Breast Cancer - sometimes it really does give back...maybe...

I have mostly been offline since 20th December because, as with many other Australians, the bushfires came through and changed the landscape.  My family and I are fine and the house has survived (just- albeit with some major infrastructure damage).  I am heartbroken at the loss of so many animals.  However, I am comparing this to my response to the bushfires that came so close to us 5 years ago.  In those, our property was spared although we did lose our beautiful cat which of course, was extremely traumatic.  We did have a place to live then - at our house or in the place we had already rented in town before the fire hit.  This time, we are displaced and homeless, struggling to find suitable accommodation at a time when Adelaide is booked fairly solidly for an indeterminate period - will it be a couple of weeks or a couple of months?

What, you may ask, is the point of this post?  Yes, there is a lot of hassle that I'd rather not have but I am, so far, taking it in my stride.  I am not downplaying the severity of the fires and their impact but speaking about my personal response.  After the fires 5 years ago, I ranged from feeling like a zombie to feeling like I was so fragile and tightly controlled that the slightest thing could shatter me...much like I felt at diagnosis.  This time, I am stunned by the widespread severity of the fires and deeply saddened by the losses but actually coping quite well on a personal level.  I can only contribute this to my cancer experience as I have noticed so many similarities to that in others.  So, maybe breast cancer does give back a bit in personal growth.  Or maybe it's the calm before the storm and I will fall apart later.  But when I say to people that I'm okay and that the important thing is that we're all safe, I really do mean it - it's not just a screen.

My heart goes out to those who have been affected and I know there must be many on this forum.