Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Bouncing back

Cooper bounced back today. He stayed home from school, watched the Inauguration with me, fiddled with his new microscope, reluctantly practiced spelling words, ate ice cream, put together a puzzle and more.

Steve has a minor sore throat but no fever. He seems unscathed by strep so far.

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I corresponded today with two local folks affected by brain tumors.

One is the father of a young girl who has tumors in her brain stem and spine.

The other is a woman about my age, who learned last week that her brain tumor is back, two years after surgery and radiation therapy.

In Washington today, Sen. Edward Kennedy suffered a seizure related to his brain tumor.

There are thousands of these stories every year.

It's easy to get discouraged by all the illness and cancer that surrounds us.

It's just as easy -- and more important, I think -- to be inspired by the courage of those living with cancer every day.

2 comments:

LeighP said...

Glad that Cooper is feeling better. And thank you for your last paragraph - the reframing helps.
-Leigh Price

Wendy S. Harpham, MD said...

Hi,
I remember a conversation with my oldest daughter, who was 5 years old when I was first diagnosed but around 10 years old when she said something about "it seems like everyone has cancer."

I explained that she felt that way because I got lots of calls from other people with cancer, and people tended to tell me their cancer stories.

Then I asked her if she ever heard of MS. She shook her head. I said, "If I had MS - a different disease - you wouldn't be hearing about cancer, but you might complain to me that it seems like everybody has MS." She laughed.

Then I mentioned a non-medical analogy: seeing the same color (or kind of) car as ours. Yes, there is a lot of disease out there. Too much! But the sense that it's everywhere is partly related to the connections we are having that we might not have otherwise.

I don't post on your blog often, but I keep you in my personal prayers. With hope, Wendy