Not Cancer Free? Adjusting to the “new normal!”


What happens if you aren’t cured of cancer?

What happens if you are living with cancer as chronic illness, like diabetes or heart disease?

Are you in the “watchful waiting” mode, monitoring tumor stability vs tumor growth, sometimes on chemo, sometimes off, tweaking treatments throughout the year?

Why are some patients cancer free, and therefore, no longer technically “patients”, while others of us continually keep our eyes peeled for news of emerging clinical trials?

How does the chronic cancer patient cope?
How do we adjust to the “new normal?”

As I write this from the rugged and rural setting of Toro Park, along the Central Coast of California, I am watching a muscular middle aged man maneuver what appears to be an all-terrain wheelchair. The chair is not electric. It is “powered” up the incline of the park trail by the man’s own two arms.

He’s wearing stylish athletic apparel and, from all appearances, looks fit, except for the lower half of his body, which is paralyzed.

Shall I approach him and ask him how he has adjusted to what appears to be his “new normal?”

Is his condition the result of an auto accident, a spinal tumor, or some other medical calamity? Prior to his personal catastrophe, did he jog along these same trails that he now follows in his wheelchair? Was he an endurance runner, or perhaps an off trail bicyclist? What liberties have been sacrificed to confine him to his wheelchair?

Or, does he feel confined at all?
Has he learned to live with this “new normal” as I have?

Is he here to simply relish being alive on a brisk fall day, to admire the contrast of the brilliant gold, yellow and crimson adorned Sycamore branches extending themselves to the cloudless, bright blue sky?

Is he here to feel the warmth of Indian Summer sunshine on his face, and to hear the popping sounds of acorns dropping from the Oaks?

Perhaps he is here to witness the efforts of the industrious red headed woodpeckers and squirrels, storing their bounty for the winter months.

We may sacrifice many freedoms when we have cancer, but we must not relinquish our rights to discover and embrace the simple joys of life, whether healthy or chronically ill.

The simple joys of life are priceless!



Dedicated with love to David H, David M, Robert R, Tony S, Brian S, and all my chronically “ill” Pals who savor life!



Articles post in “PMP Pals” and on www.pmppals.org are written from the perspective of patients and family caregivers and are not intended to substitute for professional, licensed medical or legal advice.Copyright © 2010 by Gabriella Graham/Red Tailed Hawk Publishing/All rights reserved. Learn more about rare cancers at www.pmppals.org

October 26, 2010/Red Tailed Hawk Publishing