The two magazines I subscribe to, Time and Runners World were filled with nothing but articles on cancer. First there was Dr. Oz bigger than life on the cover of Time, and since I don't watch his show I was completely unaware he had a scare. The cover of Runners World was all about running while having, recovering or being in treatment with cancer. Ok, I have to admit it was in my face and while many of the stories were exceptional it is not always the reality.
I leafed through the pages and only one article caught my eye. It was in Time and titled Scanxiety. It was real, it was poignant, it was scary and in this author's life a gift of another three months. While reading it the same feelings of my heart pounding, the unspoken words leading up to "the day", the drive to the fifteen minute chest x-ray that would determine our next move was just plain horrible. We would hold our breath waiting to know if we could exhale until the next one or have the wind knocked out of us.
Scanxiety is part of the lives of every cancer patient, no matter how many months or years they are out of treatment. "The Day" is never far from their minds.
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