Healing Words

This poem was left as a comment on my blog and I think it should be shared. This is for those who have cancer and those who know or love someone with cancer.

What Cancer Cannot Do:

it cannot cripple love
it cannot shatter hope
it cannot corrode faith
it cannot destroy peace
it cannot kill friendships
it cannot suppress memories
it cannot silence courage
it cannot invade the soul
it cannot steal eternal life
it cannot conquer the spirit

DH and I were in the doctor's office waiting for the test results. When his doctor told us yes, the tests confirmed it was cancer and a "particularly nasty, aggressive" cancer, I heard the words but didn't quite take them in. DH opened his eyes a little wider, leaned forward slightly and in a very clear, calm voice asked, "So, how much time do I have left?" That question stunned me, said in such a matter-of-fact way but the surgeon answered that he was going to cure him, let him die of something else.

It has been almost five months since DH had his urostomy and he has an appointment with his surgeon in about two weeks for some followup tests - a CAT scan and lung x-ray. They want to make sure the cancer has not returned - we're all on the same page on that one!