
Gratitude Practice: second week of third chemo cycle.
At this stage, I was just grateful to get through the week.
Every day was a step closer.
Firstly, the focus every day was on my medications, my fluid and solids intake, and my wound care. Secondly, it was about the gratitude practice – it was my lifeline to feeling like I still existed. Thirdly, my goals through chemo were to avoid hospitalization, and my overall goal throughout the whole experience was to avoid a depressive episode. Fourthly, it was about my rehab: both physical and cognitive. Finally, it was about remaining connected to my community.

Chemo Round Three of Four, Week Two, Day One (Day 50 of 85).
“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love …”
Marcus Aurelius – Meditations, 161-180AD.

Chemo Round Three of Four, Week Two, Day Two (Day 51 of 85).
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.”

Chemo Round Three of Four, Week Two, Day Three (Day 52 of 85).
“The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.”

Chemo Round Three of Four, Week Two, Day Four (Day 53 of 85).
“The more we are steeped in gratefulness, the more it absorbs us until we start to radiate it from within.”

Chemo Round Three of Four, Week Two, Day Five (Day 54 of 85).
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

Chemo Round Three of Four, Week Two, Day Six (Day 55 of 85).
“Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair but manifestations of strength and resolution”

Chemo Round Three of Four, Week Two, Day Seven (Day 56 of 85).
“Blessed are those who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.”

SELF CHECKS
Ensure that you are vigilant around your self-examination. Train yourself to check your breasts/testicles routinely, and monitor your bowel habits and your urine output. These are our body’s early warning signs, and we don’t have a lot of awareness of them.

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