A Caregiver's Inspirational Journey Through Cancer
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on May 5th, 2012
“Anniversary: The annually recurring date of a past event, especially one of historical, national, or personal importance.” – American Heritage Dictionary With cancer being so prevalent in our society today, it seems as though I can be in a room full of people and at least a third of them have had cancer and the […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on May 4th, 2012
“Each person’s life is lived as a series of conversations.” – Deborah Tannen Well, while I’m waiting for my friends to send me the photos from our trip out to a small Alpaca farm for a day of sheering… I thought I would dialog a bit about how the last several days I find myself talking […]
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson. It has felt soooooo good to be back on my blog. Sometimes topics just flood my mind endlessly and then other times I’m all dried up! Being away from it with little to no connectivity made it pretty […]
Posted in Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Apr 26th, 2012
“Faith is the daring of the soul to go farther than it can see.” – Unknown David Withem over at Working With Me started a Myeloma 101 website and then from there started a YouTube selected videos offering hope and inspiration. They are works in progress and he graciously tries to share with us those things […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Kids, Misc, Our Life on Apr 23rd, 2012
“There is no such thing in anyone’s life as an unimportant day.” – Alexander Woollcott, American Author Wowsa! What a trip! I was gone for about 11 days traveling back east to visit with our daughter Montana. Dave flew to Baltimore after his business meetings in Rochester and we had a fast and furious weekend […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Mar 20th, 2012
“There are three side effects of acid: enhanced long-term memory, decreased short-term memory, and I forget the third.” – Timothy Leary For those of us through treatment – been there, done that. The long list of potential side effects from the treatment to combat myeloma is long and scary. For those newly on this road, […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Mar 7th, 2012
An e-patient (also known as Internet patient, or Internet-savvy patient) is a health consumer who uses the Internet to gather information about a medical condition of particular interest to them, and who use electronic communication tools (including Web 2.0 tools) in coping with medical conditions. The term encompasses both those who seek online guidance for their own ailments and […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Our Life on Feb 26th, 2012
“I don’t mind because I was knitting and when I’m knitting, I’m happy.” My cousin Robin when I told her I had to pull out and restart my project. So much going on. Writing on the eight labyrinths backlogged all my other newsy stuff. Last week I had a Myeloma Meet-Up with some MM folks […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Caregiver Tips, Misc on Feb 17th, 2012
“Being there and helping someone I love, in the leaving of their earthly body, was a profound gift that I was honored she allowed me to do for her. In many ways it was she who gave me the gift and not the other way around.” Lori Puente, on the death and dying of her […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Caregiver Tips, Misc on Feb 11th, 2012
“If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve.” – Lao Tzu From Gail Sheehy’s Eight Labyrinths and the book Passages in Caregiving: . . . . . . . . . VII. The In-Between […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Caregiver Tips, Misc on Feb 10th, 2012
“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” – Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) From Gail Sheehy’s Eight Labyrinths and the book Passages in Caregiving: . . . […]
So I’ve had a couple of friends both in and out of Myelomaville check on me with these latest posts being rather “serious” and difficult. I’m good. I started to write about these one by one each day without really processing the whole sequence fully. There are four more to go and then we’ll move […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc on Feb 1st, 2012
There is not a ‘required way’ to walk a labyrinth. The beauty of the labyrinth is that people can approach the experience on their own terms. However, as a guideline, we often break the ‘walk’ into three stages. Entering: (also referred to as shedding purgation.) During this stage you walk the path toward the center, […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc on Jan 31st, 2012
“The caregiver’s journey is different. It does not proceed from stage to stage in a neat fashion. It is definitely not linear. It feels like we are going around in circles, thinking we have resolved a crisis only to have it return or be superseded by a different, unexpected crisis…A maze creates chaos. A labyrinth […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Caregiver Tips, Misc on Jan 30th, 2012
“I had an inspiration while walking a labyrinth. You go in circles, sudden twists and turnings. It’s a lot like the surprises and complications we face on our journey as caregivers. A labyrinth has one true path. It can eventually lead us to the center, but you can’t see the path ahead. It’s not predictable.” […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc on Jan 29th, 2012
“When the night has come And the land is dark And the moon is the only light we’ll see No I won’t be afraid, no I won’t be afraid Just as long as you stand, stand by me” – Lyrics Early in Dave’s diagnosis, I ran across this video, filling my endless hours of time […]
Posted in Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Jan 27th, 2012
Guido Tricot, MD, PhD, is the director of Holden Cancer Center’s Bone Marrow Transplant and Myeloma Program at UI Hospitals and Clinics. He specializes in multiple myeloma and has been researching and treating this type of cancer for over 20 years. Dr. Tricot, who had been heading up the only Total Therapy program outside of […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc on Jan 26th, 2012
“Frankly remission is an awkward place. In fact beyond the normal wear & tear of aging, I now look & feel as well as I did before I became ill. But I have not been able to go forward as though nothing had happened, & that is because something has happened & it happened to […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc on Jan 23rd, 2012
“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” ― Helen Keller In light of recent dialog on how to live with cancer, I thought I would share with you how much the simplest of […]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc on Jan 19th, 2012
What Cancer Cannot Do Cancer is so limited…. It cannot cripple love. It cannot shatter hope. It cannot corrode faith. It cannot eat away peace. It cannot destroy confidence. It cannot kill friendship. It cannot shut out memories. It cannot silence courage. It cannot reduce eternal life. It cannot quench the Spirit. Author Unknown I […]
