A Christmas gift... Life to be lived.

The warmth of a fire glowing. A comfort that is easily taken for granted.

Tending that fire is what I believe living is about or tending to the joys of life. Life comes with no guarantees, we all have heard that. Some are born to luxury and some to squalor and pain. We can choose to be happy with our gifts and curses or to curse them and dwell in sadness and regret.


Well the node was positive for adenocarcinoma and it has been removed. You can argue that it is bad news. I however feel that it was there and positive all along. I believe that it is good news because it has been identified and the area is now clean. That is easy for me to say, it wasn't my chest. It isn't easy. I have watched, waited, prayed and pushed people around, to make it happen to someone else... and me.
There is a difficulty with this thinking. It has taken a huge surgery to accomplish this state of , "a disease free chest cavity". To secure this state-- radiation and Chemo will follow.
You may argue that this is an added blow or as I might answer an added gift. It will depend on who you talk to or how you think.

Let me explain. I see it as a gift. A gift of modern science and medicine that even a few years ago would not have been offered to provide a possible cure for lung cancer, breast cancer and the potent cancers of children. The difficulty; I can't imagine any parent not feeling a great confusion when making the decisions to send their baby into surgery, to course deadly chemicals through their toddler or loved one. Add to that radiation or further surgery. Who would welcome following all that with radio active beams directed at their already frail bodies. These are difficult gifts to accept. Until you see that child or adult laughing, running and engaged in the wonders of life, after these traumas, the gift of science and medicine has done its work.

My Christmas gift has arrived. The chance for the knowledge, the unmasking of the perilous growth of a hidden lymph node by the miracle of a PET Scan. The skillful techniques of a fine surgeon who meticulously searched an alien land called a chest cavity to find the node and remove it. He closes and the human body heals itself. What an amazing gift.
The gift of a caring Medical Oncologist who will make his knowledge work to insure that the hidden cells that may still linger are eradicated. He will use the latest data added to what his years of study have taught him.

This is a Christmas gift.