It may be a cliche by now, but it is true that you do learn about life from having cancer.
Trust me; still better to avoid the crap out of it ultimately, but I suppose it is a consolation that at least you can take something positive away if you do happen to meet up with it.
Testicular cancer found me young – 25 years old. Let’s face it – that’s an age where testicles rank pretty high on the body parts list. Hell, for most guys at that age they’re pretty much in charge, so any threat to one of them is a real kick in the balls, shall we say.
And, with the full acknowledgement that everyone is unique and processes life differently, I would say that one of cancer’s largest lessons is that each day is a new day with new chances, new ideas and new feelings, so you can’t get mired down in sadness or depression if you want to kick its butt. Really hard to do, but a valuable lesson if you can carry it forward.
I should mention I also had three benign back tumors (schwannomas) in my 20s which caused a lot of pain. So we might think of the tumors as co-teachers with the cancer – they were quite a team. One of these occurred the same year I had the testicular cancer (not an enjoyable year, but a valuable one). So I laid there in pain realizing how a body, even a young one, could betray you. The lesson that you have so little control over your body is a scary one. You can wish cancer away and try to ignore pain, but those are ineffective largely. It’s one of life’s scariest lessons; realizing your body has a mind of its own and you are not the boss of it — not one little bit.
So my recourse for no control was to try to gain an edge. The control freak in me loved the gym because you were somewhat regaining the control of your body that illness was robbing from you. I was stealing it back in small doses and it is a powerful stimulant — pick this barbell up and witness that muscle contract, pull this cable and feel those muscles stretch, increase heart-rate via cardio and watch the unwanted fat slowly disappear. It’s absolutely saved me mentally and made me want more life control by treating my body as well as I could.
Hey, there are no guarantees, but I learned way back that you increase your odds when you exercise, eat well and don’t abuse your body. Give it what it needs as much as you can so that when you need your body to rise to the occasion, it will be ready to do so for you. I’ve tried to do so and have earned the “transplant golden child” title which might sound to many like a ridiculous designation from a horrible comedy movie, but sounds to me like the sweetest music the heavens could offer.