Today marks one year since Dad was officially diagnosed with Esophageal Cancer. It's been a wild and crazy year filled with some hard times, but these were manageable given all the blessings and good times that came from our experience with cancer.
Not sure if I mentioned before how my parents told me that my dad had cancer or not, but it is a moment I will never forget. It is etched in my memory and I remember it as if it were yesterday. I always comment how they made sure to tell me in a 'public place', you know like as if I was the person being dumped in a relationship or something and they didn't want me to make a scene. They claim that the only reason they told me at the gym in the see through racquetball court was because it was the only time they could get me alone without the kids to talk to me. Whatever, we see it differently.
I didn't freak out... well, not there at the gym but as soon as I got home and searched the internet. Esophageal cancer is one of the fastest growing forms of cancer. Both in the different types of cancer and actually the speed at which this cancer can effect a person. It was really scary to read the statistics and realize, at the time, that it was more likely that my dad was not going to be here today than the likelihood that he would.
Oh how grateful we are for modern medicine. For cutting edge doctors who looked at Dad as an individual. They were able to give him a prognosis based on what his tumor looked like and where it was located as well as factored in his age, health history and physical health. They gave us hope as well as laying out the reality of what he was up for. What is most miraculous about Dad's cancer is how well he is doing since his surgery. Like I have mentioned before, I obsessively searched the internet to absorb all the information I could to prepare myself for what I thought was ahead of us. This meant I knew all of the things that could go wrong and in most cases do go wrong. It's amazing how little Dad is affected by the cancer on a day to day basis today.
Through this whole experience, I have been impressed with my dad and been able to see him in ways that I never have in the past. I saw him as someone stronger than I had ever known and at times also seen him weaker than I ever had before. I saw my dad as someone who only saw this experience as a bump in the road and took the information given him as a plan to beat what was facing him and that was it. I also saw my dad being a dad to me even when I felt like I should be taking care of him. I saw greatness in him that I think I knew was always there but I was able to see more of it than I ever knew existed.
After big storms, often the skies clear and the most beautiful weather occurs. That is how I feel about this past year. We had a challenging year where our family had to really be tested and think about each of our own mortality, but we would not exchange this year for anything. We have been more united as a family than we have ever before. Not just our little family, but our extended families as well. Relationships have been developed more with family but also with friends and acquantances. Through Dad's experience we have been able to give hope to others in similair situations and also been given a better opportunity to relate to others and the challenges that they face.
Our lives are temporary. There is no way to know for sure whether any of us will be here tomorrow or next week or next year or many years from now. But we know now more than ever the importance of our families and the importance of loving everyone around us.
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