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Before I die I want to...
I Want To Write & Publish At Least 5 Books...
time to stop buying books and stacking them up. READ!!
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In 2012 I was diagnosed with a form of advanced non hodgkins lymphoma. When the dime sized rather flat lump underneath my right arm became the size of a softball in less than 3 weeks, i knew i was in trouble. Sure enough, besides edgar (i decided he was big enough of a tumor to give him a name) there were 8 others affecting various organs in my body. Chemo started right away, but unlike many cancer treatments, mine required admission to the hospital for each session which lasted 7 days each at which times i had up to six different bags of chemo hanging from my poor little iv pole 24 hours a day for seven days. I've always taken great pleasure in making people laugh and if Laughter is the best medicine, I figured, what the heck, I have nothing to lose laughing my way out of this. And so, with the help of my best friend, I began with the premise: a chuckle a day keeps the doctor away...and each day i would have a few funny quotes or jokes ready for the nurses, technicians or the food service staff. My favorite was to take advantage of someone's poor choice of grammar when being asked for the ten thousandth time...do you know your weight? (yes...i'd say. then stop) What is it? (and i'd tell them) then...do you know your height? (yes...i'd say) and keep on until they realized i was only going to answer the direct question. It made the thousands of "interviews" so much less painful. And over the next 11 months and my increasing number of hospitals stays due to an ever weakening system hit by all that chemo, i learned a good number of helpful hints (but not from heloise!) about surviving hospital stays and a the diagnosis of a serious illness. (I think the title of my book is going to be: ALWAYS KEEP YOUR SPOON! Because i learned early on that you can really eat just about anything if you the only utensil you have is a spoon...but the same isnt true for a fork or knife! and since coming up with any utensil in between breakfast (which you cant each because every medical staffer in creation has to come to your room between 6am and 11am) lunch (which you cant eat because thats when they come to drag you off for some test) or dinner (which you cant eat because thats when family or friends are stopping by after work on their way home) you are ready to gnaw on the over bed tray table by the time 8pm rolls around. And so you ask the nurse to bring you something (anything at this point!) but alas the canteen is overflowing with foodies...but heaven forbid you can find a utensil to go with the soup or pudding or yogurt, or ice cream...BUT if you sneak the spoon off of one of the meal trays...VOILA! you dont have to lick the ice cream out of the container (which you can never get your tongue to the bottom of, fyi) Add to that a few hundred out tiny tidbits and insights...some funny, some serious, all were things i wish someone had been able to tell me that first month of treatments, and you have a collection of useful info, perspectives to consider, and some downright funny stories (like practical joke day) for someone else who may be facing a life changing illness a chance to hope, a thought or two to consider, and a handful of ideas that can make dealing with hospitals and their staff manageable. Today, 3 years later, I am still kickin, cancer free so far, and living to love every day that I am blessed with having. If i can pass that along to just one person who needs that rope to grab onto...then the effort will be worth it.
I want one of my stories to be published :)
I want to be a Succesful Writter...