Prior to my diagnosis I never really heard from people that they knew of someone or they themselves had cancer. It seems everywhere I turn there is someone knew with the diagnosis. I really don’t know if it is that more people are getting cancer, that people are more willing to talk about it or if they are just willing to talk about it because they have heard that I too am a cancer patient.
I am not quite sure when a person turns from being a cancer patient to being a cancer survivor. My oncologist tells me that you are considered a survivor as soon as they remove the tumor. I am not sure that I agree with that a 100% because while I was doing the treatments I sure felt more like a patient than a survivor.
I really do know that we are hearing more and more about cancer nowadays. When I was younger I do not remember seeing ad’s for cancer treatments, cancer types, or fund raising efforts for research. It seems that you cannot go a whole day without seeing or hearing something about breast cancer. There are movies, TV shows and even on the soap operas someone is going through cancer.
It is a good thing that it is becoming easier to talk about than it was in the past but the reality is when you have heard the diagnosis you are more emotional when it comes to watching a movie about someone dying of cancer. Trust me if you are my age, with kids there are things you should not do; watch a lifetime movie about cancer, watch the movie “Step Mom” those two things are enough to make you cry, write your will and get your affairs in order. My oncologist actually banned me from reading too much about it and watching these types of shows. Her logic is that it puts too much stress on a person. I have to agree once I stopped putting myself through it I did start feeling better about it.