A year ago today...

...my doc told me I needed to have chemotherapy. My, time flies, eh??

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One out of three

I'm not sure what constitutes a good baseball batting average, but I'd be willing to guess that .333 is acceptable. Well, one out of three isn't good enough for me. I needed to know we were batting a thousand. Three friends stood up to their medical fears this week and only one came away with a clean bill of health.

My friend Susan had a biopsy and learned that her cancer is back. While no adventure with cancer is one to cheer, this one sounds like it has the potential to be extremely unpleasant.

My friend Eunice went into her biopsy with her doctor's assurance that things looked negative on all the advance tests, and that her biopsy was more of a final "rule out." Instead, tonight she sits in the ICU missing a good bit of her left lung.

Steve was the only one who beat the odds. His cardiologist saw something he didn't like in the tests, an apparent major blockage in one of the arteries leading into Steve's heart. So they snaked a tiny camera up from his groin and when they got the heart, the blockage was gone. Steve said the doctor was quite surprised... and very pleased.

Steve said a friend told him that when she practiced her reiki, she felt the presence of other people sending him positive energy. I don't understand the ways of reiki, but she told Steve that those who were praying sort of "willed" the blockage out of his heart. He's taking a second look at the power of positive thinking a prayer.

Whatever happened, it's one bit of good news I hoped to hear this week. I just wish it had been good news all the way around.

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"If Jesus had a wallet..."

"If Jesus had a wallet, your picture would be in it." That was the message I got, in a round about kind of way, in an email yesterday from my sister. I thought she was paying me a supreme compliment. Instead I find out the statement was written on a sign outside a church in Maine and it has become the new cute phrase of praise.

So my friend Susan got bad news on her biopsy done Friday. She's headed to chemotherapy and radiation--again. She had ovarian cancer in 2006 and damned if the cancer hasn't sprouted in a new location to create havoc and heartache. It just plain sucks, hugely so, and my heart breaks for her. I told her to keep me posted on her chemo treatment days and said I'd go with her. I'll crack jokes, tell bad stories, and do my best to make a miserable experience a percent or two easier to bear. Maybe.

That's about it. What else might Jesus have carried in his wallet? A condom? Library card?

Oh, one more thing. Christina Applegate, who recently announced that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, has undergone treatment and today said she is 100% cancer clear. I heard the same thing myself last June... and it wasn't quite true. I just don't believe you're ever really free.



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Do you believe?

What's up with the power of positive thinking? Does it help to pray when you need guidance to find your way, or relief to help shoulder a heavy load?

Who knows. I've gone back and forth for many years. Some days I'm with the plan, other days I feel like I have to go it by myself. My bottom line is that it begins with me and it travels through me, and I'm the one that will make it happen or not. "It" is whatever it is at the moment. It's all a little sketchy, and I'm sure this is all about as clear as mud.

I was talking with a friend a little earlier this evening and as she always does, she asked how I'm doing. I'm aces, I told her, life is pretty good.

It's been quite a year. I told her about the buckets of prayers people said for me, about the trees that gave their lives for the cards and notes I received. I told her that if I learned one thing in the last year, it's that the power of positive thinking, the power of prayer, the assistance and support of friends and coworkers, and—most importantly and without question—the love and encouragement of my family carried me through some pretty dark times.

So, do I believe? I do believe I do.

And now, if you can share some love and hope, please put Anita and Nancy on your Thoughtful List. I do believe it will help them on their respective travels.

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