I remember going to a high school reunion and these reunions happened about every 5 years or so and I had missed several due to a divorce, relocation to another State, and dealing with the side effects of cancer. My of my friends with whom I traveled through Europe after graduation, criticized me horribly for not attending and using cancer as an excuse because he had prostate cancer, surgery, and treatment and managed to attend.
That bothered me for a long time until I went to a Urologist who informed me that for many years Urologists have been able to easily control and contain prostate cancer minimizing the side effects of surgery and treatments.
Now, I think about this SO-CALLED friend of mine and I see him for exactly who he is and who he is not and rather than telling him to stick his head up his ass, I simply prefer to no longer refer to him as my friend.... along with all those others so called friends of mine who agreed with him that night and treated me accordingly.
And while no one knows exactly what the other person is feeling or what his/her body might be experiencing, I do know what it is like to FEEL AND EXPERIENCE DEPRESSION and how that feeling permeates throughout the entirety of one's body no matter how hard mentally one tries to control it.
I also know what it is like to have depression come and go but never leave and just as soon as one starts to feel better, one never knows for sure how long that will last... sometimes, the cycles are short, sometimes long... but they are always there... and, they seem to be managed a little better the older one becomes because the outcomes, especially being retired, no longer matter.
