the possibilities are endless

I'm inspired by the biological scientist Stephen Jay Gould who was diagnosed with a rare cancer that had a median survival of 8 months. He decided he was going to be in the tail end of the curve... living beyond the 8 months. He died 20 years later of another disease. He had one of the most admirable scientific careers of his era. He lived thirty times longer than the oncologists had predicted. THIRTY TIMES LONGER.

Anything is possible. Everything is possible.

I am reading, among other things, Anti Cancer by David Servan-Scheiber.

At the end of one of the early chapters he talks how in Chinese, the notion of "crisis" is written as a combination of the two characters "danger" and "opportunity." Cancers threat can make it hard to grasp its creative potential.

He says, for him, his illness changed his life for the better, and in a way he never could have imagined, previously to being diagnosed.

I'd like to say the same thing. And I think I can.

#15: Make the most of your medical appointments

A wise patient brings a list of questions to almost every medical appointment.

#14 Overcoming Fatigue and Nausea

Exercise has been found to treat fatigue and ensure a more restful sleep.
Studies have also shown ginseng to be helpful for cancer patients suffering from fatigue.

I was taking ginseng for a while. I think I may start supplementing it again.
I haven't had too many issues with nausea. Thankfully.

Thoughts from Siegel's book

"Love of other people always is a sustaining factor. In a sense, however, living for others is a "gimmick", a stopgap measure like surgery or chemotherapy, which can buy time until people learn to live authentically for themselves."

I know I am learning and growing so much right now. I am pursuing wellness; not just of my body, but my mind and spirit as well. I am being stretched beyond all my comforts and past everything I feel capable of. And I will get there.

That quote resonates with me. Because even some of my prayers have been not to die to spare others the grief, or so that I can keep loving them and caring for them... I know I need to learn to live for me. And I will.

I talked about this quote elsewhere, but it captures the sentiment I am feeling now so well:


"When the imitation of Christ does not mean to live a life like Christ, but to live your life as authentically as Christ lived his, then there are many ways and forms in which a man can be a Christian." H. J. M. Nouwen

HOPE

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without words,
And never stops at all.

Emily Dickinson

Dr. Kenneth Pelletier

He conducted a study on patients who recovered despite great odds and found 5 characteristics common to all of them:
-profound intrapsychic change through meditation, prayer, or other spiritual practice
-profound interpersonal changes, as a result: relationships more solid
-alteration in diet: optimum nutrition
-a deeps sense of the spiritual as well as material aspects of life
-feeling that their recovery was not a gift not spontaneous remission, but rather a long, hard struggle they had won for themselves

That is me!!