What is True…

There is little in this world they tell you about cancer that is actually true. But there is an even smaller amount of what they tell you about being a family member of someone who has cancer. And do not even get me started on the amount they don’t tell you about losing someone you love to cancer and/or the late affects of the treatments for that same cancer… But let me tell you what is true… Or rather what I know to be true: There is no one in this world that can tell you that your feelings are not valid.

Every feeling you have from the time you hear the words, “You have cancer” to the words, “You’ve been in remission for a while but you will still have to fight for the rest of your life to feel normal” is a valid and important feeling. The sadness, the confusion, the shame, the happiness, the guilt for feeling happy, the frustrations… They are all GOOD and should be shared with those around you. They make you human.

In lieu of mothers day coming up… I’d like to say that I wish I had shared with her more of my feelings and vice versa. I share them more with her now that she’s not here than I ever did before. Please share with those around you what you are feeling about your survivorship, your treatments, your day to day emotions, anything. Because if you should ever have to go through a loss to this terrible disease, the MOST true thing I can tell you is that they will miss hearing you complain, shout, scream, laugh, everything, more than they ever thought they would.