While Canada's Thanksgiving was over a month, today's is America's day to think of gratitude, and to practice it, as we should on a daily basis. Despite multiple myeloma, therapies that didn't work or stopped working or worked and made me miserable, I have much to be grateful for. I find that "an attitude of gratitude" brings in good stuff.
For example: The other day I went to a Tucson hospital to get some records for my spouse which had never been sent to her primary phyisician. I was prepared to be combative because of the delay, and because their website directed me to an out-of-state phone which informed me that I could get them immediately at the hospital. Yeah, right, I cynically thought. More runaround. But I went.
Things had changed in the 3-1/2 years since I'd been there, and I ended up parked far from the entrance, which as it turns out was no longer the entrance; it had moved to a new building even further away! Now with myeloma, treatment side effects, and old age, I don't walk much anymore. One hundred steps to our rural mailbox and back is pretty much it. And the records department wasn't where it used to be, so I walked some more to find administration. I got there completely worn out.
And Jasmine, the young woman at the front desk, immediately got a wheelchair and took me to the records department, which produced in minutes the records I'd come for, and then Jasmine wheeled me all the way back to my car. No complaints from her, but intelligent conversation, and she accepted a hug as my expression of gratitude. (I did tell this story to her bosses, saying how lucky they were to have her!)
I have much to be grateful for: the love of my mate and my family, the 2-1/2 years since diagnosis, the wonderful staff at the oncology clinic, good books I've read and movies I've watched, the support of friends, the turducken dinner I'm preparing today. At the end of my life, I am grateful for a lot, and try to heed the words of Doctor Oliver Sacks just before cancer took him:
"My predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved. I have been given much and I have given something in return. Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.”
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albertlannon - Name: Albert Lannon
- Who do you know with myeloma?: self
- When were you/they diagnosed?: June, 2017
- Age at diagnosis: 79
Re: Gratitude
That’s a wonderful post. Thanks!
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Arizonan - Name: Arizonan
- Who do you know with myeloma?: Self
- When were you/they diagnosed?: April 2010
- Age at diagnosis: 54
Re: Gratitude
Gratitude is my attitude. It could be so much worse. I contnue to live a full active life.
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torimooney - Name: tori
- Who do you know with myeloma?: myself
- When were you/they diagnosed?: apr 2012
- Age at diagnosis: 64
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