​Why I Joke About Having Cancer

It has come to my attention that a lot of people are made uncomfortable by my level of comfort with the fact that I have cancer. It has also been brought up that some people are in fact offended by the fact that not only am I remarkably comfortable with this state of being, but I also tend to make a lot of jokes about it. Now I understand that some people will always be offended by this sort of thing, but I'd like to explain my side of things.

I have cancer. I have cancer and one of the most sarcastic senses of humor you can imagine. I've always dealt with hard things in my life with that sense of humor in tact whenever I could. It's not a defense mechanism, and I'm not avoiding dealing with anything. Seriously, I have cancer. You can't really be in denial for very long about that even if you want to. 

But that's also no reason to go through the process angry or sad or depressed all the time. Yes, bad days happen. I've spoken about that before. But happiness is a state of mind, not a set of circumstances, and I made up my mind the very first day that I was going to handle this with as much humor and strength as I could possibly muster.

So...enter cancer jokes.

Like for real, I made a cancer joke that very first day when I was told how rare my diagnosis is. I told the room that I find it funny that I can't even do cancer normally. Right there from my hospital bed.

I joke about having cancer because my situation is so cosmically unlikely to happen. I joke about it because at times if I can't see the humor in what's happening to me, I'd get lost in the despair of what's happening to me. You make your own choices about how you respond to the situations in your life. I choose laughter.

I do not take my situation lightly. I don’t take cancer lightly at all. I realize, I dare say more than many people, the gravity of this situation. That is arguably why I joke about it. I’ve been told by many medical professionals that my attitude about this situation will go a long way towards aiding in my healing. I don’t think it’s just a myth that facing illness with a positive attitude and a sense of humor helps you get better. I’ve witnessed it in my own life.

My papa (grandfather on my mother’s side) has had a plethora of medical issues for many years now. He has been told several times for one reason or another that he didn’t have long to live, and he has outlived the timeline given by every single doctor to tell him that. Every time he faces a new ailment he faces it with his head held high and a smart remark in his arsenal (I get my sense of humor from him). Just days before I was diagnosed, my papa had to have one of his legs amputated. When he was given the news, he immediately started making jokes about his socks lasting twice as long now. 

My papa is my hero.

If I can face the entirety of this cancer journey with as much good humor as my papa has faced everything he’s been through, I think I’ll consider this a success. I think it’s situations like this that show who you really are as a person, anyway. I want to be the type of person who manages to see the good in any situation and keeps my good humor regardless of my life’s circumstances.