Archive for August, 2011

Literary Mileage
A Path Not Chosen

Monday, August 22nd, 2011

We have taken many paths we would not have chosen, and we have done many jobs we did not want to do…What we call problems and unjust circumstances have a way of teaching us integrity and how to be peaceful. (August 20)
From A Cherokee Feast of Days, by Joyce Sequichie Hifler

Twelve years ago my unchosen path was breast cancer. I had aggressive treatment, and have been fine ever since. Over the years, that experience has slipped into memory, such that my anxiety-antennae are only raised when it’s mammogram time each year. So, two weeks ago, after my breast-smashing mammogram, I was called into another room for a sonogram. After that, I was told to get dressed and meet with the radiologist who told me that the film looked different from the previous year, though the sonogram showed nothing. Because of my history, she was scheduling me for an MRI—in a week. During that week I zigzagged between thinking ‘if a sonogram didn’t show anything, I don’t think the big C has invaded me again” vs. having my treatment history flash before my eyes…repeatedly.

After the MRI on Wednesday, I was told my results would be mailed to my primary care doc. Snail mailed?!! Who does that any more? So, I settled in to worry for another week. Fortunately, the radiologist relented and called me Friday afternoon (August 20, by the way) to tell me my MRI revealed nothing nasty going on. Whew.

The whole experience jolted me back to a perspective I gained soon after my cancer diagnosis. The incredible gift of being alive every day to see the changing seasons, to look across the street to the park and see the dogs and their people, to revel in this cup of hot tea in my hand, my two cats, and the fact that my life is good.

I hope you feel that way about your own life on this beautiful late summer day.

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