Last week, when I was in Barnes & Nobles looking for the new George Romero DVD, I noticed Shelley Lewis's book, "Five lessons I didn't learn from breast cancer". Thinking about the first anniversary of diagnosis and everything that followed, I bought it.
I guess its all right (notice that Rocky is not impressed). Of course I agree with the premise - we do not suddenly become better after treating this very common disease. Little or no insight attached. There are some good lines in the book."If you honestly think breast cancer is a gift, you can't come to my birthday party". And whole chapters about the healthy and useful aspects of denial - I'm still amazed about how little information I took in and how little I sought out.
Maybe a year is too soon to look back. But now, my main thought is that the experience was not very interesting. I wouldn't want to repeat it. There was a little fear, a lot of anger, but mostly the experience was boring. It didn't teach me much.
I have always found my patients' stories about their illnesses absolutely fascinating. But mine was boring. A series of tasks, a sequence of worries.
2 comments:
Hey, thanks for reading my book. (and thanks to Rocky, too--clearly a tough audience). I'm glad to find your blog. Just for the record, I do think one year might be too soon to look back on the experience. At least, it was for me. (Also, I was too superstitious to try to write anything definitive until I'd passed at least the three year mark). Anyway, it's very cool to find out that women all over the country are reading it. Very best of health and good wishes to you.
Thanks Shelley! It was a big relief to me that a married producer would need financial help from parents with bc treatment. I'm a well-insured single nurse with a decent income, but without my mother's help I would have been bankrupt.
Yes, too soon.
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