The Meaning of Life -- Cancer as a Wake-up Call

I read this posting on the LCA website today and this woman captured what I feel as well....that there is more to living life than a daily routine and earning a dollar. I wanted to share this with my girls....here is a woman who has learned a great life lesson.

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Hello Daily Survivor!

I LOVE your LCA name...we are all afterall survivors, tackling our lives "one day at a time"...and I, for one, intend to add many more days to the 19,375 I have already lived! :)

My treatment was like yours was in 2004...the chemo/radiation sandwich. Since then (03-08) I have also had a craniotomy for a suspected "growing" brain tumor. At time of surgery, the pathologist determined the met was d.e.a.d; it was only necrotic tissue. No tumor. the originaal brain met was killed by one-shot dose of radiation. So, like you, I am Stage IV in diagnosis.

Since my treatment ended last year in March, I have been NED and I am on no medication at all...except my strict self-imposed "food", exercise and supplement regime...and of course, most importantly, my total trust in GOD. There have been so many blessings in my life since my journey with cancer started...no doubt there were many, many more in my 19,000+ days on earth so far, but shamefully I never took the time to acknowledge them or even notice them at all - I was too busy "living" to see that I really wasn't living at all.

Mine was the typical life...up at the crack of dawn, stumble to the coffee pot, dash in my "low fat" creamer (the only 'healthy' portion of my diet in those days), hop in the shower to go through the daily ritual of hair/make-up/wardrobe...emerging over an hour later, grabbing another coffee, out the door, (no time for breakfast) running late as usual (so I am already stressed), as I fight traffic to work (even more stress), stomach grumbling til lunch time (fast food, wolfed down), dealing all day with other peoples problems as usual (stress,stress...and who needs fresh air in the daytime anyway?), fight traffic all the way home in the dark (umhmmm...stress), what to do about dinner that will please everybody? Wait. Do I need to run to the grocery store?? (I should be used to this stress by now, right?) Okay, home. Finally.

Time to start Job#2 - or #3 today. Cook (usually that means canned, boxed or even better yet, microwaved food...did somebody say "nutrients"?), clean, more "issues" to deal with...oh yeah, time for television, off to bed eventually...6 days a week, over and over... Is this living? Is this what God intended for our lives? I think not. I was miserable but was too busy going through the motions to notice. Cancer was my wake-up call. Boy was it ever.I can honestly say that having radically changed my life, cancer in some ways was the BEST thing to ever happen to me.

For the first time in my life, I am able to enjoy my (grown) children, I have completely fallen in love with my husband (and he with me) because we have spent so much REAL time with each other, learning things we never knew about each other before...strengths, weaknesses - conversation has real meaning now, it's not just a bunch of jabbering...my mornings are now spent preparing and eating my organic, fresh foods as I thank and praise God for all the blessings on my table and in my refrigerator. I am able to take my looong walks under God's blue skies, breathing deep the fresh air, feeling the winds in my face (instead of sitting in a cubicle under flourescent lighting all day with a ringing phone reminding me of my "responsibilities" to the dollar).

Would I trade my current medical diagnosis in for the "old" pre-cancer God-less life? Nope. Am I happy? Yes. Ecstatically, probably for the first time in my life. I found God after my original diagnosis, out of desperation because "life" as I knew it fell completely apart and I was spinning. I felt lost and so completely horrified. In the darkness of my fears, I reached out a blind hand and God was there and took it. Yes, even my search for God has been up and down, but He never let go of me, He never let go of my hand; I just couldn't always find it in the dark because my eyes were closed.

If I had a choice I would like to now have another 19,375 days of my new way of life...more time to love the people so important to me, more ways to show them how much they mean to me and how wonderful they are, more time to bring praise to Christ, more days spent in the fresh air under blue skies...but I'm not going to worry about the remaining number of my days, I am too busy loving the relationships God has blessed me with.

Oh yes...no more boxed, canned, microwaved foods...no foods with pesticides, no artificial anything...just 99% Raw, wholesome foods that God provided us with on His earth. Clean fish and beans for protein, tons of phytonutrient rich plant foods, no artificial shampoos, detergents, etc...and I feel FANTASTIC! God, family, God, diet, God, excercise, God = happiness = HEALTH.

God bless you Daily Survivor! You keep fighting the good fight, continue to lean unto Christ and enjoy your days in the sun, fishing pole in hand!

God bless us all ~Ellen