Leading up to breast cancer awareness month, I'd like to take you on a shortened version of my treatment of breast cancer. I realized early into fighting for my life, how important it is to find the funny in a bad situation whenever you can. The funny keeps things in perspective as well as, cortisol levels down.
I was in the pathologist's office having a biopsy when she looked at me and said, 'yes Beth, I think this is in fact is cancer." The floodgates opened up and she looked at me and said, "I didn't just hand you a death sentence."
With this said, I walked the long halls of Duke University out to the parking lot when my phone rang. It was my dad. So, he said, how was the autopsy?
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I didn't know whether to cry harder or laugh, and I laughed so hard hoping and praying at the same time that this was truly a slip of the tongue! Well, dad, I just walked by the morgue and didn't see myself in there, so, I think it went okay.
What do I do now? Where do I go? Who do I call? How do I tell my kids? What if I do die?
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My next thought was, if I do die, and people come to my house to pay their respects, they will see my ugly dining room table. They will think, I can't put my casserole down on this. What if my husband remarries, the new wife will be horrified thinking how I lived with such a table, it's no wonder no one liked her food, look at the table it's being served on.
All summer I had seen the most beautiful table in a window in downtown Durham, I loved it each time I saw it, so, with tears in my eyes, I got in the car, drove to Morgan Imports and walked inside and was greeted by the most friendly man. He asked if I was okay and I told him that I was just diagnosed with cancer and to please write up the table in the window. He said, "you were just diagnosed with cancer and want to order a table?" Yes, I replied, because isn't this what every normal person just diagnosed with cancer does? At this point, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry himself, so, he laughed and told me I was going to do great.
Start making mammogram appointments now.
ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE FUNNY!
TBC
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