Digging Deep

I have previously written about people I know who are fighting the good fight against cancer.  Three of them at this point are in good health while one is gearing up for the fight of his life.

 

He is getting ready for surgery next week and after that he enters an intense, aggressive program aimed at totally killing this sucker in its tracks.  He has an amazing attitude towards this scary situation and I admire his calm and even demeanor.

 

 

Put in the same situation, I know I would not be faring so well and I don't think I would be inspiring anyone with my raw reaction to fighting a cancer within myself.

 

From talking to my friends, they say that first comes the disbelief that your body is so sick; that your body is basically at war with itself.  Your mind and heart are racing, racing at an incredible pace and you can't catch your breath as you take it all in.  While trying to come to grips with what the doctors are saying, you sometimes detach from reality a bit and feel as though you are outside yourself.  I understand this feeling very well because in the first few months after my husband's death, I definitely was outside myself.  I think it is your mind's way of temporarily buffering you from what's happening and giving you a way to cope.

Facing pain, whether physical, mental or a combination of both, can be isolating.  There is an intense feeling of letting the rest of the world fall away as you focus with laser concentration on what you need to do, have to do, to find wellness.

 

It is now a time of digging down deep and calling upon God to watch over him.  It is a time of feeling human and vulnerable.  It is a time of pulling out all the stops to give love, support and everything else we as a family can find to throw at him as he faces and fights this dreaded, yet survivable, disease.

Thank you for being here.  Peace.
 

Robin Roberts' Message

Robin Roberts is courageously showing us how to be "all in" about life.

 

Over the weekend, I read Parade Magazine's interview with Roberts, ABC's news anchor for Good Morning America.  It is no secret that Roberts was diagnosed five years ago with an aggresive form of breast cancer and for the past year she has been fighting a rare life-threatening disease called myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) which affects the blood and bone marrow.

 

 

 

 

Roberts is now back on the job which is miraculous given the physical and emotional toll of her chemotherapy, bone marrow transplant and fragile immune system.  But life changing events can sometimes make us stronger and Roberts' message resonated with me.

 

When you lose someone you love or you fight with all of your resources to overcome a disease, life becomes heightened.  Things that happen in your daily life that you once took for granted are no longer things to overlook and expect to have happen to you over and over.

 

Every day I try to make myself conscious of what the sky looks like, how the flowers smell, how good it feels to be able to walk down the street and breathe deeply and feel healthy.  I have a precious life and I am going to try and be mindful not to waste it.  Because I know that those are things that can be taken away very quickly.  And so does Robin Roberts.

 

Asked by Parade Magazine how her experience has changed her, Roberts says, "I am stronger than I thought I was.  My favorite phrase has been 'This too shall pass.'  I now understand it really well."

 

And here's the really cool part.  Roberts does something I do a lot when I am feeling stressed at work: visualization.

 

When work is piling up, I try to mentally check out for a few minutes before I dig in.  For me, I visualize myself standing on the beach.  I love the beach so much that I visualize myself there at all different times of the day.  I try to hear the waves pounding the shore and bring the smell of the ocean back to my memory.  After I mentally visit the beach, I take a deep breath and put my head down and just do my work until it's done.

 

Roberts told Parade Magazine that to fight her fears, she practices yoga and visualization.  "When I close my eyes, my happy place is Key West, coffee in hand, sunrise over the pier, Roberts said.  "I can visualize that in the studio and it has helped calm me."

 

No matter what today brings you, you will survive it, and if you feel yourself becoming anxious then visualize your own "happy place."

 

You are fortunate.  You are alive and a new day awaits you.

 

What will you do with it?