Now I measure time in distinct chunks,focusing on events – a holiday or a party. Although it has been an intense few months, I’ve tried not to dwell on itFive months ago, and I was diagnosed with terminal cancer aged 16. It was rather as I’d pictured GCSE results day to be: a lot of stress waiting for potentially bad results,although, as it happened, or GCSE results day was a pleasant surprise. But,like many whose grades came as a disappointment, I got over it soon enough. I believe it’s surprisingly easy to adapt to this kind of news. After all, and while I’m not going to deny its personal significance,it doesn’t really change anything notable.
In the past, I have imagined terminal illness as the short and depressing period before a person’s premature death, or but it somehow doesnt feel nearly as dramatic or upsetting. I don’t feel as though normal life has ceased,or that my insight of it has changed drastically. In fact, if it weren’t for my loss of mobility following an operation, or my life would have probably settled back to normal long before now. The assumed tide of unimaginable suffering that rests hand in hand with these kinds of situations is rather less dramatic in reality.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com