MONDAY MEMOIRS - Humpty Dumpty

Every once in a while, I visit a website called "Writing Through Cancer". This website is the brainchild of Sharon Bray, a writer, teacher, and author. It was inspired by her own journey through cancer. Each week she shares a writing prompt that anyone can use to help guide them in writing about their cancer experience. She has several months of prompts available on the website. I was searching through Sharon's prompts, and found one from the week of August 28th. This prompt started with the familiar words of this nursery rhyme:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again!



As I read through these lines, and then through Sharon's own essay, I realized what a fitting rhyme this is for those of us who have had their lives interrupted by illness, tragedy, or anything else. There are so many stumbling blocks on this road we call life, and each one of those stumbling blocks changes our course. Our lives fall apart, and it's often hard to put those lives back together again.

I know in my own cancer experience my diagnosis, and subsequent journey through treatment caused many changes - not just physical changes (weight gain, nausea, lost of hair and nails, amputations, scars, loss of energy, etc.), but lifestyle changes as well (job loss, slowing down, needing help, etc.). I'm two and a half years out from my last chemo treatment, but still struggle with many things. It has been tough to "put Humpty together again".

Today, in your cancer journal, respond to this writing prompt. Talk about the "great fall" that has happened in your life (diagnosis), the "king's men and horses" (doctors and care-givers), and the puzzle of putting "Humpty together again".

"I can't go back to yesterday - because I was a different person then." -Lewis Carroll

-Kara