You say 'incurable' like it's a bad thing

Bear with me on this one. The Blog title is not just to make you look (though I hoped it would).

I have been diagnosed with myeloma. It is incurable, but median survival is about five years already, and the treatment is improving so much that it will probably be six before I contribute to the statistics.

Also, because this cancer is what they call a 'remission/relapse' condition, I do know that if the treatment works well I may have a three year period that is nearly symptom-free, when I can go off and see the world and really fill my boots.

And even when it comes back, there are phases of treatment that they can still use which control the disease fairly well before it eventually is impossible to control. So I can put off all of my book reading and film-watching for the last year or so.

But think about it: many people find it hard to have structure in their lives, they prevaricate, they don't go out to do things because they will do it later, they make poor choices, hang out with the wrong people, marry the wrong people. 

Well I have a great structure to work with. I have nine months of very interesting but fairly unpleasant treatment and I then emerge from my chemo chrysalis as a combination of butterfly and old-man-in-a-hurry. I will be party animal number one. It's going to be great. But then of course I will die.

I'm not complaining. Seems to me like this incurable has a lot going for it.