Waiting can be the most anxiety producing element of any diagnostic process. Most who are having surgery are scheduling the surgery and that gives you too much time to think. There is something to be said for the emergency surgery where your brain doesn’t get in the way by throwing all these life scenarios in [...]
Archive for June, 2008
Illness and Anxiety
Posted in Emotional Health, Spirituality and Health, tagged anxiety and surgery, creating a legacy, death anxiety, newly diagnosed illness on June 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Care for the Caregiver
Posted in Caregiving, Self-Nurture, care for the caregiver, tagged Caregiving, caring for the sick, newly diagnosed illness on June 27, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Too many organizations, books and nonprofit organizations focus on the person with the illness, but one person is seldom the only one impacted by the diagnosis. We assume that people in our lives are obliged to care for us during our times of need, but is it done willfully and without resentment? In most cases [...]
Does Time Really Mean Anything?
Posted in Personal Conviction, tagged live in the moment, living with chronic illness, living with life threatening illness, time on June 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The clock ticks but does it really say anything? Time passes and we yearn for more time. When facing a life-altering health crisis time may be counting down till medication starts working. It is often what passes in waiting rooms. We believe or want to believe that time is endless. I was talking to my [...]
Anchors Away
Posted in coping with chronic illness, coping with life threatening illness, tagged identity, newly diagnosed, surviving illness, surviving strong on June 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
When we’re newly diagnosed we have lots of decisions to make, often in a short period of time. It’s not often that we take the time to focus on our identity as a person with a health challenge when more pressing matters are present. I’ve started wondering…in order to experience wellness, do we have to [...]
The Never Ending Saga
Posted in Emotional Health, Spirituality and Health, art and healing, tagged coaching illness, coping with chronic illness, Flannery O'Connor, lupus on June 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Ever stand at the ocean’s shore and look out on the horizon? What do you see? I’m a beach baby and love the water, specifically the ocean, and what I was always amazed about was the vast openness. The never ending water reaching out to where sky meets sea. It’s that feeling that things will [...]
Bringing Everyone Up To Speed
Posted in Partnerships, tagged doctor-patient relationship on June 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I have the honor and privilege of being invited to accompany those facing a life-altering diagnosis on their road to wellness. I’ve been doing this work for over twenty years and I’m continually shown the strength of the human spirit. In one of my recent phone conversations with someone at the beginning of their journey [...]
In Limbo
Posted in Personal Conviction, tagged diagnostic tests, life's priorities, thinking the worst on June 21, 2008 | 1 Comment »
How is it that a day consisting of 24 hours can seem like an eternity? I had a conversation last night with someone who recently went through a needle biopsy. It took eight days for the follow-up in the doctor’s office. It was clear that even with a busy schedule, the looming cloud waiting for [...]
Dealing with Uncertainty
Posted in In the Know, coping with chronic illness, coping with life threatening illness, tagged coaching illness, dealing with uncertainty, illness diagnosis, self-knowledge on June 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
When we go to the doctor with a problem our assumption is that they will be able to figure out what’s wrong and fix it. Personally, I think that’s a lot of pressure to put on the medical community. Remember they call it the “practice” of medicine, not the “perfection” of medicine. I say this [...]
Mind-Body Connection…DUH!
Posted in Emotional Health, Having a Voice, Personal Conviction, after the diagnosis, coping with chronic illness, coping with life threatening illness, tagged coaching illness, depression, diabetes, holistic health, mind body connection on June 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The news agencies reported on a study that was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, linking Diabetes and Depression. The study looked at over 6,000 individuals. What did they find? The found that those suffering from type 2 diabetes were more prone to depression, and lo and behold those with depression were [...]
Home as the Mirror to the Soul
Posted in Self-Nurture, coping with life threatening illness, creativity and health, living with chronic illness, tagged Jungian Therapy on June 17, 2008 | 1 Comment »
When I was training to be a psychotherapist I studied a lot of Jungian philosophy. I was particularly intrigued by the symbolism used in both our conscious and unconscious lives. I began looking for ways that the symbols would appear outside the realm of my dreams and I began to notice that signs and symbols [...]
