Standing on Your Own Two Feet …at the bottom of the abyss

My chemotherapy for Hodgkin’s lymphoma started just four weeks after I got the cancerous vertebrae removed from my lower back. They’d inserted a metal cage inserted in its place, to hold my back together. The doctor said this procedure would keep me from being in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. I had just turned 33 years old. But there I was: back in a wheelchair.  Already. Just two chemo infusions into the long process ahead of me and I was responding so poorly that my body could no longer walk. I was feeling vulnerable, scared and scarred. I was dropping weight and popping pain pills. It was a time of extreme physical, emotional and psychological distress.  These were the perfect conditions to make me susceptible to external influences. Problem was, those external influences seemed to be pouring in by the dump truckload. Every get-well card was full of it. Everyone I’d ever known, it seemed, had called, written or emailed with their advice. They’d all heard about some treatment in South America, Mexico or Japan…there was a new drug on the market that cured Hodgkin’s 100%...had I tried taking this supplement? Had I read that book?  There was a diet that guaranteed… Every single one of those people was trying to help me. I knew that. Every idea, suggestion, and opinion was sent with love and hope. I knew that too.  And I knew that all of it was utterly overwhelming. I was already in a very low point on every level.  Now...
Source: PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: confidence creativity depression featured happiness philosophy psychology self-improvement cancer empowerment healing inspiration motivation Source Type: blogs