Pause

In the biopsy room of a cancer center there is a poster that is addressed to patients. It says, “you can say, ‘stop.’” During a biopsy where I had to stay awake I encountered pain and, taking the poster at its word I said, “stop.” And the medical team did stop until the pain was resolved.

That reminded me that it is possible to say, “stop,” or “let’s pause.” We can say pause when we want to take a chemo break for a vacation or wedding or family event. We can say pause when surgeries are supposed to be scheduled. We can say “pause” when we need an extra breath before chemo starts.

Pausing is a tool that can make the journey easier, or possible. When we use this powerful tool we don’t need to apologize. We can just request. After all, this is a journey not a sentence. And we need to take the pauses we need to keep marching through cancer world.

This may also be true for non-cancer folks.