Submitted by Dr. Robert F. Lane on
"Last night I had a nightmare," a mother of three in tennis shoes and a gym outfit told me. "I don't remember all of it. I just remember that I had fallen over a cliff and in mid fall I had caught hold of a branch. I was hanging on for dear life wrestling in my head with different voices: some saying hang on and others pleading, ‛Just let go’. I woke up still fighting with that question and realized it was all about my cancer. Should I fight or should I give up?"
This was a 45-year-old woman whose lymphoma had just relapsed. Her original treatment had been very difficult. She was just rising out of the fog of her last treatment with so much of her life yet unfinished before her. Now she was facing relapse with the specter of even more treatment or probable death.
It struck me that her nightmare capsulated just how many cancer patients see their conundrum. Either fight or give up. Either spit in the face of death one more time or accept it. Hang on or let go. But it is not really an either/or situation. You can hang on with one hand and let go with the other. But not many people can do that unless they know what else to grab onto before they let go.
I told her to do both. Fight with everything you’ve got for your life, but give up on your need to have it. Escape from the threat of the fear wielding Dragon and walk free. THIS IS HUGH - more next time.
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