You can, or you can't. Either way you're right. That's a saying my friend and colleague Cyrus told me one day. That phrase was both hugely insightful and concise at the same time. It was meaningful to me on many dimensions and definitely fit with my views on battling breast cancer.
So many things go into any major health problem; conventional wisdom, doctor's knowledge, medical trials and research, nutrition whole body healing, etc. Nobody can tell you the exact life prescription to be well again. But one "fuzzy" factor everyone will generally agree on is the power of a positive mental attitude. The outlook and attitude of the patient, spouse, family, doctors, friends, etc., but especially the breast cancer patient, and I believe the spouse's too.
There's a saying that you get back in life what you give and I think that's true about how you deal with cancer. You have to believe you will win the battle. If your mind doesn't believe, then your body won't either. Somehow your body knows. Now for the hard part; this is much easier to say than do every day.
I've had my "pity party" moments here and there. But I know intellectually and in my heart that the attitude I have is based on how I *choose* to view things. I've never succeeded in something I strongly believed I would fail at.
There's a sign in our kitchen that just says "believe". That's all it says. I see it almost everyday. It says to me, have faith, be strong, love my wife, believe in God and his healing powers, believe in the body of Christ here on earth, and believe more strongly than I've ever believed, whether cancer-free days are just one more day away or I have to believe for a whole lifetime.
The ironic thing is, even if tomorrow does bring cancer-free days, you still have a lifetime of believing ahead of you. That's how cancer is.
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