Living In-Between

I want to share something I wrote for Lymphoma News Today. It's called "Living In-Between."

In the piece, I tell a story about a beer. At this point, it's a 15 year old beer, still unopened.

And it's become a kind of symbol for me. It makes me think a lot about what I call "living in-between" -- not really being cured, but not being in treatment. It's a state of mind that a lot of us with Follicular Lymphoma live in.

I link to another article that I've linked to before -- "Time for a New cancer Paradigm" by FL patient Terrilyn McCormick. I think Terrilyn does a great job of describing that need for a new way of thinking.

It's not easy. We'd like to be completely well. But we're not. But most likely, we're grateful that we're in the place we are, still able to do at least some of the things that we'd like to do.

I say it a lot -- Follicular Lymphoma is an emotional disease as much as a physical disease. Even as many of us don't have physical symptoms, we still have plenty of emotional symptoms, things that affect out mental health. It helps to recognize that, I think. We all feel many of the same things. We share many of the same worries and fears. I think it's vital for us to remember that, and I hope other FL patients take some comfort when they find that out.

So find your own ways of "living in-between." But, especially, remember that you don't need to do it alone. It's OK to rely on caregivers for help. But it's OK -- more than OK -- to find a community, online or face-to-face -- that can help you, too.