Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Grrr . . .

Today I was angry.

I don't know how to explain the anger precisely. I didn't feel like I wished other people had my disease or anything, but I was reading about factors that indicate risk for breast cancer and I realised that I hardly have any of them. And the ones that I sort of have, I barely have. I found a string of thoughts running like this through my head:

What? I'm supposed to use even less plastic than I already do? I've already thrown out my Starbucks travel mugs and I don't microwave with plastic.

I drink
less than one to two glasses of alcohol per day. Probably per week. What are you talking about?

I'm being penalised because I haven't had children and I haven't breast-fed? And the reason I haven't is because I'm not married and I'm trying to live life the way
God wants me to?!

(Delete swear words).

I feel really strongly about that last standard. If I could rewind and do this life again, I suspect I would still live up to it. I really believe sex (and child-bearing) is a sacrosanct part of marriage and should only happen within marriage. But the fact is, "really believing" it doesn't decrease longing, and it seriously ticked me off today that by honouring it, I may have increased my chances for this disease.

The fact is, though, that I've never really wanted to have children. And in reality, of course, that one factor probably has very little to do with my getting cancer. I'm not being penalised. I know that. My diagnosis probably has more to do with my trying to protect the environment for a while by drinking out of my Starbucks travel mugs instead of disposing of paper cups all the time.

Thanks a lot.

3 comments:

jasdye said...

so at least now you can direct your anger at al gore, right?

christianne said...

You're right. That really does suck. As far as I'm concerned, cancer makes no sense anymore. I should clarify: the cancer "risks" in the world today makes it so that living life makes no sense anymore.

Mary Anne said...

I don't think it's the travel mugs...I think they're pretty clueless about lots of stuff that causes cancer. Or else they know, but don't tell us because the truth is that probably everything man-made causes cancer but of course they can't say that.