What is your reaction to the words............

health of body and mind- seeking a disease free life

What does one do, how are you supposed to feel, when they tell you, 'you have cancer'? Of course there is no one answer to that question as we are all different and going to have different reactions.

Me?

I already suspected when I sat down in that examining room that is what I was going to be told so when the words came I wasn't surprised. I wasn't afraid. I wasn't angry. Maybe I was in some form of denial or ignorance as to what was to come. Either way, once the words were spoken I looked at the surgeon and told her, "you know what it is. You know where it is. Take care of it."

And so my journey began. My journey to get rid of the cancer in my body and to regain my health.

 What ever you may wish to call it, my journey, my battle, my adventure, it was mild compared to what others have gone through. I had my surgery, then once healed enough I began radiation treatments. Six weeks later, I'm done with those and simply taking a daily dose of medicine. I did not require chemotherapy treatments. Something that I am still thankful for. The radiation was bad enough as it left me dragging and barely able to put one foot in front of the other and still remain upright. I had to change my diet because the wrong foods made the side effects of the radiation even worse.

 The one thing I was determined of though was that I was going to get my daily walk in. the only thing that stopped me was stormy weather. Otherwise I was out there walking and enjoying the land and sights around me. In the peace of those walks in the woods I saw flowers I had never noticed before, I saw insects that I didn't even know existed. I listened to the birds, watched the deer, rabbit and raccoon wandering in the woods. It eased my wounded and tired soul and lifted a weary spirit. No matter how tired I was, this was my medicine.

 I also worked on improving my diet. I didn't eat a lot, but what I was eating I wanted to be as healthy as possible. I went from eating junk food to fruits and vegetables. I went from sodas and highly sweetened coffee to water and almost black coffee. During the treatments I could only handle one cup of coffee a day, the rest was water. I'm now back to my constant cup of coffee but I refrained from returning to a daily diet of sweets.

  Being told that you have cancer, will bring about change. It can be voluntary or involuntary but there will be change. In how we act. In how we feel. In how we face the fight and how we face the  future. We can make it a change for the better. We can change the things that put us at risk, and work toward a healthier, longer life or we can ignore it and watch as our health deteriorates and changes things for us. I wanted to be around for my family, my changes I think were for the better even as I do need to exercise even more because the exercises aren't just for the body, they help the mind as well.

 How do you feel, how do you react when you are told you have cancer? I hope that you never are. I hope that through education there is prevention. I hope through research there is a cure. I hope, that we finish this fight and there is no more cancer.

 So I participate in Relay for Life. I fundraise and I help raise awareness and I work toward getting people to join and help. Through their time, through their talents, through their dollars. Together we can beat this. together we can win. together, we can see to it that no one else has to wonder how they would react should they be told.............

Learning- an exercise in the fight

One can read all of the books, all of the articles and watch all of the videos that can be found on the topic, but still the best lessons and understanding comes from personal experience. You tend to learn more, when you do it yourself. You remember better when you have first hand experience with what ever it is you are trying to understand.

 When learning to drive a stick shift?  Get behind the wheel of a car,  in a safe place, and with some one with a ton of patience, start driving. Want do learn photography? Get a camera and start taking photographs. Want to learn to cook? Grab a cookbook and the needed ingredients and begin. Yes, there are some things that one needs extended education for, as I really wouldn't want to go into surgery and hear the doctor tell an attending nurse this was his first time but "Hey, you gotta start somewhere".

 But what about cancer? Yes, you can read, and view and listen, but all of that is cold and static. I would never, ever wish anyone to go through cancer. I would never wish anyone to have to take care of one with cancer. And yet, because cancer does eventually touch us all- we need to know. We need to know how to take care of ourselves and we need to know how to take care of those we love. More importantly, we need to learn ways to try to prevent cancer to begin with.

  We have become a much more static society. We work, then we go home and sit down somewhere, rising only to go to bed. Many have office jobs that mean sitting for long stretches of time. There is a tendency to not play sports, to not ride bikes, to not get out and enjoy the great outdoors like there once was. Exercise is one of the keys to being more healthy and preventing some cancers.

  We have become a people who love fast food. Whether this food comes from a so called, fast food restaurant or some processed something or other that we can pop into the microwave and have in minutes. Products loaded with sugars, sodium and an unknown listing of chemical additives. We no longer know what all we are putting into our systems. That needs to change. We need to know exactly what we are eating and how much. When we consume the proper amount of the right foods-real foods- then our body can function much better and with a lot greater risk of cancer.

 We are tense. We are stressed out to the maximum amounts without knowing how to combat it effectively. The pressure of our jobs, or the stress of not having a job. The way traffic is on the roads. The relationships that we have with others. All of these and more contribute to the stress in our lives. We need to know what can be done to ease the problem of stress which does help to prevent come cancers.

  No two people are alike, which means that not every good thing works for every one. We can do all of this that we possibly can and it still not prevent cancer. Or we can do this, and we're fine. We have to learn as many ways as possible, for our own good and the good of those we love.

  What do we do, where do we go, who do we talk with, if we have been diagnosed?

  What if someone we know has been diagnosed? What do we do? How do we help? What about those we don't personally know, but we know are out there and we want to help.. how?

    Where do we go to learn what we need to know? Who can we talk with? Where are the answers?

     Again, each person is different, so the answers are all different. I believe that is one thing that is making curing cancer difficult. But there are researchers out there who are searching and finding that nest step forward. Medicines are being created, treatments honed, people cared for.

  But- everything takes money. When you are doing research, when you are driving a vehicle taking a warrior to appointments, when you are doing all you can to educate through videos, pamphlets or appearances, it takes money. To print, for materials, for fuel, for any of the many number of items that care for those in need.

 That is one of the reasons I relay, that is why I have been a part of this for so long. That and the fact that I am a survivor and I want to see a sea of purple shirts at Relay and know that they too have made it. So I write, and I ask, and I beg, and I continue on doing what I can to help the many who are determined to finish the fight and see an end to cancer.

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/rebeccarevels