Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Survivor And The Lessons I Learned – Part 2
Ultimately, we all have the same two choices in life, lie down and quit or keep on going! That’s our choice! There are people that live till they die, and people that die while their living. That’s one of the lessons I learned, but not the most important lesson.
I’ve learned several life-lessons, having gone through terminal, incurable, stage four, cancer – now in remission since April 1987. Nearly 24 years after being diagnosed with Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, I hope the lessons I’ve learned may be of help to you, too.
After learning we all have two choices, to lie down and quit or keep on going, another lesson I learned is this: We’re all terminal! None of us are going to get out of this alive! There is a resurrection after death, spoken of in many places in the Bible, but that’s a different subject.
A lesson I learned that helped me through a lot of the chemo experiences, and other experiences too, is this: I kept telling myself, “I can earn through this!” It’s amazing to me what a huge disagreement this makes. “I can get through this! I can do this!” And I did! You do what you have to do!
I also kept telling myself, “This, too, shall pass”. Hind-sight is always better than fore-sight. This, too, shall pass. It will eventually be behind me. I’ll survive this! I’ll learn more from this then, when it’s behind me. You fair have to retain going forward. Lie down and quit or maintain going forward. Live till you die or die while you’re living.
I was too sick, mostly from the chemo, to work at my normal job. Rather than just lying around at home feeling sorry for myself (which I never did, by the way), shortly after beginning chemo, I started a pre-fall class at my local community college on career exploration – at the age of 39, mostly just to keep my mind active.
From that very interesting and informative class, once I figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up, it was then an easy transition from student of that one class to become a full-time student. I enrolled in the Electro/Mechanical Engineering Technology program that fall, a two-year program. It took me three years, and many difficult classes, to glean my degree. Going through that program, going to college that late in life, sometimes while on chemo and other complications, helped keep me alive, I believe. It helped me to keep focusing on the future.
A positive attitude can serve in most any circumstance. I have found that I just naturally think positively. I always see the silver lining, even though I’m aware the black cloud is there. I objective decide not to focus on the black cloud, but rather on the silver lining. That’s not to say one should ignore the dark cloud, just don’t focus on it, alone. Thinking positively helps a lot, in most any circumstance I can mediate of.
The most important lesson I learned, and therefore the last in this short article, was that I learned to rely on our Creator, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. The healing God. The God who promises to heal you. The God of the Holy Bible. The God whose Return is imminent.
He is going to come back and heal all mankind of all their ills so very, very soon.
That’s a silver lining around a black cloud of living in this world you can believe in to keep you going forward.
Till then, keep on going forward, my friend. Live till you die. Live life to the full!
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