Shoot the Messenger

Sometimes it’s not the message but the way it is delivered that is painful.

So as you may know not all tumors are malignant (cancer), so when you have a tumor removed it is tested to see whether or not it is malignant. Obviously the results dictate much of how your forward journey into treatment will unfold. In my view, the way this news, your results are delivered to you is pretty important.

Reaching out

I so often read those ‘copy me and share’ Facebook posts about being available to help, about reaching out for help. I wonder how much weight is in that, I wonder how many people reach out when they need to. I know I struggled to ask for help, and so often I go to an auto response of ‘great thanks, how are you’. I rarely do that now days. I’m much more raw, naked and open … It’s not hard to know how I am feeling if you ask. It was Dylan’s challenging health journey that tipped me over the edge.

When worlds crumble

That Monday, a year ago, while I sat patiently waiting for Dylan to finish having the MRI cancer was the furthest thing from my mind. It wasn’t long that our entire world was left in uncertainty and disarray. An hour or so to be precise. 

Journal Entry – Fear

16 May 2017
Wide eyed and rapid breath, backed up into a corner. Like an animal trapped fearing for its life, that’s what I’ve been feeling like. I woke up this morning to an answer, finally. It’s been fear that’s been my constant companion, lurking in the shadows, unseen and unheard, but leading my every thought, feeling and decision.

Journal entry – Between the space

11 May 2017

Today I am grateful for those who have witnessed my truth, encouraged my authenticity and supported my vulnerability. Those who acknowledge others journeys no matter how rough and tumbled it may be are what I am grateful for. And I am grateful for the experiences which have allowed for my unraveling to open to more love and more empathy. 

Journal Entry – Struggle

9 May 2017

My heart is pounding, I feel flustered, I’m swallowed by anxiety and drowning in desperation, my breathing is rapid, I’m struggling to open my eyes. Surrounded in stillness I gaze into the darkness, my eyes now open pooling with tears, my breath calms as I become fully awake, I realize it was just a nightmare as my mind flips through the scenes, I feel it on a whole other level, this time more real, as my heart begins to ache.

Journal Entry – Fleeting moments

28 April 2017

I didn’t sleep well last night, my mind possessed by thoughts of the past years journey. Images of incredible moments, some swaddled in pain and others swollen with pride. So many diverse emotions, some feelings of utter helplessness and others feelings of deep appreciation. Much I thought I knew, reshaped, released or reviewed.

Just fleeting moments in the average life,

Journal Entry -Frustration

19 April 2017

This is all so frustrating. I feel so powerless. Trying to navigate through a system with no structure, to find answers to questions I don’t know, to find a normal where there’s no parameters, feeling helpless and isolated in a crowded world.

Life

Just a quick update. The time just seems to fly by.
Three months ago, Dylan still in hospital having transfusions, on TPN feeds, still
struggling to recover from chemotherapy and my dad dying, it was quite a horrendous time.

11 March 2017 – a moment of pondering

Last night as I held the vomit bag in front of Dylan’s mouth, tissues in my other hand, simultaneously cradling his head on my belly, for the second time that day, I thought about the vast contrasts in this journey. He is better yet still sick. In fact he is in worse shape than he was a year ago, and if truth be told a year ago if left untreated he would of most likely been dead today, if not dead most definitely been in a much worse reality.

My heart aches with the paradox of this journey.