Our Creek and the Cancer Journey

I've been searching for a metaphor to help me get through this cancer journey I find myself on. A friend of mine who's a breast cancer survivor said she thought of it as a river. Before I had my port installed yesterday I was imagining a dark river at night that I was being pushed into- so much unknown. The port was the beginning of this murky journey. But then yesterday morning I was looking at our retreat photos for courage and I shifted my metaphor to our creek. You get in the tube and look up. Some years the creek's high and you get a smooth, fast ride. Other years it's low and there are a lot of bumps on the way, places you have to work hard to keep yourself moving. But the scenery is beautiful if you look up and to the side. A lot is out of your control. I was happy for the rain yesterday, filling our creek to make the ride smoother. When I got to the hospital and learned that I wouldn't be completely sedated, that was a definite bump or rock to get stuck on. It was so scary being wheeled into the operating stage knowing I would be awake the whole time. So I closed my eyes and looked "up", imagining our sky and trees and it really helped. I also remembered the creatures Brendan and Caleb caught last year and imagined that all the doctors and nurses were those creatures.