Posts Tagged: cancer

Hair’s To You

August 15th, 2013
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Today I am giving a huge shout-out and a huge hug to a person I know who has just finished an intense round of chemo treatments and is dealing with the loss of their hair.
This person is showing so much courage and positive thinking in their intense and aggressive fight with cancer.  This person also happens to be the third person I have known to lose their hair during chemo and I totally get why this stage is so traumatic: hair loss makes the cancer obvious and visible to others.
From talking to these people about experiencing their hair … Read More

Preventing Burnout

July 3rd, 2013
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Holidays are the best!  They always seem to arrive at the right time, just when we need a break from our daily routines.  Just when we need time out to relax and recharge. Holidays help us take a break, both mentally and physically, from the responsibilities we carry out every day. I intend to sleep in, exercise more, hang out with friends, and read.  I do all of these things on a regular basis but holidays allow me to do them for longer, uninterrupted periods of time.  And I can do them spontaneously which adds to the fun. Holidays also… Read More

Digging Deep

June 6th, 2013
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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… Read More

A Positive Attitude In Cancerland

April 10th, 2013
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I don’t always feel positive about all of the situations that life throws my way but I do feel very positive about life. Would I continue to feel positive if I were diagnosed with cancer? I would hope so!  I would hope that my love of living, my love for my family and friends and my love of life in general would kick my fighting spirit into high gear and that I would become determined not to let cancer win. But that’s easy for me to say because I have not been diagnosed with cancer.  I know a handful of… Read More

Robin Roberts’ Message

April 2nd, 2013
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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… Read More

Reflections of Nora Ephron’s Son

March 7th, 2013
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Nora Ephron Crying is unsettling.  Especially if you are watching one of your parents do it. My son hates it when I cry and has said that when I would cry all the time immediately after his father/my husband’s death, he would feel this mix of emotions that he didn’t want to feel and so he would walk away.  I understand it and think his reaction was perfectly normal.  He was thirteen years old and dealing with something that adults find hard to handle.  He was just trying to survive. Now, at twenty two years old, my son explains his… Read More

The Loss of A Child

March 5th, 2013
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When I have been in support group sessions and listened as people have talked about losing a spouse, I can almost feel the unspoken emotional support developing within the group; a sense of bonding, a feeling of “having been there” in the expressed feeling or thought.  A supportive dialogue sometimes follows and I’ve heard people say after the sessions that they have felt a sense of personal progress in working through their own emotions because they heard someone else express familiar thoughts and feelings. Being around other widows and widowers can be a blessing after you have lost a spouse. … Read More

Comfort Dogs

January 28th, 2013
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“Charlie”  They say that dogs can sense when people need comforting. And when dogs feel a person’s fatigue, sadness or loneliness, it is in their nature to give companionship and sometimes entertainment to the person in need. I have been watching the generous spirit of a new puppy named Charlie who has joined the family of one of my sisters.  Charlie is full of so much energy and love and he just can’t wait for someone to hold him and play with him.  Charlie is a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel and he has an uncanny sixth sense about which person… Read More

An Honest Dialogue

January 14th, 2013
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After a loss, people often feel that they have no resources. They feel they have no one to talk to about the extreme pain they are feeling. A little over two years ago, I launched Cry, Laugh, Heal as a place where people could go to read and discuss grieving and say to themselves, “I’m not alone.  Someone else gets it.” Because in the end, no one ever wants to feel alone. Since starting the blog I have written about grief and about the crucial process of trying to put the pieces of your life back together after the death… Read More