I feel like I just got color tv!
I am so far behind — I just started watching Breaking Bad. Everyone was talking about it. I knew it was about a chemistry teacher that was cooking meth. But I wasn’t aware of why he was cooking meth.
I was diagnosed with a form of cancer called Multiple Myeloma in 2008. At the time of diagnosis there are a few things you go through and I’ve talked about most of them at some point but starting to watch Breaking Bad I realized they have hit the proverbial nail on the steroid head!
Walter White, Bryan Cranston, is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. As a teacher, who works in the local car wash to make ends meet, this diagnosis makes him realize that this terminal diagnosis means a miserable life for his wife, disabled son and soon to be born daughter. His brother-in-law, a DEA agent, points out the ‘glory’ of being a meth dealer and the potential money involved. As a chemistry teacher, cooking meth is simply a science experiment. And his experiment provides the best standard of meth the New Mexico area has ever seen.
But cooking meth isn’t the point to my story. The pariah a newly diagnosed cancer patient faces, that is the point of my story. When first diagnosed you have a few things that happen. First, you have the patient. There is denial or anger. How could this happen to you. What does this mean? How do I get back to my regular life? How long do I have? Will I see my kids graduate high school?
Second, you have the caregiver. There is organization and a need to approach this logically. There is no logic here, a few rogue proteins got together and said let’s mess with this guy. As the caregiver, logic has to go out the window and gut, feeling, love has to take over. Trust in all the stuff you hope will happen will actually happen. Logic has nothing to do with it!
Third, you have the immediate family, who follow the same need for logic or simply “acceptance”. The quote was (and I’m not absolutely correct), “no matter what happens, no matter what, I will take care of your family”.
I’m raising these points as I am just watching this show and the depiction of a cancer patient, confronting his immediate family is so realistic that I have to applaud the producers. They really captured, to a bizarre extent, what occurs. Most of us don’t go on to cook crystal meth to afford our Revlimid but the intercourse that occurs between patient and family is so well depicted here. It’s a miserable experience that I hope nobody ever has to go through but realize if you do, it will feel the way this show depicts.
Awkward.
Hats off to Breaking Bad, Mr Cranston and the crew that wrote/directed the Cancer Man episode. You hit a nerve which caused me to contribute to my 52 week writing challenge. For that I thank you.
For everyone that is not afflicted by cancer or by a family member or close friend with cancer, think of the awkwardness the patient encounters. Especially when that person is a strong character that doesn’t want help. How does saying, “I’m so sorry” help? It’s not bad, but for a person that doesn’t want your pity? Well…. Breaking Bad presents a conundrum that answers a question many people afflicted with cancer will face: how does my family afford my treatment? Understanding the issues and feelings they face will help prepare you for the way to talk and engage with these people. They may be victims but they don’t want to be treated as such.
That’s my post for this week. Quite impressed with the crew behind Breaking Bad! Thank you and apologies for waiting so long!
