rocky

To use a running analogy, surgery is like a sprint—hard but fast, efficient, and over quickly. Chemo is, of course, a longer run, often lasting either three or six months. Inevitably, as the treatments progress over time, you settle into a routine just like you do when running a marathon.

Chemo Land is such an alternative universe that it often feels like you’re running to an unknown finish line.

Maybe the better analogy is boxing. Each treatment is another round. As each round progresses, it gets harder and harder to climb back into the center ring for her, and for you. But a breast cancer  fight is a whole lot longer than a twelve rounder. It doesn’t end when one combatant falls to the canvas for a ten count. It is a battle to the death. And you can help make sure she is the winner.

The greatest fighter-philosopher of all time, Rocky Balboa, had this to say about what the fight for life is all about:

The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit; it’s bout how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.

So keep moving forward.