Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Why me?

I’m not much of a gambler. I like taking risks, but don’t usually think about the odds. Gambling is all about the odds.

So is medical diagnosis.

1 in 100,000 people are diagnosed with an Acoustic Neuroma. One out of one hundred thousand. That’s not as rare as some things, but certainly not as likely as, say, sunburn...

So, of course, the question comes to mind: Why me? And in contemplating possible answers to this question, another emerges: Did I just save 99,999 people from being diagnosed with an Acoustic Neuroma? How generous of me!

1 in 1000 people who have ringing in their ears are diagnosed with an Acoustic Neuroma as the cause. The other 999 just have tinnitus. Again, go me! 

But this “why me” thinking is really back to front. The more reasonable question is “why not me?” Let me explain.

At the moment I write this sentence there are 7,009,284,456 people on planet earth. There are more now. And now. Anyway, of that 7,009,284,456 there are 1 in every 100,000 that have a diagnosed Acoustic Neuroma. That means there are 70,093 people with an Acoustic Neuroma... right now. That’s a lot of people. Why not me? I’m in good company!

Life is all about perspective.

3 comments:

  1. Tanya3:18 pm

    Why or why not me? Because we all have a story to tell one way or another. Your experience, even though its frustrating at the moment, and what you are feeling and going through will ultimately help those out there who don't have the 'sunny disposition' that you do. You encourage people beyond belief. The way that you are 'dealing' with this experience is refreshing. I'm not usually an "i" person. But I have come to realise over time that the experiences that have come my way have shaped me to be the person I am today and that 'I have been chosen for such a time as this'... not this directly... but many other circumstances that I have been able to show people that there is light at the end of the tunnel (I usually hate cliches but)... there is an end... and god is at the beginning shining the way so we don't fall ... and we can see the end more clearly. God Bless..

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  2. Carol B6:58 pm

    Or maybe look at it this way. . . . . Bowel cancer - not you. Multiple Sclerosis - not you. Parkinson disease - not you. Root canal - not you. Sunburn - not you. Pregnant - not you. Actually the sum total of things that you have been spared from is pretty enormous. Lucky Sod :)

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