Good News Bad News

There are lot of stories about good news, bad news. Which one do you want to hear first? One that pops up in my memory bank is about the pilot of a small plane. He announces that he has good news and bad news. His passengers want the good news first. He said they had a strong tail wind and they are way ahead of schedule. The bad? "We're lost."

We all like news, especially good news. We can do without the ever-present bad news. Yet it has to happen. Not all news can be good. Some of you probably know that recently I had some good news and some bad news. After several weeks of not feeling up to par, I was given a few tests. The bad news? I had an infected spleen which had to go. The good news? The cancer is treatable.

Cancer has not been rife in our immediate family. However, my mother became ill, and the diagnosis was inoperable cancer. What I don't know since I was just shy of four years old is what kind of cancer it was. In mentioning this to one of my doctors, he said it could have been ovarian cancer which spreads rapidly and is not easy to detect (especially in 1931).

My senior moment at this time is to concentrate on the good news. Lymphoma is treatable, and there have been incredible improvements in chemotherapy.
That's good news, and I would be wise to dwell on that. And I do. Most of the time.

However, it is easy to feel sorry for ourselves, and some of the side effects are unpleasant but tolerable. Just today I mentioned to my wife (who has been an invaluable help) that if I feel like I have been feeling lately it's going to be a long eighteen weeks. She gave me that look and I changed the subject. It is so easy to slip into the bad news side of life.
Especially when there is so much good news.

Dwelling on the good news does generate better senior moments.