#483 A Little Venting If You Don't Mind

One Heck of a Smile

It happened on the plane, it happened while in Dane and not too long ago it happened when it rained.  What, you may ask,  prompts me to write a silly Dr. Seuss-esk poor excuse of a poem?

The dreaded words from well meaning people telling me to keep up my "positive attitude" because, by golly, "it will keep this cancer from killing me", are what prompted me to write today.
*&(^$%#@$% is what I wanted to respond.  Instead, I smiled, nodded my head and said, "Well, it certainly makes me more pleasant to be around, however, the cancer doesn't give a rip how positive or how grumpy I am and it will do whatever it damn well wants to do, but thank you very much for pointing out that if I do die it was because I just wasn't positive enough.  Phew!  Blood pressure check required...

These truly well meaning people probably don't know how that sounds to someone living with a terminal disease.  What it tells us is it is our responsibility to beat this cancer and the best way to do it is dancing our way through life with a s^*t eating grin on our sorry little faces.  I would love to have introduced them to some of the finest and strongest women I know who would have cut off their right or left arm smiling while the saw cut through the bone just to have more time with their young children.  Don't tell me their attitude wasn't positive enough.  Cancer DOES NOT differentiate between a cranky old sour puss and a pollyanna smiling angel of a person.  It does not work that way.

Slowly I am calming down and putting on the proverbial grin on my face to make everyone think I am single handedly beating this disease.  If that makes you feel better, that is what I will do but please, I beg you, do not tell me or the 250,000 others living every single day with MBC that we need to be upbeat.  Again, that's not how this crappy disease works.  If you still aren't convinced, please read this from Mayo Clinic

Myth: A positive attitude is all you need to beat cancer

Truth: There's no scientific proof that a positive attitude gives you an advantage in cancer treatment or improves your chance of being cured.

What a positive attitude can do is improve the quality of your life during cancer treatment and beyond. You may be more likely to stay active, maintain ties to family and friends, and continue social activities. In turn, this may enhance your feeling of well-being and help you find the strength to deal with your cancer.

Thank you for listening (if you have gotten this far) to #483 of 7777.