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Cancer Patient

There's this popular quote from the The Shawshank Redemption that has been stuck in my head. The old saying goes, get busy living or get busy dying.

The hardest part is finding the perfect balance of productivity and also having the time to relax and unwind from the stress of it all. There was this Nurse Practitioner I met today at the Clinic who is working full-time while being on chemotherapy. I lasted for a week when I was 18 and ended up quitting after I was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. I was too sick to work an 8 hour shift and I am surprised I didn't get into any car accidents when driving home. I was doing online classes that semester but ending up dropping out of Philosophy when the topic of Acceptance of Death and Dying came up. Looking back at it, calling it quits was the right decision. I needed all of my attention and focus to be on my health and recovering from each brutal cycle of chemotherapy. Maybe this woman doesn't have the choice of taking a leave of absence or maybe working gives her a purpose to keep on fighting. She still had her hair, since she requested a chemotherapy drug that wouldn't make her bald. I think losing my hair made it official and that was when I realized I was a cancer patient. I probably won't ever know why she does what she does, but know this. Neither of us are going down easy without a fight.