Follow Up Medical Appointments
I’ll not be posting again this morning. Yet another rainy day drive to Yale.
Remember the day of my last appointment?
Remember my follow up post on ‘Dealing with Depression‘?
No matter how often or infrequently my follow up medical appointments take place, the feeling is always the same: I wouldn’t have to go to the doctor for follow ups if there weren’t a chance my cancer would come back. And that stinks.
Life as a survivor is tough, isn’t it? Follow up medical appointments remind us we live with cancer, even after our lives appear unaffected by the disease.
Follow up medical appointments remind us that we’ve forever crossed that divide — we have cancer, other people don’t, and there’s nothing we can do about our status. We’re in the club, we can’t quit, we can’t completely move on. We can’t go back. That just makes me sad sometimes.
So how am I able to deal with today’s sadness? By soliciting help from friends. And having friends who are kind enough to offer even more help then I’d feel comfortable asking. And saying yes to their offers.
Having cancer is a great lesson in humility … and the value of humanity.
What can you say yes to (or offer up) today to make survivorship easier for yourself or somebody else?
(Image: stock.xchg)
Tags: breast cancer, breast cancer blog, cancer, Karen Lynch, Karen M. Lynch, survivor, Yale
1 opinion for Follow Up Medical Appointments
Mary Emma Allen
Jul 14, 2008 at 3:32 pm
My mother-in-law who had colon cancer and breast cancer, then died of congestive heart failure at age 94, said she always wondered and prayed when it was time for a follow-up appointment, even after the traditional five years were over.
Mum would know exactly what you’re feeling even though she generally was an upbeat person. Mum’s advice was “have a postitive attitude and pray,” not always something you can follow, but Mum tried. (I did catch her in tears a couple times though a few times. She’d feel guilty because she was crying and I’d tell her she’d earned the right.)
Mum gave my daughter this advice (positive attitude and prayer) when her hubby developed cancer 10 years ago. He’s a survivor, but probably is apprehensive at each check-up.
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