Surely not?

I've been talking to a friend who's a qualified reflexologist and is hoping to offer reflexology to cancer patients and their carers (carers need pampering too!) The question my friend asked was whether I would have signed up to have reflexology while I was undergoing treatment. That started me thinking, mainly because my immediate reaction was, "Cancer? Have I had cancer?"

It's a strange thing, as I've said before, that when I look back three years, I can remember feeling unwell, and I can remember being tattooed for radiotherapy, driving to the hospital every day for more than a month and coming home again feeling more drained by the travel than by the therapy. What I can't remember is actually having cancer. Every time anyone mentions it, or I think of it myself, my mind rejects that notion. I wonder why. I can only imagine it's because that for the society in which I live, cancer is the bogeyman that hides under the bed and jumps out when you least expect it. Other cancer survivors tell me that they have the same issue to deal with - it's impossible to make a connection between the person you are now and the person with cancer. In a way, I suppose, it's similar to thinking back to the person you were a decade ago, a lifetime ago. We change. In the case of cancer though, do we change, or does the cancer change us? Something I need to ponder, I think, so that's my question for the week.

The answer to the reflexology question, by the way, is yes, I would have signed up for it - but instead, I attended acupuncture sessions (and still do) as I find those very helpful.