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Thanksgiving Day One Year After - Gratitude
Last Thanksgiving day I was taking an ambulance ride to the hospital. I had collapsed with severe dizziness, nausea, and unable to lift my head off of the floor. After a brain scan showing multiple tumors, I was admitted to the hospital.
I was diagnosed with CNS lymphoma (DLBCL) with tumors in my brain and elsewhere in my body. I left the hospital 15 days later after my first round of chemotherapy and physical therapy for balance issues.
There were many days during this last year where I struggled to find gratitude. I was anxious and resistant to the diagnosis, the many chemotherapy treatments, and the complications that followed each time from the chemotherapy.
My career has been spent using logic to diagnose software problems and design solutions - it was difficult to accept that I could not use these skills to solve my own health issues.
I am glad to say that I have completed all of the treatments and am in remission this Thanksgiving. Feeling so much gratitude for my loved ones, my recovering body, and the amazing doctors and nurses who helped me through this.
Thanksgiving has always been a holiday to acknowledge all there is to be grateful for but even more so for me now. And while the actual date of Thanksgiving changes each year, it is this holiday that I will use to hopefully count my continued progress away from cancer.
I would like to finish this with a Thanksgiving gratitude list. Thanks for letting me share it with you.
Gratitude for the love and support from my loved ones. Family and friends are always important, but especially during an illness. It is meaningful to see how much help is given in so many ways.
Gratitude for the excellent care and support that the doctors, nurses, and physical therapists have provided me thru this illness. I am fortunate to have an oncologist who is patient and compassionate - he was able to help me (mentally and physically) successfully complete all of the treatments. Thankful that I was quickly diagnosed and treated with a great result to date.
Gratitude for all of the amazing people I have encountered in Mayo Clinic Connect (MCC). I initially joined because I was asked to watch an educational video about an upcoming procedure. I never expected that this community would be such a positive experience during my recovery. I have read inspiring stories, found helpful information, enjoyed humorous and uplifting comments, and made meaningful personal connections.
I debated on whether to include specific comments on MCC members because I didn’t want anyone to feel obligated to respond in some way. But I decided that it mattered enough to share it with you all and that maybe I am overthinking it (something I am good at lol).
Hopefully it will be taken as it is intended - a sincere thanks for making a difference with no other expectation.
So here are just some of the MCC contributors that have affected me in a positive way….
@cindysummit for sharing her inspiring story in the MCC spotlight interview, her outlook on life, and for mentioning the book, “The Four Things That Matter Most”. This book has given me much peace as I continue my recovery. There is a lot of beautiful wisdom in this book.
The chapter about being kind to yourself during illness and offering self-forgiveness for not being a perfect patient is one of my favorites.
@denisestlouis who I first encountered with her post “A Life Well Lived”. She has shared so honestly about her determination to work thru the physical and emotional challenges of cancer and to celebrate what is possible. Her willingness to share this in MCC is appreciated. Wishing her good health and healing as she continues thru her treatment.
@edsutton whose intelligent and interesting posts are appreciated for helping to inspire thoughtful reflection. And for his description of Hazel who could have her own MCC membership as a virtual therapy dog sharing her canine perspective of life lol.
@katgob whose cancer experiences, recent bone marrow transplant, and ongoing recovery are encouraging to us all who may need this treatment. Her sharing and thoughtful advice to others as she continues her own recovery is encouraging and appreciated. Wishing her continued good health.
@loribmt who is an amazing MCC mentor. Her posts are always encouraging and uplifting in some way, no matter the subject. Her great long term success with her blood cancer and bone marrow transplant are inspiring. Her helpful and supportive responses always communicate care, compassion, and positive energy. She is a great part of MCC and appreciated for helping in so many ways.
@mepowers for sharing her CNS lymphoma story and corresponding with me about her treatment, her continued long term remission without a bone marrow transplant, and sharing about her gratitude for each day. Her success in recovering from this disease and her kindness in helping other CNS lymphoma patients/caregivers is appreciated. Her great outcome with this disease has given me hope for my own great result.
@mnewland99 for sharing her story in the MCC Spotlight interview and expressing her joy in the progress of her treatment. And for sharing the great image of driving down the Pacific Coast Highway celebrating her progress with music playing and windows down. Really appreciate her kind response and offer of support. Wishing her continued healing, good health, and lots more great music.
@triciaot for the “Your Story in Six Words” post.
Enjoyable, Sometimes Challenging, Always Interesting, Appreciated
If you are still reading this very long post, I will end by sending a Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate this holiday and wishes to everyone for some peace and happiness in this life.
I look forward to hopefully posting another gratitude list next Thanksgiving.
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@j0318 An awesome post! I agree with all your sentiments (even if it took more than 6 words to say so!! just joking! 🙂
May your Thanksgiving always find you in a place where gratitude happens!
