Recovery Means Change - March 9, 2010

Today was my monthly appointment with the naturopath. As usual, I prepared the night before by compiling a current list of questions and concerns. Only this time, as I drove out of the parking lot, I suddenly realized that I left the paper containing my questions at home. I was already running late, but knew I would never be able to remember what was on the list. So I drove back to the entrance, ran up the three flights of stairs to my apartment again, and searched frantically for the notepad. Fortunately, I found it quickly, then raced back down the three flights of stairs which challenged the inflamed knee I have been nursing. Thankfully, I managed to arrive in one piece at the doctor’s office, albeit a few minutes late.

Much of the appointment was spent dealing with my expectations of recovering at a quicker pace physically as well as emotionally. My thought has been that everyone around me would expect me to be perfectly normal again right after radiation was finished. I have come to realize that the only one who did think that was me. (Everyone else apparently has more sense than I do.) There has also been a concern over how to handle stress now that this challenge has occurred in my life. It obviously calls for learning more positive ways to do so. First, the naturopath had some really simple, yet helpful, suggestions to add to my routine as my digestive system repairs and I regain strength. One was that I chew my food thoroughly. She even instructed me to put my fork down between bites in order to re-train myself. As I said, it may sound simple, but the more we chew our food the less work our bodies have to do in order to digest. This helps to preserve the body’s energy. I must admit that most often I eat too quickly either due to lack of time or because the food tastes so good I cannot wait until the next bite. (Little "piggy" would be the appropriate word to describe the latter.) Second, she recommended some supplements for dealing with stress as well as drinking chamomile tea every night. Chamomile is not only a relaxing tea, but it also aids digestion. The last prescription she gave was permission to rest every day. I have to say that I needed her to say this as it forces me to do so. This seems to be one of the hardest aspects of recovering from such a challenge, at least for me. However, I believe even this can change.

Along the aforementioned lines, I think that one blessing in this challenge of cancer is that it affords the individual the opportunity to really examine his/her life. This is something the average person usually does not do when faced with a lesser threat. In other words, because of the seriousness of the disease, you realize that you arrived at this place by some means. The "means" could be poor diet, unhealthy emotions, stress, grief, chronic lack of rest, environment, heredity, etc, etc. I think that to walk through this kind of crisis and live the same way afterwards is one of the greatest mistakes a person can make. It would actually be a tragedy not to use this experience as a tool for change, because what brought about disease once, except possibly in the case of heredity, can do so again. Hence, my desire to learn how to better handle stress as well as learn to relax more. So, let me encourage all of you who have never faced this challenge, to learn from the life of another. Scrutinize yourselves along these lines, and change whatever is unhealthy. You will be glad in the long run that you took the time.