Slay ... Jon Snow

My Mom had breast cancer. She found a lump when she was 55. She went through a lumpectomy, chemo and radiation. I'm very happy to say that the cancer has not come back.

I'm not really much for support groups so being able to discuss cancer stuff with my Mom has helped immeasurably. One of the things that she told me was that it was helpful to her to visualize the chemo as a small army of soldiers killing the cancer cells.

People who go through chemo are tough as hell mentally. Yes, chemo is absolutely awful physically. There is pain and nausea and awful physical side effects. But mentally, it is a beast. As a chemo patient, you have to walk into a clinic and let someone put an IV filled with chemicals into you, when you know ... you know ... how awful it is going to make you feel. And, not only do you do it, you do it gladly and with a smile on your face because you know that it is your best chance to live.  

So, yes, visualizing tiny soldiers killing cancer cells is one thing that helps when you are so dizzy you can't sit up or you feel so nauseous that you can't imagine eating again.

At one point during all of this, I decided that if I was going to think about soldiers killing my cancer cells, it was going to be my ultimate solider.

Slay that cancer, Jon Snow.