Planet Cancer

This is an excerpt written by a mom of a medulloblastoma survivor on the 5th anniversary of his surgery.
__________________________________________________________

Planet Cancer

For us it was like someone had just pushed us off of this planet that we were on and we fell down down down until we reached the planet of childhood cancer with a thud. Everything was foreign and frightening. We could hardly breathe let alone comprehend all that he was telling us about what the year ahead would look like. We didn't really want to know him because he was a pediatric oncologist (though he was warm, kind, and friendly). We didn't really want to know anyone else on that planet either right at first because we didn't want to be there.

But, we learned very fast about that planet and we quickly started wanting to meet the other people there or who had been there because we had so much in common. We came to love and appreciate all of Doug's medical caregivers. It became hard at times to relate to people living on our previous planet.

We discovered that the cancer planet was divided into continents and countries just like our previous planet. We lived on the coninent of pediatric cancer, in the country of brain tumors and the city of medulloblastoma. When someone from the other planet would tell us about Great Aunt Sally who had stomach cancer they thought that we could relate, but though it was on the same planet it was on a whole other continent.

Those who wanted to help most often flew in planes at 25,000 feet and dropped in supplies. The supplies were much appreciated because it's very hard to do the basic everyday things that are needed to survive when you live on planet cancer in the pediatric country. It often felt like tar on our feet moving through massives webs. Some days we could barely move at all. The airplane people were often kind and might try to ask us questions, but the noisy engine and the distance made it difficult. The ones who came down to visit were most often ones who had lived somewhere on that planet before. It is a rare person who's never lived on planet cancer especially in the country of pediatric cancer who comes and walks the paths and trudges through the jungles with us. That's why it was good to connect with the others who had no choice to leave just like us.

When we came back to this planet it took a very long time to adjust. My friend who lived overseas for many years said that it took her about 3 years to start feeling comfortable back in the USA. I think that we were on planet cancer for a year, had to visit regularly for another year and now it has taken us these last 3 years to adjust and start feeling more comfortable back on this planet. I had no idea that it would take this long and what that adjustment would be like. And, of course we hope that we never are forced back to planet cancer.