Post traumatic stress disorder is well documented in soldiers returning from Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan; we can all image why. However, a new field of PTSD candidates are emerging as a cause for study by social scientists: cancer survivors.
Triggered PTSD seems more puzzling, although the horrors or cancer treatment could be a temporary factor. Logically, surviving a possible death sentence should make one joyous, renewed, grateful to have a second chance at life. While that is true for many, for many it is not.
I know about this post-cancer funk all too well. After surviving stage 3B cancer, life felt like a blank slate - not a fresh slate. The difference between "blank" and "fresh" is stark. When one is faced with losing it all and then the All-That-Is says, "Just joking," a state of emotional shock sets in.
We all know that death is the only certainty in life, yet when a summons from the Grim Reaper is declined, something in the bodily molecules gets rearranged and nothing is ever the same again.
No pat answers can quell the disquieting sensation of this cancer survivor except for one pat aphorism:
The thousand mile journey begins with the first step.
So step by step I move through the fog with a knowing that this too shall pass.
Triggered PTSD seems more puzzling, although the horrors or cancer treatment could be a temporary factor. Logically, surviving a possible death sentence should make one joyous, renewed, grateful to have a second chance at life. While that is true for many, for many it is not.
I know about this post-cancer funk all too well. After surviving stage 3B cancer, life felt like a blank slate - not a fresh slate. The difference between "blank" and "fresh" is stark. When one is faced with losing it all and then the All-That-Is says, "Just joking," a state of emotional shock sets in.
We all know that death is the only certainty in life, yet when a summons from the Grim Reaper is declined, something in the bodily molecules gets rearranged and nothing is ever the same again.
No pat answers can quell the disquieting sensation of this cancer survivor except for one pat aphorism:
The thousand mile journey begins with the first step.
So step by step I move through the fog with a knowing that this too shall pass.
Where is that I that is moving through the fog?
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DeleteOnce the "I" gets through the fog there won't be any!
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