I am tired of grieving for lives I thought I'd have.

Since my appointment yesterday with Dr. Thompson, I've been feeling pretty depressed. I know that physically, since the pneumonia and collapsed lung, I have found it hard to do much more than walk a few metres without struggling for breath, but to now have it confirmed that there is no hope of recovery is hard to hear. I had just got used to one standard of disabled life, and now I have try to envision the rest of my life again in this new version. I am tired of grieving for lives I thought I'd have. It's difficult when I spent months this year so chained to oxygen, having to exist as a blatantly, visibly sick person, and I hated it. Truly, despised it, because the first impression I gave was one of illness, and my appearance inspired pity in strangers. I cannot bear the idea of living a pitiful life. The very opposite of every intention I ever had. And I know that the next rung down on the ladder of lung disease is one where I am constantly adorned with plastic tubing. That scares me because living when it was so much effort to even brush my teeth was almost intolerable, and I don't know if I have the strength to fight through every exhausting moment being miserable. I had rather decided that when it became impossible to be happy the majority of the time, I would find a way to end it. 

But in the past, even when I have felt darkest, most lost, I still wanted to be alive. Or at least, I didn't want to not be alive. I didn't want to miss things, and I didn't want to be the cause of the agony of death that I've felt more than enough times for any normal lifespan. I know I am most likely to die first in my family, but for it to be self-inflicted would be crueller than is necessary. 

I saw Murder on the Orient Express today. There is a notion in the story, something I have thought about before, when we lost Dean - that when one person dies, there is a ripple, an avalanche. Everyone around them dies too, at least a little. I can't instigate that kind of pain, not on purpose. I think there will be moments in the future in which I don't want to be alive, not right then. It has happened before. But there are also always things to come that bring me happiness. Maybe I can adjust to a different life. Again. I just think that while I am able, I ought to endeavour to enjoy the time I have, whatever way I have it. To try to improve the lives of people around me, and use my voice to champion the things that have kept me here thus far.

Even when everything seems merciless and wearisome, for as long I can hold on to some strand of hope, I won't let go.