In October in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness I will post a daily blog with a reflection about breast cancer. The reflections will stem from something in the play. (All quoted lines are text from the play.)
Day 23: Talking to Someone. “I need to talk to someone,” I realize after we find the lump on Susan’s chest. I am walking around the house “early on the Sunday morning after we found the lump, wondering what it is going to be like being alone.” I admit that those Sunday mornings were “the times I tended to get sad and depressed, because Susan was still upstairs asleep and didn’t see me.” Among the scariest moments for people who face the loss of a longtime partner is facing the prospect of “being alone.” Being alone is not merely the fact of living a solitary life in a house that was once filled with family or a spouse; it is also sense of being alone in the universe, of having lost “the other half of my whole.” (See Day16) In performing the show one of the most frequent comments I hear from people who have lost their mates is about the “silence” of early mornings. I realized the need to talk and it was through the talking I found the ultimate peace with the journey that I would need. It wasn’t easy though. It didn’t work the first time.
Stat of the Day: Susan and I went on our first date in 1964 --- 51 years ago. And we first “noticed” each other though we never really met in 1961 54 years ago!
Task of the Day: Call, visit or email. Your “voice” can be a miracle drug for someone who is experiencing “being alone.” Silence can be oppressive. This can someone who has lost a loved one, someone who so going through their own cancer or are living with someone who is going through cancer.
Resource of the Day: The American Psychosocial Oncology Society has an information and referral help line: Toll Free 1-866-276-7443 (1-866-APOS-4-HELP).