For the last two weeks each morning there is a patient that has his appointments either before or after mine. As we both like to be early we have started chatting for the last week. He is in his second week of treatment and his wife also has stage 4 cancer and is currently undergoing chemotherapy as well. He is an older gentleman with a grandson who is a goalie for a Sudbury rep team. We have discussed mentality for a young goalie and strategies to help him out. Previously when he had a stroke he said that he shared a room with someone who decided to do their master and they tried to explain to him what they were doing and he did not really understand and said that he was not smart enough. I simplified it and said that a Master’s and PhD are to expand knowledge. You are trying to get more specialized knowledge for yourself while trying to find something new to add to the collective knowledge of the field. He understood that and said it made things more clear. He also indicated that he was not smart like that. I told him that I disagreed with him. That he had specialized knowledge as well. He had told me that he was a mechanic and was good with using his hands. I asked him whether he could tell what was wrong with a car just by listening to it, or tell what type of vehicle by the sound. He said he could. I think this is where perspective comes into play. Academic book smarts is not the only type of intelligence or skill. There are a lot of different types that are just as important. I told him that he excelled at his craft and that he was intelligent in his own right.
Everyone has their own skills and gifts. Smart people know when they do not know something and seek help or other knowledge. Only the foolish think that they know everything. He said it made him feel much better when I said that and it put things in a different perspective. This newfound friend of mine always wanted to put a positive spin on things while his wife was more pragmatic. I think going through treatment you need to have a balance of the two but it is important to view all of the positives that you do have going for you.
During our discussions about positivity I mentioned that I was lucky and gave an example of our neighbors helping bring in the Smith Machine. He replied that people help because they have a reason to, that I am nice and kind. I do believe that you need to be nice and kind to people because you never know what they are going through and you never know the impact you might have on others. Mel might disagree with me being nice and kind all of the time as I tend to be far more critical in my own household. I like to believe that I am just upholding standards within our family. I am quite lucky though as I have my father in law here to help build the Smith Machine today. My sister generously purchased us the new kettle to boil water for Mel. It has an option for hot water and a special one for green tea. It also doubles as a high end coffee maker. When friends knew that Mel wanted to put in a beverage area, all of my friends knew that at some point that would mean we upgraded our coffee maker. We have a nice Jura machine now that makes coffee and dispenses hot water. Mel spent the morning watching videos on how to use it.
I thought that this morning things were going well and I forgot to take my pills for nausea. Boy was that a mistake. I ate half of my breakfast and then it hit me. By that time I had stopped eating but I still feel the effects now. I feel the sensation of wanting to vomit, but I know that I will not. It is interesting that chair choice impacts how I feel in those situations. I am actually more comfortable sitting up in my bed then sitting in a proper chair. I did not sleep great last night as I was up at 4am. I had some thoughts and ideas going through my head. In regards to food intake I think that I had a great day yesterday and ate quite a bit. I tried to push it a bit more today and eat more than 75grams at a sitting. I had fried bread, scrambled eggs and a small ramekin of beans. I ate half the bread, the eggs and 2 bites of the beans. I think realized I was feeling some nausea and stopped. It was also over the 75gram limit. What this means is that now I will need to wait longer before I can eat again. I should have had half a piece of bread with the eggs and then stop and eat the other half with beans later on. Tonight we will be going to go out in this treacherous weather to my parents for pho. Mel thinks it is worth traveling for it.
QHM