REB, it is always unfortunate that it usually takes something dramatic
to truly appreciate life. This is not surprising, considering how society
constantly makes us focus on minor and often transient things for its
own immediate needs, despite its lip service towards grander events
and life in general.

While I would not have wished cancer upon you, I guess it is best to
see your situation as a gift of sorts, in that you now truly appreciate
life and the time you have to you. Of course the cancer could come
back, but just as easily even totally healthy people can and have been
done in by events totally unrelated to their health.

So, in other words, thank the Cosmos for the wakeup call that far
too many don't ever receive and go from there with it. At the least
you won't die from stress-induced high blood pressure. :^)

Here is another perspective from the great French astronomer and
science popularizer Camille Flammarion. This quote comes from his
classic work Popular Astronomy, first published in 1880.

"What intelligent being, what being capable of responding emotionally to a beautiful sight, can look at the jagged, silvery lunar crescent trembling in the azure sky, even through the weakest of telescopes, and not be struck by it in an intensely pleasurable way, not feel cut off from everyday life here on earth and transported toward that first stop on the celestial journeys? What thoughtful soul could look at brilliant Jupiter with its four attendant satellites, or splendid Saturn encircled by its mysterious ring, or a double star glowing scarlet and sapphire in the infinity of night, and not be filled with a sense of wonder?

"Yes, indeed, if humankind — from humble farmers in the fields and toiling workers in the cities to teachers, people of independent means, those who have reached the pinnacle of fame or fortune, even the most frivolous of society women — if they knew what profound inner pleasure await those who gaze at the heavens, then France, nay, the whole of Europe, would be covered with telescopes instead of bayonets, thereby promoting universal happiness and peace."