I know that personally, many people expected me to sort of back off from life when I was diagnosed. And I did, a little bit. I'm pretty quick at accepting things, and adjusting to a different way of life. This is how I took on my cancer. I accepted that I had it, and that I would have to adjust my life to it. But I was not going to let it run my life, and I was not going to let it be my final definition. Realizing this made it easier on me. I wanted to do more in life. Through most of it, my mother was absolutely hysterical. She still is. While she was busy being frantic, I was busy deciding what I wanted to do.

The feelings I got from people was that I was a cancer patient. As such, I should be laying in bed, sick as can be, scared that each breath might be my last. Sure, there were days when I felt that. With any long-term sickness, there are good days, and bad days. Sometimes one might outweigh the other. No matter what, though, I always wanted my day to be full. That included the human contact I allowed myself. I was housebound for much of my chemo because my immune system was pretty much destroyed. I couldn't even go out grocery shopping without the risk of getting sick.

That being said, and not going into specifics, my personal needs did not change much.

I've added the "behind the bedroom door" stuff to make a point that just because someone is suffering from such a disease as this, it doesn't mean they're not still human. In fact, it can make the person feel more human than ever before. Knowing that the disease, even the treatment could kill you, you start savoring life, and enjoying as much of it as you can.

That isn't to say that there aren't moments of despair where you would give anything for it all to be over, where you just wish that everyone would just leave you the hell alone! I remember many of those times myself. Mostly, they pass, and you're left with your zest for life. Those living with cancer might not be peppy and showing this passion for life 24/7, but it's there. You learn to start appreciating little things much more, and the good stuff can send you into fits of extreme happiness for a much longer time than before the diagnosis. Because you're also uncertain of when you'll have another good day, you do tend to take advantage of those as much as possible.
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