Laughs in the chemo suite

Laugh, it's good for you

I had my second chemo session yesterday and had a chance to ask questions about my scans and treatments. Last week, Mike and I were in total shock and unprepared. I feel better now that I have more information and am hopeful about new developments in breast cancer treatment that I’ve researched.

OK, so you’re wondering about what’s so funny about chemo? As I was getting my infusion, I was reading CURE magazine, a completely respectable publication that talks about the latest research and other information for cancer survivors. Then I came upon this article about dildos, yes dildos! The author, who happens to be a chaplain at a cancer center, wrote a hilarious piece on how she got her mojo back after breast cancer. I can’t do it justice, so you have to read it yourself. Here’s the link: http://www.curetoday.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/article.show/id/2/article_id/1246.

I showed it to my chemo nurse and she suggested copying it and giving it to my oncologist, who finds humor in these types of things. She did and handed it to me so I could write this note on it: Please read. This is something you should consider prescribing to patients. I handed it to him and he gave me a weird look. I can’t wait to follow up with him about it on my next appointment.

Sometimes you just have to find the humor in things. I could get all serious and quote studies that talk about the healing effects of humor, but that would be boring. I have Norman Cousins’ Anatomy of an Illness on hold at the library. He watched all kinds of funny movies and used humor to beat cancer. If you want a good laugh, another book is Cancer on $5 a Day (Chemo not included) by comedian Robert Schimmel. It’s a riot and a good example of how humor helped turn around negative circumstances.

It’s not the only answer, but I consider humor one of the tools in my arsenal to become a miracle survivor. Let’s hear from you: what is the funniest thing you experienced on your cancer journey?