A friend in need is a friend indeed.

I try not to be antisocial/asocial, but at work, I just don't have a lot of friends. I have acquaintances, and we're all pretty friendly with each other, but I don't really spend a lot of time chatting with everyone and making plans to go out and do things.

We all know a little about each other, we spend a lot of time together, and it's still like family, whether we're all best friends or not.

My EDS/disability is no secret at work. It comes up a lot (I have a physically demanding job, my body protests this throughout the day, so people know). But we all know that having a disability, being sick a lot, being different like that is hard to connect with other people.

While I was on sick leave in Jan/Feb, one of my co-workers was also sick. She found out she has lymphoma and has been doing the cancer dance ever since. She had a biopsy done in her neck, so she has a scar there that people see (she's been wearing t-shirts that are cut high to try to cover it at work). She's on chemo now too.

She doesn't really talk to anyone about it. She doesn't want the attention, and everyone has been respecting that. She told people she was sick just because it was getting hard to hide and when you work in the job we do, it's best to let at least one or two people know that you've got serious stuff going on.

But she doesn't talk about it. She's very private and just wants to get better without people gawking.

....Yesterday at lunch, the two of us alone behind a closed door, she talked about it. Willingly. Comfortably. I don't have cancer and she doesn't have EDS, but, we're both sick. And I think that's what she was looking for, someone to relate to, someone who would get it. We're not best friends, and this won't change that, but I'm glad she talked to me, that she felt like she could talk to me.

It's hard going through illness and disability alone, but it's just as hard to know that people don't get it. I felt pretty special to be her listening ear, I'm sure she needed it.

You never know what life will throw at you (because a young woman, a single mom, going to school and working full time shouldn't be the one with cancer), but it's wise to always make sure you have friends who will be there for you no matter what.

I hope she recovers quickly, that the chemotherapy will rid her of her cancer and that she can get back to feeling good again (she puts on a good front, but she's tired). And I hope she knows that if she ever needs to talk again, I'm always there. Not easy being sick, but it's a little easier with friends.