Life Through the Magnifying Glass

Dude loves science and during one of our recent clean sweeps of his room he rediscovered one of his favourite scientific tools, the magnifying glass. For the past week he's been examining things everywhere we go. Some of his discoveries have been amazing and beautiful, like a single snow flake, others have been disgusting, like the soap scum in the bathroom (note to self, clean bathrooms today) but in each discovery Dude learned something new.

And so did I.

While Dude was examining the contents of a previously clogged drain (ewww!) he made this discovery, "When you look at all this hair and gunk with your regular eyes its pretty gross but when you look at it up close in the magnifying glass you can see all the detail in every single hair and in each speck of gunk and there's actually something kind of nice about that. The cool thing is that when you flip the magnifying glass around this nasty glob becomes way smaller and way less gross."

Cancer cells undergoing experimental
targeted Chemotherapy

So true. I have found that when I just say, "I have cancer," it sounds scary and overwhelming but when I look closely at the situation its not so bad. Survival rates are increasing every year, surgeries are being perfected and becoming less invasive and doctors know way more about treatment and pathology now than they did even 10 years ago. Up close, things aren't so bad and when I flip the magnifying glass around things look even better.

I know people who have had the same type of cancer that I have. I know people who are 4, 8, 13 and 20 year survivors of the same disease I am fighting now. I know that this is one thing that is happening in my life, one thing I thing I don't want to be dealing with but it is just one more thing I am going to conquer. I know that this next year will have some rough patches but this is just one year in a long lifetime of experiences, love and celebration.

This one thing, this breast cancer, is beautiful in the lessons I am learning, the people I am meeting and the kindness I am experiencing. It is going to be a cause of full out partying when I beat it and a point of encouragement when I get to tell people that I am a 4, 8, 13, 20, 50 year survivor.

Until then, I will be spinning the magnifying glass and living each day in thankfulness and celebration.

I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains. ~Anne Frank