Cancer Sucks!

There is no avoiding the fact that the next three months are going to be difficult for me. There are too many not so happy memories of what was going on in my life during this time period last year. When Art finished his round of chemo last March, he was feeling relatively healthy and we were hopeful, if not for a cure, at least for a long remission. In less than a month, it became clear that there would be no remission. It was pretty much all down hill from there. There were a few happy moments, but we were primarily consumed by the desperate search for some way to eradicate the lymphoma before it killed him. Although we put up quite a fight, cancer won the battle.

While I continue to try to come to terms with how and why Art died, three of my friends are now involved in their own desperate struggles to keep cancer from claiming their husband's lives. It breaks my heart to hear their stories of the unrelenting pain, the treatment side effects—hair loss, mouth sores, difficulty sleeping despite extreme fatigue—and of the hope that maybe the next treatment will be the one that finally works. I wish I didn't know what they are going through, and I wish there were something I could do or say to help them. At best, I can only encourage them to keep themselves informed, explore all the options, and (this is the hard one) get as much rest as possible, to keep their minds clear and their bodies strong for the fight. Cancer sucks, but it doesn't have to always win the battle.