Salad Days

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  • Annabelle41415
    Annabelle41415 Member Posts: 6,742 Member
    #22
    darcher said:

    I wonder.

       Maybe I should create a new thread for this but on these "salad days" is the thought of cancer absent?  On days where it is thought about are there more frequent bathroom visits?  For me, absolutely there is a correlation.

    Ugg

    Salad days with no bathroom issues would be a wonderful day LOL.  I'm forever in the bathroom so that would be great. 

    Kim

  • airborne72
    airborne72 Member Posts: 296 Member
    #23
    Everyday is...

    I remember a miserable day many years ago in the Army when everyone was dejected and a crusty old sergeant said something that remained with me since.  He said that "everyday is a holiday and every meal is a feast."  Those words carry great meaning.

    Everyday for me is a salad day literally.  My daily diet is largely salad.  I rarely have a figurative salad day.  My health has been challenged for the past two decades with chronic, intractable spinal pain and of course cancer.

    To commiserate with Kim, I average two trips to the bathroom during the day and three at night.  I no longer enjoy uninterrupted sleep.  It's merely a nap here and a nap there; here a nap, there a nap, everywhere a nap nap. (Sorry about that, I am so use to singing nursery rhymes to my 11 month old granddaughter that it slipped out.)

    But, in summary - everyday is a holiday and every meal is a feast!

    Jim

  • beaumontdave
    beaumontdave Member Posts: 1,280 Member
    #24
    I find I'm pretty bouyant on

    I find I'm pretty bouyant on a daily basis, still working, still moving. I can't hike during off-time, because the feet can't take the pounding and still be good at work, so alot of my getting out is with my mind. At some point I'll start the car trips that I'd hoped Cindy and I would have, but for now salad days are very much the state of mind I can carry through tasks, big and small. Trying for too much bliss of course comes with a letdown so I aim for the small pleasures of life, and the absence or minimalizing of pain. My newest struggle is pretty light-weight compared to most here; the English Bulldog I sold my bike to get for Cindy after she was diagnosed is 9 and a half years old now. Harleys blind can't hardly smell, barley hears much and likes to stay in my room, under my desk or by my bed. He can still get up, but he's not alerting me to take him out for potty breaks any more, just dropping it on the bathroom floor, if I'm sleeping. He doesn't seem to be in great discomfort, still takes his biscuit treats when I give them. I've begun pondering the inevitable, read on vet sites, mentally preparing for the decision to put him down, but I can't even write the sentence without my eyes watering. 3years 3months out from losing the wife, and yet I'm still so emotionally brittle. I guess surviving battles of the kind here, hasn't made stronger in the way I thought it might. "Salad days "is an interesting term, and I have plenty enough of them, but still, getting to the state of mental freedom and minimal responsibility that I am looking for, is a ways off. "Cancer" may not pop in my head most days anymore, but there's always something else of some weight willing to take its place. Oh well, back to trying to practice mindfulness and Stoicism, I've got to get better at those disciplines eventually, right?................................................Dave

     

  • lizard44
    lizard44 Member Posts: 409 Member
    #25
    Salad Days

    I almost feel guilty for  having  salad days when I don't think about cancer,  especially knowing that  so many folks like Jan are having  such major issues and feeling so weak and worn down. But honestly, in between chemo treatments I generally feel  pretty good and can go several days without  thinking about  cancer. Maybe it helps that I have a colostomy so bathroom issues aren't a problem, and Stella  Stoma and I have come to an undertanding where she's cooperative most of the time, although she does get embarrasingly loud at times. I've given her the task of  investigating the mystery of the phantom rectum to keep her busy. I have found that Yoga helps, and mindfulness- being aware of being here, now, and not trying to live in the past or worry about the future. Maybe it also helps that I'm past seventy, something I still find surprising at times, given that neither of my parents lived past 62. I've no idea how long these  salad days will last, but I'll  take them as they come and enjoy them while I can.

    Dave- I hope you and Harley have  more time together. We had to put our English bull dog,  Winthrop, down  years ago.  It's never easy to watch them suffer, or to let them go.  Our  Boston terrier is about 15 now and showing her age so  we may be in that place again soon.

    Carpe diem-

    Grace/lizard44

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