A Caregiver's Inspirational Journey Through Cancer
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 It feels like we are going around in circles, thinking we have resolved a crisis only to have it return or be superseded by a different, unexpected crisis…A maze creates chaos.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 [...]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Dec 31st, 2011
“Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will.” - Jawaharal Nehru It’s hard to believe yet another year has gone by. It has been a good year for us, personally. Not so true for others and then some have done exceedingly [...]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc on Dec 24th, 2011
“Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant.” - Horace 65-68 B.C. I have subscribed to a blog called Study Hacks for some years now. I’m a HUGE fan. This author doesn’t blog every day or even every week. But when he does, it is a turn your thinking on it’s [...]
Posted in Misc on Dec 23rd, 2011
I have finally put a “Contact” tab up (across the top). This will allow some of you who might not feel comfortable leaving your comments to send me a message privately and more easily. 1
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Dec 22nd, 2011
“Physical strength is measured by what we can carry; spiritual by what we can bear.” - Unknown When I started this blog, it was partly my own very personal need to heal from my experience of moving from sheer terror to triumphant regaining of our life. Albeit a different life than the one we had, but in [...]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Multiple Myeloma on Dec 22nd, 2011
“New and wonderful, ‘Myeloma Blessings’ came into my life last night!” – Lori Puente Wow! I have come to embrace and truly LOVE the chance encounters I have in my daily life. It’s almost as if, “who or what will come into my life today?” Will they be for me? Or will I be for [...]
“Paula is one of the gifts my mother left for me before she died.” – Lori I’m off for my annual trip to Lexington, KY to visit my dear friend Paula at her place, “Rosehaven”. This annual trip started the year before my mother’s death, with the invitation for my then 10 year old daughter [...]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Our Life on Dec 2nd, 2011
“I get satisfaction of three kinds. One is creating something, one is being paid for it and one is the feeling that I haven’t just been sitting on my ass all afternoon.” - William F. Buckley, Jr. The problem with weaving is it can be very sedentary. I’m working on trying to get out for a [...]
Posted in Caregiver Thoughts, Misc, Our Life on Nov 18th, 2011
“It’s true, sometimes, when you’ve had a difficult day, or met difficult people, or been let down, disappointed, or heartbroken, it’s easy to completely forget the most important thing of all… You’re alive.” – Notes from the Universe (Mike Dooley) The quote doesn’t depict my mood, it came into me today and it conveys what [...]
