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“If you cannot be the poet, be the poem” – David Carradine
Today I received a copy of a poem written 70 years ago by my Grandmother. She was a remarkable woman for her kindness and quiet strength, her piano teaching talent and her poetry that she often included in our birthday cards. She led a very humble life. She survived breast cancer, raised four children and…
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The Power of Words
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” -Maya Angelou I know I don’t really need to write an entire essay on this. Ms Angelou has said it all so succinctly. But recently I’ve had the good fortune…
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Too Old for Encouragement?
Today I found myself wondering about ‘encouragement’. You hear the word ‘support’ a lot these days and that’s a good thing, but it doesn’t seem quite imbued with the emotion that the word ‘encouragement’ conveys. Perhaps it is just semantics, but whatever you call it, it’s what we give to those who are either struggling…
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The Truth About Travel
A few weeks from now if you ask how our trip was I will probably do a nano-second review of the overall experience and give you a simple response that it was ‘great’ or ‘good’ or ‘interesting’. The truth is somewhat more complex. Travel is hard work at the best of times but it is…
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There are no ‘Coincidences’
For those of you who don’t believe in coincidence, as I do not, you will be further convinced as I relate to you how my final day of treatment unfolded. For those of you who think coincidence is an accidental event, you may think again. I left the world of institutional living behind and we…
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Penultimate Day
The penultimate day. The penultimate treatment. There were numerous loose ends to tie up today, pretty much the kinds of things you do before you go on vacation. Clean out the fridge, pack a bag, drop things off to people and say some goodbyes. But I’m not going on a holiday, I’m closing a chapter…
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What I’ve learned (so far) from Cancer
Today was (hopefully) my last day to ride the bus. Don had to attend a meeting this morning and so was not available to take me. As there was about a 40 minute wait for the bus, and then a further wait for treatment I had couple of final conversations with other cancer patients. Both…
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My team
Today started the series of 5 ‘boost treatments’. J and L, my two radiology technicians for today, had a ‘template’ they put over the incision and they marked my skin with felt tip pens to line up the smaller device used to administer this treatment. The radiation ‘head’ sits down close to the area, about…
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“You wouldn’t worry about what others thought of you, if only you knew how little they do”
When we arrived at the oncology centre today, there were about 6 or 8 people gathered right in the doorway leading inside, and they barely left room for us to squeeze by to get in for treatment. It was a media group from Channel 9 and they were happily chatting away about their own priorities…
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Counting blessings
If you have been following my journey of treatment, you will know that I have tried to tell things as they are. The thing I have noticed about life is that I can never quite anticipate what will unfold, with regard to emotions, but especially the last few months. It hasn’t happened often, but when…
ardysez 