What can I do about it?

Some people ask me how I can keep going with everything. I work 30 hours a week, take 10 credit hours at the university, grocery shop (with the help of my 11 year old daughter Halle), cook meals, and deal with lung cancer and Cushing's syndrome. What else can I do? I deal with it.

Really, there isn't a lot more I can do than what I'm already doing, so why stress about it? Life must go on. I am still alive you know!

I could cry about it. I do sometimes.

I could sit around worrying about it. Will that change anything? No. (Well, it would make me less productive in other areas of my life.)

I could waddle all up in a little ball and hide myself from the world. But then I would be alone and that's no good at all.

I could be angry. With who? For what?

There are all kinds of feelings people say they would have if they were in my shoes. Luckily they don't have to be in my shoes - their a "one size fits ONLY Heather Rasmussen." Believe me, you don't want to be in my shoes.

Really, you never know how you will react to a situation until your in it. That's why people in the military, emergency first contacts, flight attendants, etc. do training in simulated situations. This gives them at least the feeling of what it would be like to be in an emergency where their individual talents or training come into play. You can't just read about how to react and expect that will be the same as the real life experience.

This isn't how I thought I would react to having cancer. I think I thought I would do all of those things people have said they would do - cry, anger, hide away, worry (and one that nobody has mentioned - die). I thought that cancer meant I would be done for. That death was surely on the way.

When I tell people how rare my lung cancer is, they look at me like they have just seen a ghost. I immediately tell them that rare does not equal incurable. It just means that there aren't enough people like me to study, so the doctors have to kind of wing it with treating me.

So, I could do all of those things that wouldn't help my situation. But why? There are so many other things I have to take care of. Plus, aren't there more things out there to worry about (school), hide away from (negativity in the world), cry about (Haiti), or be angry about (that just raises blood pressure and a bad vibe, so I don't recommend it ever)?

My point: Don't cry over spilt milk. Clean it up and move on.