Three Cheers for Diane!!

It had been mentioned to me on several occasions that using a "Guided Imagery" technique for dealing with my disease, discomforts, and therapies could be quite helpful.

As I understand it, this is similar to what Sharon suggested some time ago: Her image about recovery from my neck operation was in terms of "blue-collar worker" cells of my body, wearing tiny little hard hats, scampering about the incision area, encouraging each other to rebuild healthy tissues quickly. And getting paid extra for their hard work! Perfectly lovely image that I enjoyed using -- back during that part of this journey.

But Sharon and I couldn't come up with an equivalent image for chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Because during these treatments, there is so much "collateral damage" -- destruction of perfectly healthy cells in the pursuit of the cancer cells. The only image that I could come up with was the house-to-house warfare that we see portrayed in movies and such: kick down the door and spray the inside room with bullets. And wait for the smoke to clear to see what you've accomplished. Not really a supportive, healing image, but that's what chemo and rad therapy feel like sometimes!

But Diane (who is a classmate at my Meadville school, that I would like to blog about sometime...) recently sent me not one or two, but three CD's of Guided Imagery that could not be more appropriate: one to be used with chemotherapy, one to be used with radiation therapy, and one for support for the caregiver(s) surrounding the patient.

I listened to the chemo CD today during my treatment session, and it was wonderful. And (for all my fellow Meadvillians) the concepts and presentation fit just beautifully with the ideas and techniques we're working with in School. The CD suggests that the Imagery becomes stronger the more you listen to it. And that's easy to believe.

My chemo sessions tend to last roughly 4 hours. And I take a Terry Pratchett book (of course!); a Soduku book; and the Lance Armstrong book, It's Not About The Bike with me. But now I can put the paper down, switch on the CD, and find a better rest, a better place to visit, with an invitation to take a more active participation in my own healing.

Diane, thank you ever so much!!