Humbling Experiences and Healing Cards

October has come around and the leaves have lost their golden hues and withered due to an unexpected severe frost. Like the leaves, I feel I have weathered and withered - not from frost, but from physical suffering. In September I decided to try a new treatment because the situation in the liver was getting serious. I experienced the first physical symptoms from the disease, and needed to act. However, the combination of the symptoms and the new treatment were almost too much for my body. My energy almost bottomed out, and with treatment side effects and pains, the situation was getting rather scary. The energy loss was the scariest experience. I use the analogy of a climber who reaches Everest and then barely has the energy to get down again. That's how I felt after two weeks on the treatment.

Suffering taught me humility. I realized that I am not in control of everything in my life. It's humbling to experience plunging from being fit and active to feeling totally spent and listless. To transcend the physical suffering, I had to find ways to detach my mind from what's happening to the body, otherwise, the mind was getting too caught up in the physical symptoms and started to go into negative self talk. However, I realized that the mind couldn't be always relied upon. The same mind that could take me to a peaceful place could in the next moment pull my spirit down with negative self talk. I realized that only by going beyond the mind, and praying to God, the creator, could I truly transcend suffering and find peace.

Now I am feeling better because I am in recovery mode from the treatment. Still, the humbling experiences continue. Two laps of front crawl in the pool and I am breathing hard. A thirty minute walk and my shoulder muscles are in pain. My biceps are gone. My back hurts. I am trying to regain some level of fitness and I feel I am starting from scratch. That's life - we fall, and pick ourselves up again, and again...

Before the body challenges really ramped up, Jacob and I managed to visit one of my favourite lakes (Lake McArthur) in Yoho National Park. Hiking there with a compromised body was another humbling experience. I never have appreciated reaching a goal as much as I did when we got to that lake.

I have made small "Healing Journey Cards" and handed them out to friends and family, after a neighbour told me the following story: a friend of hers has a three-year old boy who was diagnosed with leukemia. The family and friends got together and made bracelets and cards with positive statements such as "he is healed", "he is totally healthy and well", etc. They handed out the bracelets and cards and instructed everyone to whenever they touched the bracelet, to read the statement on the card. The boy had one month of medical treatment. Then there was a diagnostic test, and the doctors couldn't find any cancer! This story inspired me to create my own Healing Journey Cards with a picture of myself and the words: "Please help me on my healing journey. When you think of me, picture me as being HEALTHY, HEALED, and HAPPY. I greatly appreciate your prayers and positive thoughts."

I hope this idea will inspire others to do something similar that will help them on their path to healing. Never underestimate the power of positive thinking and prayer!