Death is a touchy subject. Death impacts the quality of life through a variety of means. However, death, in the truest sense, is a lie and subject to much controversy.
Once in a while, I get a foreboding feeling. This unwanted vibration leaves me questioning the circumstances. In other words, what happens in life may sometimes lead to terrifying experiences. One such experience is the diagnosis of cancer. For some, cancer is easily rectified with a biopsy and removal of the cancer from the body. Still, for others, cancer is a life-threatening disease, rapidly evolving, with the most morbid means of trying to cure it. In either case, death and cancer are all too often clumped together. However, my way of seeing circumstances paints a different scenario altogether.
He was sitting upright in a leather office chair with a large white gauze taped to his nose. Seeps of blood oozed from the sides of the gauze. His left eye was swollen nearly shut, and the area under his eye was aggravated and red.
"How was the biopsy?" I asked.
His response was cavalier, "Well, you know."
He gave a little laugh. I peered at him closely and decided the procedure must have been painful. "No news yet?" I asked.
"I have an appointment for a follow-up in two weeks," he replied. I glanced around the room to see if there was anything I could do, then walked away quietly. My heart sank.
The next day, the swelling went down, and his face was normal again. I reminded him that he looked good. He didn't have much to say in response to that, so I left the room again.
Days passed when it occurred to me that even in life's moments when the outcome is uncertain, there is an abiding joy.
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