The good cancer

Every thyroid cancer blog i've read has a post similar to this one.  

(A lot of conversations go something like this)
"I have cancer." (Which saying out loud is really hard to do. It's acknowledging something that you are wishing would go away)
" Oh. (Awkward pause) I am so sorry. What kind?"
"Thyroid"
"Oh that's good. At least it's treatable and the best kind to get."

Yes you are right. If I had to choose a cancer this would be the one i'd pick.  But that doesn't make it easy, or less scary, or easier on my husband.   It doesn't mean that with good odds i'd like to take a chance and gamble.   It's hard because at times I felt like when I explained that it was thyroid cancer I was actually brushed off. "Oh my sister-in-law had that and she had an easy recovery." It seems as if everyone knows someone who has had thyroid cancer and dealt with it easily.

But if there is one thing I would like to share is that cancer is cancer.  You feel like there is an alien invasion inside of you and you don't know how to stop it.   I loved talking to my friends husband one day. He saw me out on a walk and asked how I was doing. (Another one of my least favorite questions.  How do you answer? ! Good? Awful?) Anyway he wanted to tell me about when they found out.  He said they were driving and his wife got a text and immediately started crying. He was concerned and asked what happened. She said Sherri Gunn has cancer.  He asked what kind and she said, "Does it matter?"  When he told me that I started crying also because she got it. She understood that although I have a great prognosis, and know that so many are diagnosed with awful diseases and I should consider myself lucky, I am also struggling with having my life turned upside down.