When I count them with all ten fingers...

[brightrosefox]

"Whenever I have received a serious diagnosis, I was stunned, then anguished as I recounted my diagnosis to my family, explaining to them something I didn't fully understand and trying to reassure them while I was quaking at the prosect of what was to come. Each time I have stood in awe of how much energy it takes to get from the bad news to actually starting on the return path to health: figuring out whether my diagnosis was right and what course of treatment to take - slogging through the tests, searching the internet, getting to know all the new doctors and their receptionists, arranging for coverage by my insurance, comforting my parents -- all while feeling somewhere between extremely anxious and downright terrible."

"Every time I have received bad health news, I have felt like a healthy person who has been accidentally drop-kicked into a foreign country; I don't know the language, the culture is unfamiliar, I have no idea what is expected of me, I have no map, and I desperately want to find my way home."

--Jessie Gruman, Aftershock

***

Dr. Gruman spoke about cancer and its devastations. But these quotes can apply to just about anything.