Overload
Hi folks. Lucky here again.
One of my favorite places in the pond is over on Lily Pad 7, where you can find the Hop Chocolate Candy Shoppe. As a tadpole, I used to go there all the time, always leaping home with a mouthful of tasty treats. I dreamed of working there, and imagined myself eating as many chocolate-covered flies as I could fit in my gullet.
I finally got a job there one day, and ate so much the first hour that I thought I’d never want to see another piece of chocolate again, let alone eat one. It’s a kind of overload, I think, that happens with most things. What’s the old quote? Too much of anything, even a good thing, is a bad thing.
When Kate first started this blog over a year ago, she wanted to write about her own journey as someone with pancreatic cancer - and that’s what she’s done. Her posts discuss her experiences and feelings at various points in her fight with the disease. But between you and me and the other frogs, I think Kate has maybe hit a little bit of that overload that I was talking about earlier. At times, it’s hard for her to write only about cancer - that’s certainly not the only thing going on in her life, and it’s not the only thing that defines who she is. It’s not what she wants to think about 24/7. And honestly, after a while, it’s hard to always find something totally new to say - hence the Summer hiatus.
So with your support, I think I might whisper the idea in Kate’s ear that it would be perfectly okay for her, at least from time to time, to write a post or two here that aren’t directly about cancer. Those posts would continue to tell her story, and still do so against the backdrop of PC - and I think they’d also show exactly what Kate means when she writes “let’s see how much life I can squeeze in between work, chemo, sleep, and scans.”
Did you know, for instance, that Kate just got back from a vacation in California? I’d love to hear about it.
Hint, hint.
September 8th, 2008 saat: 4:25 pm
Would love to hear more about your California vacation (I live in the San Francisco Bay area myself). You are such a good writer - feel free to share your thoughts on any topic that pops into your head. Posting once or twice a month is not cutting it. We want more Kate!
September 8th, 2008 saat: 6:15 pm
Bring it on! You are such a wonderful writer; it would be great to hear about other events in your life. Also, in reading some cancer-related blogs, I realize that I tend to form a false impression of the blogger who writes exclusively about the cancer as someone who is always sick. Then, when (understandably) there’s a long time between posts, one can’t help but wonder whether the reason that person hasn’t written is that she is feeling poorly. I hope blogging is a healthy outlet for you; keep those creative juices flowing. I want to hear more about that giant ball you went rolling down the hill in!
September 8th, 2008 saat: 7:30 pm
Absolutely Kate! Blog on! My husband has PC and we try and ignore it as much as we can. Yes, cancer can be a big part of life, but there is so much more. I believe that to dwell on it gives it too much power. So we just deal with what needs to be dealt with and then carry on and try to keep it in the background. We’ve made it through 13 great months that way. So blog away about whatever you like–just keep blogging. We worry when you stay away too long!!
Amy in Baltimore
September 9th, 2008 saat: 6:08 am
Hi Kate and Lucky -
I would love to hear about your vacation to California! I just returned from my own vacation to Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Barbara! I too am on overload, and I welcome and look forward to hearing about your trip!
September 9th, 2008 saat: 6:34 am
Kate, I agree with Lucky. The people who care about you want to know how YOU are doing, not just your disease. If you want to blog about your latest trip to Giant or the DMV, I want to hear about it!
September 9th, 2008 saat: 8:09 am
Kate can write about anything she wants here because it is HER blog and she has earned the right to do so. The fact that she is such a good writer helps a lot too! I am wondering if Kate has checked into Leroy Seivers’ blog since he has been gone. Leroy was a wonderful writer and expressed how we all feel at times. Now his significant other has taken over writing and she is telling a great story from another perspective! Keep it up, Kate. You never know how many people are reading but not writing! You will touch (and help) many lives.
September 9th, 2008 saat: 10:45 am
Nice job, Lucky! What a thoughtful and provocative post. I didn’t realize frogs were capable of such nuanced thought.
September 9th, 2008 saat: 11:40 am
Lucky, thanks for the post. I keep up to date on Kate through her brother in-law Rod. Kate can write anything she wants to as I love reading her stuff. Tell us about your hats, your trips (the beach trip this year, Piegeon Forge, etc.). I meant to send you a post a few weeks ago. I have a fishing hat that I decorated. I have all these bright buttons, dragon flies, bugs, flowers, etc. sewn to it. On the very top I have sewn a fairly good sized rubber frog!! It is awesome. I wear it a lot on the boat and even when we go 4 wheelin!! People just look at me. One lady even asked why I put all that stuff on my hat. I looked at her and said “because I can”!! This comes back to your blog. It is yours, do what you want to with it! Have fun and live life to the fullest. We should all do that as we never know when our day will come. Take care and keep writing!
September 9th, 2008 saat: 8:21 pm
Lucky, you jump right over to the Kate pad and ribbit her into some creative posts about the other things in her life besides pc. Blogging about pc is OK too! There is lots of juicy material about the workplace (soap opera of sorts!). You go girl and keep fighting!
September 10th, 2008 saat: 12:16 am
I would love to hear more about Kate’s real life. I have PC (Kate sent me a helpful email just less than a year ago and even offered to drive out to meet me in Baltimore if I had treatment at John Hopkins) and life does go on, only I don’t write about it as well as Kate! Also - not sure if that’s a wig Kate is wearing in the photo but if so, I’m jealous and I want one - mine was dowdy and hers looks like Eva Longoria’s hair!!!
September 10th, 2008 saat: 6:05 pm
so good to read a post from Lucky. I would love to hear about anything that is going on with Kate; she’s a beautiful person who I am blessed to know.
September 11th, 2008 saat: 6:11 am
hi lucky, tell my aunt kate that i have a frog just like you!!! can’t wait to see my aunt kate this weekend!!love, samantha
September 11th, 2008 saat: 2:54 pm
Kate - go for it, just write; you are able to verbalize what others can’t. You have some wonderful life experiences and along with all the stuff that goes into fighting cancer, your life is uplifting to all of us and gives hope that we can squeeze in real life and even enjoy it.!
September 11th, 2008 saat: 5:40 pm
You know, for a while there, all I ever wrote about on my blog was updates about my scans, how I’m feeling, good days and bad days, cancer cancer cancer. Pages and pages and days and days of cancer. It has helped me in that the reality of it sunk in the more I wrote about it. But then I also got overwhelmed. Just recently in fact.
So I took a week off from blogging completely and that felt great. When I came back, I gave a brief update as to how I was feeling and ever since I’ve only been blogging about different things going on in my life. At first I thought there really wasn’t anything else BUT cancer in my life right now. But slowly and surely, the more random topics I picked to blog about, the more I saw was in my life. I’d pick one topic a day, non-cancer realated, and blog about that.
The other day I blogged about a lamp I want. See? Random.
Granted, not quite as many people commented on those random idea posts as they do when I’m talking about my treatment, side effects, doctors, etc. but thta’s okay. I know they’re still out there. And this blog is for me as much as it is for them.
So come on, Kate! Blog about something else! Tell us about your hair color, is it natural? have you ever had a perm? Or your pets. Or something you saw the last time you went shopping. ANYTHING!
Cancer does not define us as people. It’s just another facet of our lives. The smaller we make it, the more likely it is to go away.
Looking forward to non-cancer posts from you!