Pink necklace

October mornings dawn, quiet and different from all the previous ones. This time is special and sad for me. Yes, it is October that carries all the burden of the fight against breast cancer, wrapped in a pink ribbon, a symbol of all women who are currently fighting this vicious disease.

And pink balloons that symbolize every woman who, unfortunately, is not among us, her children, her family...

It goes on day after day, how much progress is there and what is new for oncology patients? Yes, awareness is being raised that this disease does not choose... Preventive examinations, screening programs, and statistical examinations of patients are conducted.

In addition to all of the above, little or no attention is paid to very important things - what and how to proceed after surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. For women, there is no adequate care, advice on nutrition, recreation and training and, to some extent, a return to the normal course of life.

What about the swelling of the arms, legs...anywhere on the body? The right to spa treatment, expert help from physiatrists trained for oncology patients - isn't there a need for an oncology center equipped with devices that are adequately intended for the treatment of them.

We are looking for an answer to the question why we do not have the right to lifelong care and assistance given the basic illness, disability, pension amount, but only partially, it is not humane or humane towards the patients from the oncology story.

How agreeable our doctors are, ready for teamwork, is nonsense, because I know from personal experience what it looked like in 2011, and whether a person has the right to decide about his life, because after all, the paper is signed when the therapy starts. The side effects that follow when read are blood curdling. Eternal struggle. You stay alive, and unfortunately many don't. Numbers remain and that number is somewhere in your subconscious. The necklace breaks like a string of pearls... It falls apart, each pearl a woman, someone's mother, sister, grandmother...

We hold each other tightly, each of us carries her fear, the pain she has experienced, the hope that she will still live, she looks forward to each new day, sigh, new dawn...

We don't even think about corona, because this fight of ours is stronger than all coronas. Pelcovane, each in its own way. And each one is a hero and a fighter. We have only one medal and that is - LIFE. Thank you to all the surgeries and organizers who provided favorable prices for examinations during October.

This year has taken away many women, my friend, the one who helped me go through a difficult battle with cancer. The one who quietly and wholeheartedly helped many women from my story and hers to live and survive. She quietly dealt with her struggle like a true lioness and quietly disappeared and went to a better place.

I once wrote to her that we won with military discipline and faith in ourselves. Passed the test of life with a score of ten...

I know that all those who have received their place in the constellation of the pink trace are watching over us who are left on earth to continue watching over each other because it will take time for someone to understand that it is not easy for us and that we have become even harder than stone. And of course, you are where you are. Like a run over man on the asphalt fighting for air to take one more breath before letting his soul out.

And it is quite normal to say that we are tired, that we have given enough, the disease wears you down over the years, many become a shadow that can no longer help anyone, not even themselves...

For one Željka and all those pearls scattered from the low necklace.