“Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me.”* When I was 22, I was informed of a previously scheduled engagement with my mortality. I was angry for a lot of reasons, but mostly because I had never asked or wanted to know how much time I had left. What the doctor neglected to say, and I never thought to acknowledge, was that he could have been wrong, maybe this disease wasn’t as immediately terminal as he thought. What we both forgot, was that life is by nature, a fatal condition. Too much information may give you permission to “live,” but it can also bleed the “life” out of your life.
*Emily Dickinson
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Recording Life Under the radar 
Doctors are not always the best people to give you information concerning you diagnosis. For them it is an assessment of what they have been taught but not necessarily information that should be shared with a patient. Hope is is great encouragement to fight and that should never be taken away from anybody. My wife was given a poor estimation of her chances but by sheer guts outlived that by many years.
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Im with her! It takes guts and some luck…I have currently outived my prognosis by quite a bit. That’s the luck part!
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Oh my, this is stunning, Ivy. Must say, too, that I’ve lost my awe of doctors–I’m sure there are many fine ones, but I’ve not had the best luck with them.
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Its taken many years to cultivate relationships with the correct doctors for me… I have kissed many a frog in that department!
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It seems to be a sad but common tale.
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Life is by nature, a terminal condition. We all know the quality, the circumstances, the inevitablity, can change in the wink of an eye. This piece is haunting and thought provoking. I, for one, am glad you are still around. F doctors.
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so true , Val. Life changes on a dime. Thanks for reading it … I like my docs now but it took a long time to find the right ones!
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excellent, thought-provoking Six!
(made me think of a line from ‘Fight Club’ “On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.”)
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GREAT line! Thanks , Clark.
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I was seriously misdiagnosed by mine. She had conducted a scan of almost all parts of my body, except the head, and I found that I had tumors. Doctors may not be the best judge, indeed.
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Thank goodness for misdiagnosis sometimes though….although that one didn’t work to your advantage! I’m just glad you remain well,Michelle!
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There’s a commercial that runs here for a cancer treatment center in Tulsa where a patient says, after receiving a terminal diagnosis from her doctor, the doctors at this place (a for-profit, questionable treatment place, I’ll add, not that it matters for this story) told her she had no expiration date stamped on her anywhere. And that’s the bottom line. You have one, it’s just not printed anywhere for anyone to see.
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We have that… the pancreatic cancer lady… “Peggy, I don’t see an expiration date stamped on the bottom of your foot!” I watched one of the patients in the transfusion room do a whole riff on that commercial!
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Yep, that’s her! But they certainly have a point.
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Yup they sure do!
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Yes…life is terminal. It’s what we do in the meantime, I guess. I just want lots and lots and lots of meantime for you ❤
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What say in the meantime we meet in New Jersey?
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YES let’s 😀 Very much so. And still figure out who’s sharing with whom 😉
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You me anybody else who wants a place to crash…whatevs!
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I am happy you cancelled that reservation! Great six sentences!
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Me too!
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*One of my very favorite poems.
I can’t imagine receiving news like that ever, never mind at 22, when life for many of us is just beginning to unfold. It doesn’t occur to most of us to doubt what the “experts” tell us. They’re doctors! Except, they’re human and as you are testament to, they’re often incorrect.
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Thank God they are often incorrect!
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Great Six Sentence Story! I too like Emily Dickinson’s poetry. Glad you have outlived the prognosis timeline. Blogging must good for your health. 🙂
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Thanks Pat!
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A family close to ours was left shattered because of the wrong diagnosis (a liver disease) and the patient lost more weight due to mental agony than from what he suffered; jaundice.
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A miss is sometimes a relief as well as long as you dont miss out on appropriate treatment!
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“Life is by nature a fatal condition.” Exactly! We are all dying in one way or another at some time or another. It isn’t so much about when or how you get there but how much you valued the journey and loved those walking you home.
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That last line of your comment is absolutely poetic!
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I’m sorry you were given incorrect information, but I’m glad the information was incorrect!
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I’m totally good with it. I recognize what I have is rare. Maturity has taught me to recognize that people are only human.:)
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