MDX-1106 part 6

foxhd said:

luck
Attitude, luck, persistence. When I was 17 I had a fight with my demoralizing alcoholic father. On the verge of breaking down I decided that he would no longer project his inadaquacies on me. A few years later I was exposed to Dale Carnegie's, "How to win friends and influence people." I made a concious decision at that point to always carry a positive attitude. I never state that I'm "Not bad." It's always "Great, excellent, wonderful" or something similar. Basically, if you are in a bad mood then you put everyone in a bad mood. Smile, say you are great, and it rubs off on them. I seldom ever use a negative connotation in any situation. ( well, I do acknowledge many of my golf shots SUCK). This mindset has made my career as a physical therapist successful and effective. I have always been known for this. Try telling a joke when your angry. Then try again with a smile and a twinkle in your eye. It is a way of life. Not a phoney act. When I had my first scan looking for that kidney stone,the ER Doc came to me very solemn. "You have a tumor" he said. It was early in the morning. I could see that he had a bit of difficulty telling me this. What a way to have to start his shift. I told him to tell me again with a smile. Told him,"Don't let me ruin your whole day." I know his day went better from that point on. (then I had to work on my wife) In any event, everyone can smile and use positive frame of reference. It is easy.

I am alive said:

Smiles
You're absolutely right. We can choose to be happy, no matter what, and that simple decision will color everything in our life. You know, I don't like the term "cancer victim" because I don't feel like a victim. I figure terrible things happen to people everyday. Most of us carry our share of heartaches. Cancer is just one kind of heartache. Sure, it can end your life. But none of us are getting out of here alive. Don't get me wrong - I'm only 60, a baby! My daughter is just starting her sophomore year of college. I want to be around for a long, long while! But if cancer has taught me anything it is to live in the moment. As my father used to say, "Hey, I woke up this morning. That makes it a great day." I don't spend a lot of time projecting into the future, but I do keep moving forward.
Back to attitude, when I was first diagnosed 8 years ago, one of the first oncologists I went to for second opinions and such met me unsmiling and grim. At that point I asked how much time do I have? (I don't ask that question anymore. I like to think of the whole process as open ended. Why not?) And he said he didn't know. "3 years, 5 years, maybe (and here he paused) 10 years," but his inflection gave the impression that 10 years would be a stretch. The next doc I consulted with walked into the room all smiles and positive energy. He radiated life. And you're right - if someone smiles at you, you smile right back. He started by saying this was a great time to have kidney cancer, then he made a joke about it. He rattled off a litany of latest advances in treatment and said more were on the way. He introduced the notion of living with cancer, viewing cancer as a chronic condition, like diabetes. He said he had a patient going on 14 years living with his kidney cancer. My prognosis? Absolutely open ended. I left the office buoyed and even happy. I left smiling and hopeful. That was his gift to me. And in large part because of it I've lived these past eight years happy and hopeful rather than devastated and depressed, counting down the clock. Now I've got more mets and am in a clinical drug trial, but hey - I'm thrilled to be in the trial! Like you, I feel lucky. And I'm still smiling.

tacyarts said:

Fox
Just to let you know that I'm thinking alot about you and hope that you get good news.