The encounter

It happened again today. I ran into someone I hadn't seen in years. Exchanged pleasantries yada yada and then the question I dread "I heard you had gone through a health scare awhile back. I assume everything is OK now?" Hmmm... I could handle this with my usual " oh of course" and move on. For some reason today, that lie just didn't flow out of my mouth. I anwered "well, no not really. I am still on treatments. " Cut to aquantance with puzzled look. "actually, I have metastatic disease and will always be on treatment". Aquaintance:"So, your not back to work?" Me: "No, indicating my 2 little ones sitting a few feet away. With them and my tratments, my life is pretty busy."
I don't know if I am comfortable with the role of cancer educator. Why put myself through that when a simple "I'm fine now" would have ended the exchange? I don't know. But, for today, there is one more person in the world questioning what he thought he knew about cancer.