I will have recently had my five year anniversary. So far, everything is looking good. Markers low, CT/MRI good. I'm working more. Life is more normal in that sense, too. In one way, I can put this disease behind me. But, the experience has permanently changed me and my family.
The experience of cancer, or any life threatening disease, changes how one approaches life. Time with family becomes more important. My children are teens and wanting to develop their own identities. I now know I will likely see them into adulthood. It now seems likely that I may even experience being a grandparent.
My cancer has also affected work. I was limited by my health during treatment by the disease, and now am being limited by the perception of others that I cannot work as much as before. I, too, have changed my perception. Being a workaholic makes less sense, since I feel relationships are far more important. But, now, having spent part of my retirement savings on my time off due to illness, I know I will need to keep working for several more years.
Cancer also affects my sense that I need to continue to have good insurance, as I know I am not invincible. As I see the ACA protections being taken down, I worry not only how this will affect my patients, but how it will affect me. I am still too young for Medicare, and that, too, seems in jeopardy. None of us will get out of this life without the clouds of illness or injury. Unless our society does not value its people, we need to think about this. We need to have a system to care for all of our people. I have seen far too many people whose lives are destroyed, not by the disease, but by the economic disaster that accompanies it.
The experience of cancer, or any life threatening disease, changes how one approaches life. Time with family becomes more important. My children are teens and wanting to develop their own identities. I now know I will likely see them into adulthood. It now seems likely that I may even experience being a grandparent.
My cancer has also affected work. I was limited by my health during treatment by the disease, and now am being limited by the perception of others that I cannot work as much as before. I, too, have changed my perception. Being a workaholic makes less sense, since I feel relationships are far more important. But, now, having spent part of my retirement savings on my time off due to illness, I know I will need to keep working for several more years.
Cancer also affects my sense that I need to continue to have good insurance, as I know I am not invincible. As I see the ACA protections being taken down, I worry not only how this will affect my patients, but how it will affect me. I am still too young for Medicare, and that, too, seems in jeopardy. None of us will get out of this life without the clouds of illness or injury. Unless our society does not value its people, we need to think about this. We need to have a system to care for all of our people. I have seen far too many people whose lives are destroyed, not by the disease, but by the economic disaster that accompanies it.
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