Loved this post! Excellent writing – thank you for it all.
Your colleague’s story is remarkably like my own ‘career interruption’ from cancer 23 years ago. I also attributed on-and-off symptoms to stress for nine months prior to diagnosis and grappled with the interruption and inconvenience of cancer at a time when my career was taking off. My Buddhist faith was hugely comforting during the entire journey and gave me a belief system that supported me throughout my treatment year.
I found paying attention to the details of what was happening around me helped me disconnect from fear and worrying for a while – observing people climbing the mountain of stairs rising up from the Queen’s Park subway platform to ground level where I left for treatment at Princess Margaret Hospital, watching pain ebb and flow and move through my body after surgery, watching Spring emerge outside while in my hospital room, craving a decent cup of coffee.
And the people! The young woman receptionist at the PMH radiation unit who was always so kind and welcoming to everyone even when there were delays because the machines weren’t working and fifty anxious people were waiting. The homeless man who, when I gave him some money after one of my hospital visits, said “God bless you” – just when I needed it. And my 72-year-old father who didn’t drive but would take the GO bus from Peterborough to go to my chemo treatments with me. We would joke that everyone in the waiting room would think that I was the healthy one accompanying him to treatment. (Lots of emotions coming as I write this and remember.)
This is more than a comment I know. Your writing and your colleague’s story moved me to contribute.
For all of us who have had cancer, will have cancer, or another life-threatening experience, we need to remember to honour ourselves and the people around us by noticing and paying deep attention ... to our bodies, our minds, and our interactions with the world.
Vince, thank you so much for so honestly and authentically sharing your experience… it gives my goosebumps. These are life’s lessons that we often leave off the table and I feel blessed to have been given the gift of these lessons from you, my friend and all others who have battled cancer or any debilitating disease. Your words should be our ultimate ambition- to live and work in a world where we “honour ourselves and the people around us”. ❤️
As the daughter of an exec and cancer patient, this struck a chord
❤️
Loved this post! Excellent writing – thank you for it all.
Your colleague’s story is remarkably like my own ‘career interruption’ from cancer 23 years ago. I also attributed on-and-off symptoms to stress for nine months prior to diagnosis and grappled with the interruption and inconvenience of cancer at a time when my career was taking off. My Buddhist faith was hugely comforting during the entire journey and gave me a belief system that supported me throughout my treatment year.
I found paying attention to the details of what was happening around me helped me disconnect from fear and worrying for a while – observing people climbing the mountain of stairs rising up from the Queen’s Park subway platform to ground level where I left for treatment at Princess Margaret Hospital, watching pain ebb and flow and move through my body after surgery, watching Spring emerge outside while in my hospital room, craving a decent cup of coffee.
And the people! The young woman receptionist at the PMH radiation unit who was always so kind and welcoming to everyone even when there were delays because the machines weren’t working and fifty anxious people were waiting. The homeless man who, when I gave him some money after one of my hospital visits, said “God bless you” – just when I needed it. And my 72-year-old father who didn’t drive but would take the GO bus from Peterborough to go to my chemo treatments with me. We would joke that everyone in the waiting room would think that I was the healthy one accompanying him to treatment. (Lots of emotions coming as I write this and remember.)
This is more than a comment I know. Your writing and your colleague’s story moved me to contribute.
For all of us who have had cancer, will have cancer, or another life-threatening experience, we need to remember to honour ourselves and the people around us by noticing and paying deep attention ... to our bodies, our minds, and our interactions with the world.
I hope your colleague will be OK.
Vince, thank you so much for so honestly and authentically sharing your experience… it gives my goosebumps. These are life’s lessons that we often leave off the table and I feel blessed to have been given the gift of these lessons from you, my friend and all others who have battled cancer or any debilitating disease. Your words should be our ultimate ambition- to live and work in a world where we “honour ourselves and the people around us”. ❤️
Many important points to think about in this excellent, well-written article. Valuable insights