There are things people say to me about my cancer that drive me nuts.
It's not a matter of intention, I know that. And I have no desire to reject anyone's goodwill or good wishes. I know there's not much to be said or done about my cancer from the perspective of a sympathetic friend, acquaintance or Internet connection. Unless you're on the ground in Portland and able to be part of the group of people that help me with errands, housework, cooking and chemo care, there's not much to do except express goodwill and good wishes.
But when people tell me how brave I am, it irritates me.
Bravery is a choice. It is a thing you do when confronted by circumstances. You choose to step into the blade, fight the fire, pull the baby from the wrecked car, confront the bully, whatever it may be. In order to be brave, you have to have the freedom to walk away from the situation.
I don't have that freedom, not with cancer. I have the choice to not accept treatment, but that isn't much of a choice. I'm not brave, I'm doing what I have to do. For me, for my daughter, for my family and friends, for my books and readers, for my future. There's nothing brave about the sorry, sordid business of cancer, chemotherapy and surgery. It's just a thing I do.
Likewise when people tell me I'll be fine, it irritates me.
Again, that is an expression of goodwill. But really, you don't know that. I don't know that. My doctors don't know that. We know the statistical odds for my cancer cohort. We know my prognosis based on my particular health factors and metastasis patterns. But we don't know that I'll be fine. In fact, the odds are somewhere between even (my prognosis) and hard against (my cohort statistics) that I will not be fine, that I will be dead in the next few years. All I can do is go forward and hope.
I think both sentiments arise from a sense of helplessness combined with a frustrated desire to help and support. Cancer still has a special terror in our culture, beyond many other diseases just as serious. For the most part, with a few notable exceptions, it's not a lifestyle disease. Cancer isn't "earned", nor is a punishment from some bitter Calvinist God for misbehavior. It's an assassin in the dark, a random terror that can strike anyone at anytime regardless of circumstance or status or their place in the world.
Beyond that, I understand that people care and want to extend affection, support, even love. So I don't grump at people when they say those things. I accept them in the spirit in which they are intended. But they still strike me oddly.
Curiously, despite my hard core atheism, I don't have a similar reaction to people who want to pray for, or occasionally with, me. I respect what prayer means to those who pray, and take that exactly as intended.
It's not that you shouldn't say these things to me. Sentiments from the heart are sentiments from the heart. But if you really want to do something for me, donate some money to the American Cancer Society or the Clayton Memorial Medical Fund. Even better, donate some time at an infusion center, or doing errands and housework for a chemotherapy patient in your neighborhood or social circle.
Because really, there's nothing anybody can do except watch me walk through the darkness, and occasionally hold my hand. I'm not brave, and nobody knows if I'll be fine, but I keep going.
There is no way out but forward.
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