Not Sure How To Say It

workingwithothers.com

Been working through how to say something that may need to be said, but maybe I'm not the one to say, or I need to learn how to say it as not to upset anyone, or so that when it is said, it's said with empathy, compassion and encouragement. Kind of like how a certain Nurse Practitioner I know says things to help her patients move through the process.

I'm going to the Richmond Blood Cancer Conference, sponsored by the local chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society,  on November 13. There will be professional caregivers and other patients/survivors/alivers there and I look forward to conversation with all of them.


What is on my mind is how those of us talk to each other when we are assembled. I've spoken to some other folks recently who are currently in treatment and have shared my assessment of the general format of the conversation when you get a bunch of cancer patients (current and former) together in a non support group type setting. That's all I'll say about that.


A friend of mine asked me the other day, "Is there ever a day that goes by that you don't think about that you ever had cancer?" I replied, "I was working on my first day without a cancer thought until you brought it up." I didn't really say that, but I could have and she would have fallen off her chair in hysterics. Wish I would have been quick enough to respond that way at the time, but I didn't.


To me, I guess it's OK to have that thought in your life on a daily basis. People seek the same desire in their spiritual life so that their actions/reactions can be affected by knowing that relationship exists in their life. The same could apply with knowing you've been affected by cancer.


However, where I struggle is with the presentation of the ministry (in both examples).


I'll work on it and get back to you.