Live or Die?

It's always Interesting to get to know patients... Today I met a woman who had a brain tumor and her son had had a brain tumor four years before her. The brain tumors were not genetic it just so happened that both of them had gotten one. She was truly amazing though. She told me that the small things never got to her anymore like waiting in rush hour traffic or waiting in line for something. Once you've been given a second shot at life, you are so grateful for life that you will be excited about life. She told me she had taken the stairs up to our office and I told her that I rarely take the stairs and the elevator was my best friend... She laughed and said she appreciates any exercise she gets. This woman likes EXERCISE? Yes, I know it makes you feel good but she truly felt blessed to be given the opportunity to take the stairs? Does this make you rethink your life? Does it make you think , "wow I really don't have it that bad!" I almost felt silly for some of the issues I think I have. I guess it's just a lesson to always love, don't hate anything, and just appreciate any opportunity to succeed which usually every opportunity is one that you can suceed in some how. Working in the dental field has opened my eyes because you form relationships with these people who you only see once every six months, and you truly are stunned at the things you hear. I remembered I cleaned a little girls teeth in December and she had Leukemia, and then she came back yesterday and she was done with chemo, AND recovering! I wanted to jump up and down and give her a hug, but her only being 6 years old, she prob. wouldn't understand why this strange girl was hugging her. My point is, you become so involved in these people's lives when you rarely see them. Maybe it's just my personality but I just can't help myself to cry with the people who are crying or to celebrate with the ones that have accomplished something. We also have a patient who came in a couple a weeks ago and he has stage 4 liver and colon cancer, and he just seemed to have the most positive outlook on life... Why is it that the people who are "dying" are more positive than the people that are "living". I guess it could be that the people who are "dying" are living their life to the fullest and not really dying but living, and then the people that are "living" are letting their lives slowly slip away and are not really living but slowly dying. I guess it's something to keep in mind when you're just going through the motions, why not dance through the motions, because in the end we are all dying, and on a journey to heaven.