If you ever catch me.....

....feeling sorry for myself, moaning about some insignificant occurrence in my life or indulging in a 'self-pity party' please kick my ass hard and remind me of this post!

A few weeks ago I posted about my friend who having just been diagnosed with breast cancer was coping in a manner which I found then, and still find now, incredible.

This lady is a true inspiration I think to all who know her. I won't go into her personal situation, it is not for me to elaborate on that and if she even knew I write about her doubtless she would deny all I say, for she herself thinks she is 'nothing special'!

Nothing special eh? Within ten days of her diagnosis she underwent the necessarily quite major surgery....... and three days later she returned to work! From that day to this she has not missed one shift, never called in sick, never been late and has been the devils own job to persuade to go for an extra break here and there, even when she feels shattered. She hasn't complained of her quite considerable pain, she hasn't uttered a single self pitying word and she hasn't allowed anyone to take any of her work responsibilities from her. We do quite a physical job at times, we are required to life items sometimes up to 25kg, in multiples, and the only concession she has made to her illness or surgery is to allow me or someone else to do some of the heavy lifting for her, though on occasion I have had to be particularly 'firm' with her to stop her carrying on even that as usual!

This coming week she undergoes the first session in a particularly gruelling program of chemotherapy that is set to last well into next year....still not a murmur of complaint! Yes, of course she is scared witless, her greatest horror right now is in losing her beautiful hair but even that she has faced and later next week she is having it all cut off so that the 'falling out' process hopefully won't seem quite so traumatic. For her it is not a case of 'if' she loses her hair, rather of 'when'. The doses of chemo she is to receive leave little room for doubt.

This lady is truly amazing and leaves me feeling very humble, she has barely 'missed a beat' throughout this traumatic time, she has remained fun to be around and to anyone but those who know her very well there would be nothing in her manner to even suggest she has a head cold, let alone cancer. In all of this I have only known her shed one tear and thus far she has attended every hospital appointment alone, despite constant offers to accompany her.

Finally today she gave in a little and has agreed to let me take her for some of her chemotherapy sessions, but I might add she has every intention of driving herself where she can and her parting words to me this evening as we left work were...."I'll see you next Saturday", this was not a reference to a visit we have planned, it was a reference to her intention to be at work next Saturday!!

In comparison I feel an incredible lightweigh, my friend is facing all this with a level of courage I can't imagine possessing and yet I, the bystander, find myself at times just looking at her and having to bite back the tears! I have of course become quite adept at various distraction techniques for should I shed a tear she would no doubt 'clip me one hard around the ear' and tell me to pull myself together in no uncertain terms!

So, from here on in it's 'best foot forward' and all that, I am not ignorant of the facts but being a wimp never helped anyone and a positive attitude just might....and like I said at the beginning of this post, if you hear me even begin to organise a self-pity party over some insignificant happening, do me a favour and kick my rear hard!