Journal Entry
John Roberts Cancer Journal March 21 2009 TIME
March 21, 2009John Roberts Cancer Journal
For Patients, Survivors, Caregivers, and Loved Ones
Winning is habit-forming: start early, do not practice failing.
Contact: John@www.CanFighter.com
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Time
Our time is measured in quality, not quantity.
Losing time is worse than losing money. The money can be earned again, but the time is lost forever. A rare and wonderful sight is the young person who manages and values time even more than an old person who knows how little is left but lacks the energy and ambition to magnify the treasure of each minute.
––John Roberts
Man has risen so far above all other species that he competes in ways unique in nature. He fights by means of complicated weapons; he fights for ends remote in time.
––Charles A. Lindbergh
We cannot put off living until we are ready. The most salient characteristic of life is its coerciveness: it is always urgent, ‘here and now’ without any possible postponement. Life is fired at us point blank.
––José Ortega Y Gasset, The Mission of the University, 1944
Cancer diagnosis locks our attention on the future, interfering with our need to deal with the present. You will never have a more challenging and rewarding time management problem than in making the best of the time before you die. Those years or months have great value in how we use them and how we view them. A vague perspective forms, but the cold wind swirls the mists.
Time remaining is finite, but always uncertain, always surprising. There comes a time when we should place less emphasis on the amount of time remaining and think more on the quality of that time. Eventually, a doctor must say: “I can do no more to increase the quantity of time remaining; I can only try to preserve the quality of life and minimize suffering.” Care changes from treatment and cure to palliative recognition that there is little more to be done except make remaining time comfortable during the final journey. A different attitude must govern thoughts.
Time management is more than cramming as much work as possible into the limited time available. True, we waste a lot of time in our ordinary lives, and should learn to manage what we do so that the important things get done. When we do something can be more important than how we do it. Doing things at the right time changes the effect. Good things done at the wrong time can be a great waste of effort. Sometimes we may feel the need to rush into valued activities while they are still possible, but we may also discover the important therapy and happiness of just relaxing and enjoying the pleasures of long walks, good books, loved ones, children, and nothing but positive thoughts and light activity. We are slowly building an edifice of peace and understanding from many materials.
The value of time varies as the result of symptom fluctuation, erratic remission, and the waning effectiveness of treatments. There may be much uncertainty about the future. One must not allow emotions to fluctuate between extremes as news and feelings change. Maintain a steady, optimistic course, fitting together hope and realism and the construction of courage and acceptance for final days, whenever that may come. So many cancer patients become long-term survivors, with extended remissions or cures, that there is no sense in creating unhappy days with pessimistic attitudes along the way. We cannot flinch under fire.
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