Cancer and Christmas

"If you think we are winning the war on cancer, think again."  This is what a fellow stitcher in one of my classes said the other day.  She had been diagnosed with breast cancer and had started radiation treatments.  What  made her make that statement was the shock she was feeling upon seeing the sheer numbers of women lined up for the treatments.  So many, in fact, that she felt she was not at all singled out to have cancer and certainly couldn't expect  any special sympathy as a result.  It gives you pause, doesn't it?  Here was a woman, a retired physical education teacher, very slim, non-smoker, ate sensibly all her life; she might well have thought it was unfair that she got cancer. I thought it was unfair.  But I guess, fairness doesn't enter into the equation, now does it? 
I just can't believe for all the money we throw at cancer research, we still haven't cracked the code.  The headway made seems to be more to do with drugs and therapies rather than finding whatever it is at the molecular level that sets it all spinning.
 I guess, on a brighter note, any of those therapies my friend might want is at her disposal all at no cost to her thanks to our Canadian healthcare system. So far, fingers crossed she is doing very well.
Sorry to be talking about something dire on a Sunday morning.  Just wanted to get it off my chest.
I wore my scarf on Friday, the one on needles at the start of my blog.  It is very warm and I really do like the cheery red and pink.
Yes, we have our snow and today it is very cold and suddenly winter.  The weeks are passing with lightning speed.  The countdown to Christmas has begun here and already everything is Christmasy in the stores.  They don't waste any time, do they, changing the seasons. 

  I wanted to show you my lone male cardinal looking for seeds in the back garden; he is a welcome sight amid all the grayness at this time of year.