May 29th, 2010

"How are you?" I never know how to answer this question. When I first got diagnosed this was a really tough question for me. I remember being at the holiday bazaar in late November and having lots of people asking me this as a general 'hello'. I hadn't yet told any one about the cancer and I hated the question because I had to lie and tell everyone 'fine'. I finally left the bazaar because I couldn't stand hearing that question any more.

When everyone knew about the cancer and asked me that question I didn't want to answer because I didn't want to talk about cancer all the time. Now, my answer depends on who asks me the question. I either tell people I am doing okay and hanging in there or I go into more detail about my sickness from the chemo and Rituxan. The better I know the person the more details I give, usually. I still have to make a quick decision each time I hear that question. I have to decide how do I feel today and do I want to share that information.

I also don't know how to respond when people tell me happily that they are glad the cancer is gone forever. I don't want to go into details about the recurrence rate of my type of Lymphoma (100%) and they really don't want to hear it. I just smile and say something about being glad that chemo is over. I am getting good at general responses.

I did walk almost 10 miles (not all at one time) today for the Prince of Wales Island Marathon. I was on a team of seven walkers/runners. It was a long and fun day. I am thankful to be able to walk long distances. It has only been 2.5 weeks since my final chemo treatment so any distance is great. If you know someone with cancer encourage her/him to exercise several times a week it helps tremendously.

Thanks for reading.