Some days are good, some days are bad, but every bloody day is a gift.
One sentence changed my entire life! Sounds too dramatic to be true? Well put it this way, there is not a day that goes by that I don’t remember those words and it seems to work magic on any situation.
So… it’s late October 2015 and I’m feeling knackered, I mean really tired! And because I’m a bulletproof-male-soldier-on kinda guy, naturally I ignored it. However, like most other times in my life, my partner Trace took over and knocked sense into me… and off to the Doctor we went… and then the tornado hit.
– Oh you have a lump on your kidney; BANG!
– Oh you have cancer in your kidney; BANG!
– Oh you have three cancers by the looks of it; BANG!
– Oh we can’t do a biopsy on that one cause it’s too dangerous; BANG!
And all within about three weeks.
Enter Dr Google and a search of every possible combination and every possible outcome! Oh great idea that one…not!
Then came THAT meeting where I heard that one sentence (my specialists were brilliant…but frank). “Two possible scenarios – If it’s this scenario you have an 80% chance of a cure, if it’s this scenario you have a 10% chance of survival”.
Trace and I were both there. Trace heard the 80% bit, I heard the 10% bit. So I do what any rational person would do and went to bed for two weeks! Luckily I have Trace as my partner!
When I eventually stopped sulking and got back on the horse we made a decision that was lesson number one. Don’t think past the next meeting with the specialist. It is a waste of time, nerves and fingernails.
I had the kidney and all the renal cavity bits removed on 14 Jan. Great, that was easy …but then the wait… until mid April to find out which scenario we were playing here. That was tough!
On schedule out comes the lung lob on 24th April and yeaaaahhhh it’s a separate cancer and not the kidney one that spread. Lotto winner feeling!! And the other hotspot disappeared, they cant find it. Man, I have won the lottery of life.
My life is a series of bad and good moments but the funny thing is bad is just a relative term and really, its not that bad. A switch has been flicked that allows me to weigh the importance of situations and thoughts, and it has improved my outlook on life.
And that, my friends, is why I believe that every day is a bloody gift.
Finally, people ask me about what it’s like to think you are going to die. Well it makes it very clear what’s important in your life. Look around you, they are the people you know and love. It’s the moments that you remember with those people. So go, go see your loved ones, give them a big hug and kiss and make another precious memory.
I hope my story helps you in life.
Mick
