Positivity!

Several people have told me that they've been impressed by my positive outlook during the last few months. Well, I'd like to take credit for being a tremendously positive person, but, as anyone who knows me will verify, I'm really anything but that.

Having said that, being positive, I think, is the only thing to do in some situations. The damage is already done, so you might as well just do your best to fix it and not moan (much). Many of the people at the treatment centre were in such a terrible state that I felt a real fraud being able to drive myself there and back every day.

The thing that was really noticeable was how positive everyone there was, from the receptionist to the radiotherapists to the medical staff and the patients. Even the woman who'd gone to have an operation for a trapped nerve in her leg and came home having been diagnosed with inoperable stomach cancer was cheerful. The young man with a brain tumour was cheerful. The school girl who'd lost all her hair and was walking around with the aid of crutches was cheerful. I really couldn't have been anything but positive with those fantastic examples in front of me. The human spirit is a truly amazing thing and although it's been stressful, upsetting,unpleasant and even scary at times, I think the experience has probably added a lot to my own view of life and has certainly affected my attitudes about what really matters.