It is important that caregivers of those with cancer step back and realize that they are their own person, too.
BY Kim Johnson
PUBLISHED February 07, 2018
Kim is a nursing student who is hoping to find her place amongst the phenomenal oncology nurses and doctors who cared for her sister. She loves reading, volunteering and enjoying the outdoors of Colorado.
We all matter. It is a simple sentence that is left to the beholder for much interpretation. Yet, at its core, it is scientifically accurate. We are made of flesh, bone and blood – a combination of physical being mixed with spirit to form a human entity. I believe when the normal is interrupted, the line between body, mind and identify can be blurred. For me, that interruption was cancer.
Cancer was that one thing that entered my life and completely changed my reality. It changed the thoughts in my head and made me question the future that I thought was a sure thing. My brain struggled to filter the endless stream of new information. I felt pulled in every direction and it became difficult to process everything and decide where my focus needed to be. More than anything, I wanted to know that everything was going to be OK. I needed to know that my sister was going to be OK. The reality is, cancer strips away the possibility of that certainty that we crave in life.
In time, I came to appreciate that while medicine is an art from, it is far from being mastered. It is something that treats a part of us, but not the whole of us. Some things such as palliative care change that and make an attempt to treat the physical and emotional needs. But still, only time can heal certain aspects of us. Cancer leaves a tangled mess that isn't easily untangled.
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