Cancer Lesson #50: Everyone needs a hand to hold on to.
John Cougar Mellancamp sang about it in the eighties, and it’s true. Cancer treatment is challenging, with the difficulties being different for each person.
I found the constant needle jabs particularly distressing, so my “hand” was literal. Whenever I had to get a shot or have my port poked – and I’m sure the medical profession has a more technical term for that procedure – The Engineer or Darling Daughter came along to hold my hand.
Before chemo, I would have sucked it up. Now, three years later, I do the same. But when I was in treatment, I realized there was no harm in asking for a little comfort.
If that made me a wimp, I didn’t care. There are plenty of things about cancer that can’t be made any easier so if this one small thing helped, I determined to grab on to it with, well, both hands.
The point is, cancer treatment is hard enough without thinking you need to be brave every single minute. So quit trying to be a hero already. It’s okay to accept help now and then.
It’s a “whatever gets you through the night” kind of thing, with no right or wrong way to do it.
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It’s hard when you are an independant person to ask or even accept help. But you learn. So glad you made it through.
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That’s true, Barb. You do learn. You don’t have to be a hero to survive. So glad we’re both still kicking around! 🙂
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