I have spent more time this Thanksgiving reflecting on relationships with family past and present which hasn’t always been the best. But I know this group has inspired me to reach out and build bridges. Life is what we have today.
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16 ReactionsI am a distant participant in this thread, and in fact I cannot recall why it gets posted among all my other notices. However, I am happy for this person, as I am for myself, a recovering patient with atrial fibrillation of the heart. I respond because, as this person has done with such gentility, I too celebrated my first year after my successful ablation procedure that ridded me of that awful arrhythmia. I called the electrophysiologist's office on the anniversary, reminded the clerk of me and my procedure, at which she actually laughed. I asked that she remember my case to Dr. Novak, and to make it clear to him that I sincerely appreciated his skill and perseverance with me (his first attempt at ablation failed to correct the fibrillation), which she agreed to do. Gratitude is the tide that washes away so much pain, doubt, anxiety, and despair.
Bravo, j0318!
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13 ReactionsOh my! What an absolutely beautiful post. Your gratitude is contagious - you reminded me of all that I have to be grateful for. Thank you. Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving, but, most importantly continued good health and healing. Your words of wisdom and spirit are awesome!!!!
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15 ReactionsI love your post. Gratitude at its most humble level. I have felt so good since my transplant April 9th that i forgot i am only 7 months into my first year of a bone marrow transplant. I visited the dermatologist today and he looked me over, found three things to burn off and said see you in a year. Only dry skin at issue. Skin cancer is in my close family tree. For today I add something to my gratitude list. I dropped off the gift at work for our Angel tree for kids in the EOPS program and their moms. Giving to others with kind words and or deeds is a life I want to live.
Thank you j0318
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15 ReactionsI am absolutely overwhelmed by your
beautiful post. I am grateful you benefited from my post and those of others.
So happy you continue to be in remission! Indeed you and I have much to be thankful for.
It is 6:51 a.m., and there have been significant changes to my Thanksgiving plans. There is a gentle rain falling that has canceled my early morning outside activity. But that is fine! Within these changes, I find more gratitude. How blessed we are when we do not miss this!
Have a wonderful day and thank you so much for your thoughtful and meaningful post.
CindyC
@cindysummit
CHrcc
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13 ReactionsI will never meet you -- but I will carry the inspiration of your beautiful message forward.
Thank you!
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12 ReactionsWhat a beautiful post, and what a wonderful way to start Thanksgiving! Thank you for taking the time to remind us all how valuable it is to be grateful. Sometimes it is overwhelming to stop and think of all we deal with. It’s also important to remember all that we have. This community, even though we don’t see each other, shares a wealth of heart. Blessings to all for a wonderful Thanksgiving and a good year ahead.
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12 ReactionsHolidays are very difficult for the chronically ill. Kudos to those who can gin up gratitude and thanks. Blessings on the caregivers and families of those whose treatment is working. And for those who have to fake it at this time of year, we get it. Be kind to yourself. Hang on. A better day is ahead.
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11 ReactionsHappy Thanksgiving @j0318 and to all the members I have the pleasure talking with every day! @j0318, I absolutely teared up reading your amazing, heartfelt and powerful Thanksgiving message of gratitude. I’m humbled with being included in your message and ever grateful for the gift of life given to me by a complete stranger through his donation of stem cells. Through that experience, I became involved with Connect while seeking information about my own life altering diagnosis and stuck around because…wow, it felt like I found my tribe. ☺️
Being able to receive or offer inspiration, consolation, encouragement, support and above all, impart hope to others is a gift in itself. That’s what’s so beautiful about MCC. We are all here to offer that much needed lifeline through our shared experiences.
Some of us just need to know we’re not alone and that someone out there is going through what we’re going through! Some of us need a hand to hold on a laborious journey through chemo, to know there can be life on the other side of the drama! We never know who’s going to need that smile or hug that we can convey through our computer screens. Or who needs to hear that statistics and odds don’t have to be the driving force behind your survival. There is power in words we use to bring people together, to let them feel safe, loved, supported and hopeful.
So, @j0318, thank you for being such a powerful, inspirational writer! Your letter of gratitude has already moved so many members with the replies I see here this morning! You’ve really tugged at the heart strings and struck a chord with so many of us…we can’t take a day for granted! Every day is a gift!
I’m sorry that I didn’t see this yesterday when you wrote. I’ve been playing a little hooky from MCC for a few days while our daughter is here for a week visiting. She is what I’m most grateful for!
Had I listened to statistics and odds with my diagnosis and given up hope, there would have been an empty place at the dining table for 5 years already. It’s important to never lose hope! You’re living proof of that with what you endured this year, only to have the crazy news that you’re in remission and no longer require the BMT! That still just blows my mind!
What an difference a year makes!! Enjoy this year’s deliriously Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃
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14 ReactionsOne of if not the best passionate thank you I have ever read. 💓 👌 best to you on the rest of your journey.
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9 Reactions