I don’t think most people are truly prepared to get bad health news. Instead we hope against hope that things will not turn out as we fear and the whole nightmare will go away. Right up until I saw the look on my gastroenterologist’s face after my colonoscopy in June …
Category: strength
Mar 01
How to Encourage the Discouraged
I remember so well the first cancer support group meeting I attended at our community hospital. It was the summer of 1990. I was a reporter for a local newspaper and recently had interviewed Mary, the new group’s facilitator. When I showed up at a support group meeting just eight weeks after …
Feb 08
Wanna see my first selfie?
True confession: I am 63 years old and this is my FIRST SELFIE. When I took it two nights ago and sent it to my three daughters, one responded that she wished more people my age had never taken a selfie. Hmmmmm……..not sure exactly how to take that. Nevertheless, here it is–didn’t …
Jan 11
Happy endings only, please!
If this hasn’t happened to you yet, I’m pretty sure it will. Someone finds out you or your loved one has cancer–or some other serious diagnosis–and begins to tell you a story about a relative or friend of theirs who had a similar one. I’m sure it’s an attempt to …
Dec 07
Missing Someone at Christmas
I thought it wouldn’t. But it did. It happened again this year. Kenny G was belting out jazzy, holiday cheer. A burning candle wafted a delicious candy cane scent. I was home by myself happily decorating our house for Christmas. I pulled a yellowed and torn rectangular box out of the …
Nov 23
Unexpected Blessings from God
I was always amazed when the discussion at my support group meetings turned to the blessings that had come through the survivors’ cancer experiences. Somehow the words blessing and cancer in the same sentence just don’t make sense. I’m a very logical, rational person and having colon cancer at the age …
Nov 09
Are Your Feelings Founded on Facts?
So how are you feeling today? I’m putting this blog together two days before the election, but cognizant of the fact it will appear after the results are in—at least I hope they are in by Wednesday morning! Whatever those results show. I’m pretty sure about half of us are going …
Oct 26
Does God Ever Give Us More than We Can Handle?
God doesn’t give you more than you can handle. Does that ring a bell? I hear it a lot, especially from cancer patients or their family members who feeling overwhelmed. They usually say something like this: “Now, I know God doesn’t give us more than we can handle, but . . .” …
Oct 19
Transforming the Valley of Trouble into a Gateway of Hope
A while back I was reading in the book of Hosea about how God promised to “transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope” and I thought of my friend Lauren. His cancer journey has been an incredible roller coaster with hopes dashed one minute and unexpected new hopes found the …
Oct 12
Five Ways to Strengthen Your Funny Bone
About a month before my cancer diagnosis in 1990 I was a reporter for a local paper and writing a story about the new cancer support group at the local hospital. I interviewed the local oncologist, Dr. Marc Hirsh for the story and visited his office. When I walked by the chemo …
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