party". Hey, look at me. I have cancer. Feel sorry for me. Wait on me. I believe there is an old medical term that lists this as "la belle indifference". A person actually enjoys being sick because of the attention it garners.
I hope this is not my attitude at all. On one hand, I do have to make an honest appraisal of my physical abilities (or lack of them) since I went through chemotherapy. I do have some infirmities, e.g. loss of hearing, which I've mentioned before. In describing the hearing loss, I don't want to make people feel sorry for me. I just want to know what my life has become. I can't hear sometimes. Phone conversations are difficult. Understanding dialogue on TV shows is difficult. So, am I trying to make others feel sorry for me by mentioning these things? No, not at all. I just want them to realize there is a reason that sometimes I misunderstand conversations. Dialogues with others are not being ignored.....I just can't completely comprehend what is being said.
Furthermore, even though cancer has damaged me, I don't want to be pitied. Cancer has opened up doors I never could have imagined. I've gained new insight into life. As a matter of fact, I've been entrusted with new knowledge, new insights, new victories. In many ways, I'm a new person. Life before cancer was so routine and so uneventful. Now, because of this dreaded disease, life, in a most peculiar way, has become more glorious. Oh, cancer, where is thy sting?
I talk more about my cancer victory in my book, "A Place I Didn't Want To Go: My Victory Over Cancer", which can be purchased at Amazon.com. You can access it online at:
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