What brought you joy today?

Posted by northoftheborder @northoftheborder, Jun 28 8:15pm

If you've been living with cancer for a while, you know it's not all gloom and doom. Where did you find joy today? I'll start:

1. Working in my garden.
2. Meeting my daughter for tea.
3. Home-made pizza for dinner.
4. My spouse (always).
5. Some interesting online discussions.
6. Rereading a good novel.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Cancer Support Group.

@scottbeammeup

Getting my first post-radiation PSA test and coming in at 0.03.

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That's a really fast drop, which (I think, as a layperson) is promising. Congrats!

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Listening to my favorite music!

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Every single day the greatest joy I experience is petting my beautiful sweet kitty, Jazz. I feel so relaxed when he sleeps on my lap while I'm watching TV. It's just him and me in the house & I talk to him a lot. Having him and his late brother absolutely helped with my difficult recovery when I returned home to an empty house from Stage 4 esophageal cancer surgery, major weight loss, compounded by a 2 month deep coma following the 10.5 hr. cancer surgery and 4 months in rehabs. Life seemed pretty grim when I finally came home but being with my 2 loving kitties definitely made life look a whole lot brighter despite the surgery problems.

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@bea4me

Every single day the greatest joy I experience is petting my beautiful sweet kitty, Jazz. I feel so relaxed when he sleeps on my lap while I'm watching TV. It's just him and me in the house & I talk to him a lot. Having him and his late brother absolutely helped with my difficult recovery when I returned home to an empty house from Stage 4 esophageal cancer surgery, major weight loss, compounded by a 2 month deep coma following the 10.5 hr. cancer surgery and 4 months in rehabs. Life seemed pretty grim when I finally came home but being with my 2 loving kitties definitely made life look a whole lot brighter despite the surgery problems.

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Thank you so much for sharing.

We had similar experiences — 10+ hour surgery followed by an inability to eat and massive weight loss — except that my other major complication was paralysis from the ribs down rather than a coma (I eventually recovered a reasonable amount of mobility over the next three years).

People might wonder how we can still find life joyful after (or while) going through something like that. True, I cried a lot too, but joy is always there if you're open to it.

And I know we both have the one thing billionaires will never have — enough. ♥️

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Seeing a young guava tree I thought was dead show newly sprouting leaves. Only waiting for the heat to be more bearable to transplant it to its permanent place.

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@rselicmeister

This is my Husky . Rory
(Aurora- so named cause she can say it!)
Between 6:00 and 7:00 pm she does whatever she has to to remind me it’s walky time.

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Rory is so pretty! She sounds cute too; reminding you to take her for a walk! I went to the University of Washington in Seattle WA. Their football team is the Huskies. Their mascot Husky dogs are adorable. I loved seeing them from time to time going to class. They were always happy and bouncy dogs!
PML

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@bea4me

Every single day the greatest joy I experience is petting my beautiful sweet kitty, Jazz. I feel so relaxed when he sleeps on my lap while I'm watching TV. It's just him and me in the house & I talk to him a lot. Having him and his late brother absolutely helped with my difficult recovery when I returned home to an empty house from Stage 4 esophageal cancer surgery, major weight loss, compounded by a 2 month deep coma following the 10.5 hr. cancer surgery and 4 months in rehabs. Life seemed pretty grim when I finally came home but being with my 2 loving kitties definitely made life look a whole lot brighter despite the surgery problems.

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Your kitty, Jazz sounds so wonderful! Being there for you when you needed him when you were so sick. Kitties seem to know when we need them. Recently my husband of 30 years died. The neighbor's cat has become close to us in the last year. He came up with his usual visit and stopped and looked at my husband's empty chair; like where is my friend? Then, he came over to me purring loudly and loving me up, rubbing up against my legs. I picked him up and held him and told him my husband was up in Heaven. It helped me. However, "Kitty" kept coming up for the next 6 days which he has never done. It's usually only once every 2 weeks just being a good neighbor cat. He kept loving me up every day and I kept holding him. He knew I was lonely. It was so sweet!
I'm glad you have your wonderful Jazz there for you!
PML

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Here’s a few more pictures of Rory, and one of them being with me ( her emotional support human)

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@pml

Rory is so pretty! She sounds cute too; reminding you to take her for a walk! I went to the University of Washington in Seattle WA. Their football team is the Huskies. Their mascot Husky dogs are adorable. I loved seeing them from time to time going to class. They were always happy and bouncy dogs!
PML

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I absolutely love Huskies. My wife Jeanne and I have had three now, and each one had/ has their own distinct personality, and have enriched our lives. They all have made themselves the center of attention, and are always scheming for the things they want, which is comical to watch. They are very self assertive and overly confident about themselves, but are also extremely affectionate. They insist on being pampered centers of attention. It’s uncanny how they are always working things out in their heads to manipulate you to get what they want. They make it clear that it’s their house and you are privileged that they allow you to live in it.
They are funny and make your life interesting.

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@pml

Your kitty, Jazz sounds so wonderful! Being there for you when you needed him when you were so sick. Kitties seem to know when we need them. Recently my husband of 30 years died. The neighbor's cat has become close to us in the last year. He came up with his usual visit and stopped and looked at my husband's empty chair; like where is my friend? Then, he came over to me purring loudly and loving me up, rubbing up against my legs. I picked him up and held him and told him my husband was up in Heaven. It helped me. However, "Kitty" kept coming up for the next 6 days which he has never done. It's usually only once every 2 weeks just being a good neighbor cat. He kept loving me up every day and I kept holding him. He knew I was lonely. It was so sweet!
I'm glad you have your wonderful Jazz there for you!
PML

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When my other kitty, Cinnamon ("Cinny") died earlier this year, Jazz became depressed. Those 2 were inseparable tho 3 years apart in age. I was depressed too but so glad I had Cinny for all 17 years of his life. Jazz wouldn't eat for 4 days. I knew if that went on to 5 days he might develop a severe health problem. But on the 5th day he decided to eat again! From the day that Cinny died, Jazz and I comforted each other. We both loved Cinny so I made sure Jazz got even more attention. After some time had passed, I realized that both of us seemed to have drifted away from the depression. Brought tears of joy to my eyes knowing that Jazz could help me get thru the loss of Cinny while I was helping him to recover as well. So glad I'm retired and can spend lots of time every day with Jazz.

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