Editor’s Note:
She is a thyroid cancer patient.
She is a post-80s mother.
She is a literary and artistic young woman who loves painting.
She is Lizi sauce!
Life gave her a bolt from the blue, but she responded with an optimistic and calm smile.
Let’s walk into the cartoon life of anti-cancer young women and have a look!
Hello everyone, I am Li Zi Jiang!
2013 is the first year of my thyroid cancer, and it has been 3.5 years since the operation.
After experiencing the original confusion, worry, care,
Every time you eat a dish, check whether it is cruciferous…
Up to now, I am calm, at ease, talking and laughing,
Even occasionally willful to eat a seafood dinner…
The change process of mentality is the same as that of brewing wine. It takes time to ferment slowly and produce mellow fragrance. There is no hurry.
Because of this disease, it is the most difficult difficulty to overcome since the disease, which is divided and combined with the child.
Fortunately, life is still very long and there is still time for us to be happy together.
On Mother’s Day in 2013, immersed in the happiness of family ties, I did not know that a storm of life was quietly coming.
If I have any door, I want to go back to the day of the physical examination and tell myself that I have just discovered thyroid cancer: “Don’t be afraid, there will be more time!” ]
But I am not Doraemon, nor do I have a magician’s crystal ball. Like everyone who has just been sentenced to cancer, he is confused and pretends to calm down to comfort his family.
Three years ago, information on thyroid cancer was not yet popular in China. Patients lacked a platform for communication. Many people had no idea what disease they had, how they got it, and how to treat it in the future before going to the operating table… With the instinct of survival, I also joined the army of seeking medical treatment everywhere.
Doctors said that surgery is the most effective way to deal with thyroid cancer in this era. Then, the operation…
Before I recovered, the thyroid gland, the [little butterfly] that once perched around my neck, had flown far away. Looking at the pathological results of the diagnosis of cancer, my promise to accompany the child forever wavered.
However, it is human nature to strive to live and pursue happiness. I want to be a strong and trustworthy mother.
Soon, the seemingly endless iodine 131 treatment began. In order to avoid the harm of residual radiation in the body to children, I had to be isolated for another month after each discharge.
Suddenly I have a lot of time, isn’t this the [luxury] that our 9-to-5 office workers yearn for most? I secretly laugh at myself, in fact, it is quite good to be ill!
It’s a pity that I can’t spend my good time with my family. I wake up every day staring blankly at the ceiling of the hotel, touching my face and still swelling. A person washes and washes, eats breakfast, inspects the colorful pill team, draws and cheers for himself, counts days, occasionally goes to my home to look at my children, and draws expressions on bananas and oranges when I am lonely…
Once I had an unruly heart and wanted to get rid of the 9-to-5 [alternative] life.
But the [special status] of cancer patients is [alternative] that I have never thought of.
Every time I wake up, I find that the scar is still there, this [special identity] is still there, and life seems to never turn this page. This kind of heavy pressure is overwhelming.
Perhaps there is only time to dilute the pain.
After learning of my illness, surgery and radiotherapy, I finally felt relieved and began to serialize cartoons < < Anti-cancer Diary > > on my microblog. I recorded my thoughts, experiences and experiences during my illness with cartoons, shared them with everyone, and encouraged the anti-cancer [comrades in arms] to avoid the detours I took.
Some people say that the first few articles of < < Anti-Cancer Diary > > are too pessimistic. Maybe, but those are all my real state of mind during my stay in hospital.
The hardest thing about cancer is not physical pain, but psychological torture.
How to comfort a cancer patient? I have never found a satisfactory answer. Perhaps, in front of death, any comforting words are too pale.
As the saying goes: “Eggs are food when opened from the outside, and life when opened from the inside”. In the face of cancer, the same is true. Only when you want to understand it can you surmount this hurdle of life.
There are many ways to relieve my inner depression: talking to friends, doing more sports, singing and dancing, and taking a walk-and-go trip … and I am more accustomed to drawing.
The original style of painting was like this:
Not because of laziness, but because hospitalization and isolation can only bring the simplest painting tools.
Later, when I had spare capacity, I began to draw the experience of medical treatment, the popular science knowledge of thyroid cancer, and the painting style became more and more cheerful.
I know that I have crossed that hurdle and turned that page.
Do what you can do, the rest, relax, the future is still very bright!
Cancer, in fact, like all kinds of difficulties we encounter in our life, can scare people, make people stronger and more eager to pursue dreams.
After the diagnosis of cancer, one of my regrets was [maybe I will never have a chance to become a cartoonist again! ]
In 2015, between treatments, I traveled to my dream Ghibli Gallery and saw with my own eyes the original works of Hayao Miyazaki, a cartoon master I admire. Moreover, I have a new life plan-to help more people with my own brush!
Over the past three years, Sina Weibo [LILY Li Zi Jiang] has serialized more and more cartoons.
My original cartoon base, WeChat Public Number [Li Zizhang and her friends], has also opened, sharing popular science cartoons and interesting parent-child stories with everyone after work.
I have more and more friends in the online world and receive full care and blessings every day.
Now, I am no longer the [female classmate without story], but I am realizing my dream in another way.
If you are in full bloom, butterflies will come.
Illness may make us feel temporary fear and frustration, but when we practice a strong heart and climb over the mountain of suffering, we will find that a better future is ahead of us.