Keep Your Chin Up

By Dr. Jeff Davis

When you hear the word "cancer" what does it make you think of? Really sick people who can't get any better? Hospitals full of moaning and groaning? What about death and funerals?

There are a lot of sad connotations associated with the word cancer. It can be a fearful word due to how it has taken the lives of so many people. Not only has it hurt its victims but the families and loved ones attached to that person as well.

I know because I have lived with the pain of cancer touching my home. My wife went in to have a routine check up and a lump was discovered in her breast. We discovered this during the month of December and found that Christmas and those that followed to be a hard time to rejoice.

The doctors were great. They explained to us the approach to dealing with this form of cancer aggressively. She had chemotherapy a few times a month. After each treatment she was very sick for a few days. Her strength left her and she was unable to do even the most simple household task. I made arrangements to leave work and take her to all of her chemotherapy sessions because I wanted to be there and to learn how I could help her make it.

She went in for surgery and had a double mastectomy. Afterwards her self- esteem and picture of herself was greatly affected. She felt like she had lost what made her a woman and was no longer the woman I married who cared so much for her personal appearance.

Radiation followed. That was somewhat encouraging as we looked at how it was the best way to kill off any remaining cells. When it was over and my wife has changed her eating habits her strength slowly began to return. This whole ordeal had taken over a year. But I began to feel like we had arrived on the other side.

I want to encourage you to keep your chin up. You have to look past the problems to the possibility of a solution. Things don't have to stay so bad that they cannot be changed. When you have cancer or when you are a person who has gone through it with someone else you have to find a way to be encouraged. You can do that by seeing the good in it all. Cancer is bad. Very bad. But there are those who not only fight cancer, they survive. Hope is the best medicine you can have when trying to look past all the hurt and pain to see a new reality.

Above all, please, keep your chin up!