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Thy-Cancan…Can’t?
Dear Thyroid Cancer,
Somebody once wrote a poem about you. Well, not just you; you and all your relatives. The name of the poem is “What Cancer Cannot Do.” I have received copies of this poem from multiple people since you came into my life. At first, I was so inspired by this poem. It was encouraging. But it gave me false hopes because the longer I lived with you the more I realized the poem in its entirety was not true. Let me share with you a couple of lines:
“Cancer is so limited…It cannot destroy peace.”
Do you know how excited I was to read this when you first came into my life? OK, so I had to live with you, but you couldn’t destroy my peace. WRONG. Of course you can take away peace. You carpet bombed my peace and replaced it with fear. You destroyed peace in my life and I had to work hard to rebuild it.
“Cancer is so limited…It cannot kill friendship.”
I found this to be so very true…for about six months. And then, you started interfering in so many of my friendships. You make things awkward because some of my friends don’t see me. They see you, and I don’t know how to deal with that.
Thyroid cancer, I know that you are not as limited as the author of the poem suggests. You reach into so many areas of my life. But I’m a little wiser now and know you cannot have control of my life without my permission. I am no longer your doormat for you to walk all over. Remember that, thyroid cancer.
xoxo,
Joanna
Tags: Dear Thyroid Cancer patient letters, Dear Thyroid Letters, limits of cancer, thyroid cancer, Thyroid Cancer Survivor, thyroid literary healing, thyroid literary support, What cancer can do, What cancer cannot do
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3 Responses to “Thy-Cancan…Can’t?”
Leave a Reply to Jeanne Burns Stange
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Joanna – how very true. The poem is right but so are you. The cancer can not take your peace, or your friends, although it is easier said than done. Those first few days, weeks and months of being told that you have a new lodger who goes by the name of Big ‘C’ you feel you life is blown apart. You allow it, your friends, family and even the medical profession take the lead in your life, some how forgetting who the real you is whilst trying to gain some realism into what is actually happening to you. It is only with a little time and a great support network and total belief in yourself that you start to find ‘you’ and live a life again that you can control to a certain extent how much of an effect the cancer does have. Friends want to be there but suddenly turn in to clumsy clowns and think by even mentioning the ‘C’ word (ITS CANCER FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, JUST SAY IT!!!!) we will probably keel over or break down in to a gibbering wreck and yes sometimes we might but they need to be steered by us and shown we are still the friend they used to know and we still need them to help us live a normal life, we just may have the odd wobble along the way. What is cancer anyway? Just a growth with attitude!!
Best of luck with your journey, I am 12 months post thyroidectomy and now on my 6 monthly check ups, living every day and loving me for who I am cancerless, fat and free!
Nina x
Great letter Joanna.
Amanda
I agree with you totally, great letter..people hearing you have cancer totally freaks them out and they start to treat you differently. I avoid telling most people.