Rosie O’Donnell turns to poetry during her breast cancer scare
Rosie O'Donnell gets the all-clear from cancer. AP Photo
Last week talk show host Rosie O’Donnell was given the all-clear from biopsies performed on her, following the finding of two breast lumps. O’Donnell, 48, whose mother died of breast cancer at 39, says she is particularly vigilant due to her family history.
While awaiting the results of her tests, Rosie took to writing poetry on her blog:
“another MRI a mammogram and sonogram/in between each/back to the waiting area/my favorite part of the whole thing/silent women in washed out robes/blue, green, occasionally striped/all sullen faced—stoic—numb/not really there at all”
I found that description of stoic women waiting numbly in washed out robes, incredibly moving. It took me right back to the waiting room of the breast clinic when I was waiting to get the results of my own breast biopsy in 2004. The room was crowded with anxious faced women and no one caught each other’s eye. As each woman’s name was called by the nurse, they returned to the room either looking relieved or shocked. I remember walking back through the room in utter shock after I received my diagnosis, passing the still waiting women, thinking this is like a lottery – who gets to go home with an all clear, who gets to face into months of treatment. It all felt like life’s lottery to me in those moments – as if the finger of fate had come into the room and pointed its finger at me alone. It’s funny the things you remember…
What do you remember of that anxious time spent waiting for your own results?
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I remember well the anxious wait of a week for my own results after a biopsy, last year. Thankfully mine too was benign – I don’t know how i would have coped if it wasn’t
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Ali, you would cope. None of us are ready for the day we are told we have cancer, but you have no choice but to cope when you do hear those words. You would have found reserves of strength you never knew existed.
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Yes Lorraine is right – we are never prepared for the diagnosis of cancer – how could you be – but the human spirit is resilient and you learn to cope.
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Writing is great therapy – I found that too when I was diagnosed and throughout my treatment.
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My husband and i were taken to a small room away from all the other examing rooms by a nurse who did not look at us. I knew then it was not good. When the dr. started talking and said “unfortunately” it is cancer , i had to ask him to stop talking, the roar in my head was so loud i could not focus on his words.
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I was completely calm, almost as if the result was expected. My husband, on the other hand, was in shock. Things moved pretty quickly from that point on; I was diagnosed on August 23rd of this year and had a double mastectomy on Sept. 1st. I’m currently undergoing chemotherapy… round 5 of 8 this morning. Once completely, my ovaries will be removed.
All that being said, if I had had much time to think about it, really know what I was asking my body to handle, I might have run and hid in a closet for a long season. I do worry about the “after”; I think you address this issue nicely in one of your posts. I think when that time arrives, I will crash and all that’s been going on will hit me square between the eyes and heart.
Thank you for your website; I’ll be back often as I can.
peace~elaine
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