David, Rodney, Tuna, Karen, Lisa, and Sally, today's post is about the diablog that seems to be evolving here and from here, but since I didn't blog yesterday, I'll finish today's post after dinner and share the following right now:
These random notes have been sitting on my desktop for a few days. They're written in response to a number of articles from Leroy's blog, but it never got posted there:
Leroy, your topics have resonated in our space, as well, since we found you in March; clearly we aren’t the only ones. *smiles*
An unexpected second surgery has kept me from posting for the past few days, so please excuse the long post:
“Google Knows Cancer”
...we are only three months into our blog and in need of redefining it’s purpose and perhaps the way it functions.
Our extended families are extraordinarily literate and have been participating through the comments so that it’s become more of a diablog among all of us. It feels like a small bbs (precursor of both chatlines and blogs).
Your article has been archived for our future reference.
*bows in thanks*
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“The People We See Every Day’
...what an amazing thing for “New York Magazine” to publish! Do you think other publications would be interested in doing the same? Might they also consider pages of people living with diabetes or MS or deafness or any multitude of IllnessCommunities? (CancerCommunity seems more fitting for me right now than CancerWorld, but that’s another post.) It’s such a wonderful awareness provoking and educational idea...
FWIW, I first saw myself in The Viet Nam Fallen...
The People We See Everyday are the same peoples that I’ve been looking at for years. It’s _my_ view that continually changes, along with my expectations for all of us.
I generally look at everyone and see ourselves, which means 1) I don’t expect them to know or care about our cancer, and 2) I expect to need to take care of them. ...when I can’t see our/myself, it’s time to take a time out *smiles*
1) I vacillate from wanting everyone to know, to wanting no one to know. The latter is slipping out from under me with time and because of the natures of our extended families.
2) I haven’t even started chemotherapy yet, but it’s clear to me, just from my two recent surgeries and recent preparation for chemotherapy, that my having cancer makes a number of people, including myself, uncomfortable. Comments in your blog also reaffirm this notion. *shrugs*
We’ll certainly do what we can to educate and take care of those not part of the CancerCommunity, but I’m beginning to think that it’s just as well that we’re being advised to stay isolated to avoid infections during chemotherapy.
I hope to spend some of that time reminding myself of what I’ve learned in the past about the HearingandSeeingInpairedCommunity, the AltzheimerCommunity, the AutisticCommunity, the HIV/AIDS/Communities, the HospiceCommunities, etc. and how they educated me, so that I can reincorporate those skills into my repetoire.
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“The Challenge Our Friends Face”
...helped to remind me that many of us do do unto others as we would have them do unto ourselves. Being a good friend is difficult, even in the best of times. I have been told, “I am your friend, and I’m sorry.” It was more than enough. It helped a lot.
Linguiphile that I am, I have learned that a touch, or a look, or a nod, or just being there in a manner similar to the one described in “Death and Dying” can convey more than the proverbial thousand words promised by a picture.
You have been a good acquaintance, friend, and ally to many of us with your words. You’ve prompted me to write again. Perhaps we can help teach you how to be comfortable with the silence?
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“When Do I Stop Being a Cancer Patient?”
...once a member of the cancerCommunity, always a member. Your personal and vicarious experiences remain poignant and invaluable to the rest of the community...to the rest of the World.
Seems to me the tough balance for you is how much of your cancerCommunity self you can continue to share and how much you need to reserve for a more personal audience, and that for as long as you want to be a participating member of any Community, you’ll be welcomed. *shrugs*
Hearing the word “cure” initially was shocking. I’d been taught that we all have cancer causing cells, and that each of our immune systems deal with them uniquely. Being ‘in remission’ or ‘out of remission’ was the referent...or does that only apply to certain types and stages of the disease?
Thank you for facilitating this thought provoking forum.
Make a great rest of the night.
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