Don't Worry About It

I’ve said before, as have many people, that when you’re in a situation like mine you look at things differently. This is certainly true about serious things like how you value loved ones and how you view faith. But it’s also true when it comes to less important things. And sometimes you can laugh at things you may not have before being in this situation. A good example was Jim Valvano, former basketball coach for North Carolina State University. In 1993, just eight weeks before he died of bone cancer, he gave a speech at the ESPY Award presentations. It was a very passionate, poignant speech in which he was talking not only about his career, but also about his battle with cancer. After a while someone from the production crew in the back of the audience started frantically signaling him that he had only 30 seconds left. Valvano said “That screen is flashing up there thirty seconds like I care about that screen right now, huh? I got tumors all over my body. I'm worried about some guy in the back going thirty seconds? You got a lot, hey va fa a napoli, buddy. You got a lot…” In other words some things are just not as important as they once were. You don’t sweat the small stuff. You gotta FUGETABOUTIT. Like Jimmy V, I don’t know how much time I have left so there’s a lot of things I can just FUGETABOUT. Here’s a few examples. In order to lessen the amount of typing and be as brief as possible I’ll just abbreviate FUGETABOUT with the shortened version FUG.

• For a while I was a little self conscious about going out in public with the visible side effects of chemo like eyes constantly tearing, nose dripping or simply wearing the infusion pump. Now I just say FUG it, I don’t care.

• We’re all told that in order to lead long healthy lives we need to have good eating habits. Heck, much of the time I don’t feel like eating anything so if I see something I want, regardless of its nutritional value…. FUG it. I’m eating it.
• Long term financial planning ???? For me long term is about three months. Seems to me the only financial plan that would work in that time frame is to buy lottery tickets. FUG it.
• Sometimes when I go outside to work I’m warned to put a hat on or wear sunscreen. Sunscreen? Why? I’ve got life threatening tumor inside of me and I’m gonna worry about a possible mole on my skin? FUG it.
• I used to worry about the political environment and the direction our country is headed in. But now I realize that no matter how bad it may be, this country is not going down for at least another 10 years. Ten years???? I don’t think that will affect me. FUG it.
• Recently I’ve been warned that having paracentesis (draining the abdominal fluid) runs the risk of infection. Are you kidding me? Have you seen my chart? This fluid is causing me difficulty eating, breathing and walking. My body is riddled with cancer. My liver is not working well. Do you really think I’m concerned about a booboo on my belly? FUG it, do the procedure.

Carry on.

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