Climbing hills are tough, but within my limits, I make the effort and always enjoy the end product, the views and the feeling of accomplishment. The lead picture is a before and after, 2018 and June 2024. Some things are different including dress choice, the weather and my hair colour! Believe it or not, at 68 years old, I’m fitter on the 2024 version!
In some ways, my diagnosis and subsequent tests and checks were much easier than the treatment, particularly the surgeries. My first one was really tough with an 18 day stay and at times, I felt quite vulnernable and worried about how this would change my life. The second and third were easier surgeries to recover from, but those thoughts persisted. Despite being weakend after all of them, I felt a sense of achievement that I had gotten treatment to reduce my tumour bulk and would be able to get on with my life. Sometimes you gotta climb that hill twice (or three or more times!).
Of course, the metaphoric hill is often stressful, my decision to retire was a huge hill. But I do this now!
It’s been 14 years since my third surgery and I’m fitter now than I was before I was diagnosed. I’m still vulnerable though, I won’t deny that. But for each “hill” that I climb, I always feel a sense of accomplishment whether it’s a metaphoric hill or a real one. Of course, the real ones give you a different buzz, the views for example make you feel alive (and not ill).
One of the first hills to climb became apparent immediately after diagnosis. How would this affect me, my wife, my family, my work, my life? I kind of just dealt with it but there was an amount of ‘denial’ which made me doubt that this was going to change anything.
BUT …. some hills are false peaks
I climbed the ‘diagnostic hill’ only to find bigger hills beyond it.
Having had 3 surgeries and some minor procedures in between, there is no doubt that these are fairly sizeable hills to climb and tough ones too. The biggest hill in this phase was my first surgery, major surgery which lasted 9 hours and resulted in 18 days in hospital for recuperation. I had an infection which made it a tougher climb. The second and third surgeries were smaller peaks but still challenging. You can read about my escapades by clicking here or on the picture below.
Whatever your ‘hill’ is, two of the common elements required to ‘climb it’ are motivation and willpower. However, if you’re fighting cancer and you’re being affected by the symptoms or the side effects of treatment, it can be easy to opt to stay within your ‘comfort zone’ even though you know the ‘hill‘ might do you some good. I suspect this is a common predicament for a cancer patient, do I ‘climb that hill’ or do I walk away? Sure, I walk away from the “hill” occasionally, but I try not to make a habit of it.
My personal hill metaphor is actually a hill but yours can be something else as described above. Just do something hard!
Go and climb that hill!
Please also read “The 5 E’s of my daytrip” (the other 5 E’s) – click here. I also invented “The 6 E’s” read that here.
I am not a doctor or any form of medical professional, practitioner or counsellor. None of the information on my website, or linked to my website(s), or conveyed by me on any social media or presentation, should be interpreted as medical advice given or advised by me.
Neither should any post or comment made by a follower or member of my private group be assumed to be medical advice, even if that person is a healthcare professional.
Please also note that mention of a clinical service, trial/study or therapy does not constitute an endorsement of that service, trial/study or therapy by Ronny Allan, the information is provided for education and awareness purposes and/or related to Ronny Allan’s own patient experience. This element of the disclaimer includes any complementary medicine, non-prescription over the counter drugs and supplements such as vitamins and minerals.
Thanks for reading.
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