In a nutshell

I’m excited to have been asked to contribute to a book, ‘What I Wish I Knew about Cancer’, part of a series of books in which our older selves give advice to our younger selves. There’s a whole raft of them, covering all sorts of topics – love, motherhood, and one I’m looking forward to reading, ‘What I Wish I Knew At Eighteen’. (A very short book surely? Because didn’t we all know everything there was to know at eighteen?) My words of wisdom will be captured by the author, Marty Wilson, alongside a photograph of my younger self. (Probably the Bonnie Tyler one from this post.)

I was telling Alan about this over dinner last week. The conversation went something like:

Alan: So it’s what you wish you’d known before this all started?

Me: Basically, yes.

Alan: So…. what will you say?

Me: I don’t know, really. (thinks) I suppose….. Don’t worry. Don’t panic. Be patient.

*

So there you have it: three things I wish I’d been around to tell myself when my dance with cancer began. All easier said than done, I know, but most things worth doing are.

Thinking about it, what I wish I’d done is written ‘Don’t worry. Don’t panic. Be patient.’ somewhere prominent and looked at it morning, noon and night. Douglas Adams was right when he wrote that the best thing about The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was that it said ‘DON’T PANIC’ in big friendly letters on the cover. Dancing with cancer, being more time-consuming, complicated and dangerous than intergalactic space and time travel, requires just a little more advice.