Are Donkeys More Fun Than Cancer Patients?

Donkeys approach this pragmatically

I really don't have a lot of cancer research time. . . Sure, I could spend more hours per week getting really educated on latest developments and jamming off to cancer yoga classes etc.   But really. . . . Once us cancer patients get to the point to where there's not much time left. . . we get a bit quiet, we don't want to go to yoga or to whatever else is offered. We need to focus on the REAL stuff. We get a little introspective.

Terminal cancer people are in many ways like really old people, because they are facing death and can think about death seriously. "No, you're going to live forever!" is a nice family response and an appreciated sentiment. And we'll smile and hope for what you hope for, because you're so sweet. I have been on both sides now. . . I think both approaches, healthy and dying, need to listen above all else, and leave the contrary or expected sentiments silent. Real words and feelings that seek a voice despite stumbles are beautiful.

"Play Dead, Pickles!"

While our family are planning holidays, cancer folks are planning The Next Dimension, which is a far further stretch than "oh will we make the 9:40 train?"  

Give Us a Kiss, Honey!

My first glimpse of addressing our elderly was in England, where old age and confusion and care are just a normal part of family life, and everyone settles in at home.  Perhaps uncomfortably, but they all settle in anyway. "Gran" is here to stay. She might cuss from a chair in a corner while calling everyone by the wrong name but she's home.

When I was 8, we moved from Canada to England where the local primary school was the source of all of my friendships.  Most of my classmates had grandparents living with them.  Veterans from WWII. From my age, that meant odd grandpas (we were all warned in advance), and evening meals at my friends' houses of jam and bread. With Grandpa acting strangely.

In the USA, you never know.  In some families, caring for aging members is par for the course, but in other families, dealing with old age care is confusing to the younger set, so both parents and children are facing unsure outcomes, because they have no idea how the heck they are supposed to handle the many stresses involved. 

Cancer affects us all pretty severely.  The person you love, or the budding new mother, or the fun-loving child, is suddenly the sick, dependent person you didn't expect to have to care for this year. 

Would it be a social faux pas to say. . . Donkeys are Far more Fun?