Thursday, November 5, 2015

Patience is a virtue!

One thing I've been told over and over in my cancer journey is to be patient with myself.  That rest heals the body. Healing takes time. Energy doesn't return overnight. I pass this advice on to others because it has helped me. It helps me to give myself permission to rest, to say no, to ask for help.

Once off chemo about two weeks, I traveled to NW Colorado for my grandpa's funeral. Grandpa was 89 years old and had such a wonderful military ceremony surrounded by the mountains and colors of Fall.  It was a gift to be able to travel and be there for a week. I returned home very fatigued and slept for a couple days, but the energy did not return.  I ended up in the hospital for a partial bowel blockage and an infection.  After being in the hospital for 2 nights I returned home thinking I'd go back to how I was feeling in Colorado.  Wrong! It took me a full week to feel like I could quit sleeping 18 hours a day.  Thank goodness it was just in time for my son's 8th grade football game and all the Halloween madness.  I got so excited to participate again that I ended up in bed sleeping it off....again.

Patience is a virtue!

We've all heard this saying, but what does it really mean?

I think it's used here as an idiom. I know this only because my 4th grade daughter is learning about these at school right now.  Hence, I am learning to be as smart as a 4th grader as well!  With my newfound knowledge I quickly googled this and this idiom means......to make a virtue of necessity, to make the best of a difficult or unsatisfactory situation.

That seems to be a perfect fit.

To me, the lack of energy is definitely an unsatisfactory situation. So....today I'm praying that I can make patience a virtue out of necessity, but also that my energy will be the lasting type...real soon!