Muscle Memory
Muscle memory, a term gym rats use a lot. Getting back into exercise, the muscles remember and return to form once they get back to a familiar routine.
See where I’m going?
Laurie Hirth is back in a familiar place, sadly, and her ‘caregiver’ muscle memory has taken over. Her friend Dom is all the better for it too. He’s in good hands as his pancreas cancer causes him such terrible discomfort. It’s a difficult cancer to treat and when it’s in an advanced place, it can cause a lot of distress.
Laurie is not just treating the symptoms, she’s treating Dom’s heart too. At this point in the disease, that’s the most important part. The heart will soothe his mind. Comfort is what’s needed now.
And once again, this community rallied around Laurie, just as they have done hundreds of times before. Brady called us a ‘strange band’ and he’s probably right about that, but there’s no better band around. We’ve suffered and felt the bite of cancer and some how we’ve come through it. Some of us are still in the fight and get stronger every day, thanks, in part, to the experience this community has put out there and shared.
The ‘muscle memory’ of OUR CANCER is in no danger of atrophy. We give it a healthy workout every day.
August 11, 2011 @ 8:31 am
Life is short, and this atrlice saved valuable time on this Earth.
August 2, 2011 @ 12:06 am
I can’t thank you enough for the love, support and just being there for me and Dom. It’s a terrible thing to watch, but I learned from Neil. I am where I am supposed to be, Dom tells me everyday how grateful he is for all I have done for him. His friends tell me, I am humbled, but it’s a labor of love. When I go on vacation, I rise early to watch the sun come up, I go to bed late to listen to all the sounds of the night, I will rest when I get back home because for now I want to enjoy what time I have to be quiet with nature. This is no different. I want to enjoy what time I have left with Dom and help him any way I can, I will rest when Dom is at peace. It won’t be long now as the disease is creeping deeper every minute. I contacted the family and gave them the update, they will be here tomorrow. I have learned to be strong and to fight back, to not take no for an answer. To ask questions, to get help and if I don’t like one answer I find someone that gets me the answer I want to hear. I am wiser, I learned a lot the time around and now I know why….It’s still a gift and it’s heartfelt.
August 1, 2011 @ 9:18 pm
Within the last week my brother-in-law and a friend passed away. Both from cancer. My brother-in-law didn’t know. He wasn’t under doctor’s care atnd had a dr appointment for that day to check out the shortness of breath he had been experiencing lately. One lung was nearly blocked and the other partially blocked.
Our friend Ernie had oral cancer that was complicated by his diabetes and a MRSA infection after surgery this past January. He endured a lot. Painful surgery, couldn’t eat or talk for months… and then a few weeks ago they discovered that the cancer had spread and they had exhausted all options.
So 2 funerals about a week apart. The pain and suffering is the “muscle memory” I would like to do without.
Yesterday we gathered at my sister-in-law’s lake house in Wisconsin on the 2nd anniversary of my mother-in-law’s passing from colon cancer.
August 2, 2011 @ 12:08 am
I’m sorry Mully….
August 11, 2011 @ 5:42 am
You know what, I’m very much inlicned to agree.
August 12, 2011 @ 11:55 am
Many many quality piotns there.
August 2, 2011 @ 5:03 pm
I am so sad to learn of your loss, Mully.
August 11, 2011 @ 8:07 am
That’s more than snesbile! That’s a great post!
August 12, 2011 @ 10:43 am
I’m impressed! You’ve managed the almost impossbile.
August 11, 2011 @ 4:39 am
Help, I’ve been informed and I can’t beocme ignorant.
August 1, 2011 @ 8:47 pm
Lately, I have been dealing with friends with another kind of loss– their children. One’s son (33) had a seizure and drowned. The other’s child (14) died of a sudden asthma attack. Their pain is so great. But I think coming here to this blog helps me so much as I just stand by and offer what little words of comfort I can come up with. Laurie, I believe you will be glad you helped Dom, even though it may be very hard right now. I wish I could do more for my friends.
August 2, 2011 @ 12:09 am
Nan, one thing I learned, even when not talking your presence can speak volumns..
August 1, 2011 @ 8:40 pm
Who better to have as a caregiver than Laurie! I have a friend whose sister’s family seems to be living under a black cloud and hope that my friends here will remember them in their prayers. The sister recently passed away after heart surgery, her husband is fighting a terrible battle with cancer that has taken over his entire body, one son who is mentally challenged is in the hospital with pneumonia and what may well be a heart problem and left to shoulder all this is another son who has had a difficult life. This young man has stepped into a world of caregiving that even we at Our Cancer would find challenging. Since we can’t surround him physically, I hope we can surround him with our blessings.
August 2, 2011 @ 9:21 am
Kathie, he is being surrounded by all of you and I know he feels the love of his friends and family….thank you!
August 1, 2011 @ 6:26 pm
Sad but true…once you are in the cancer world, you never forget. But on the bright side, as you said Laurie, the muscle memory is always there for those who need it now. That is a very good thing…helping those who need us now. Others have rallied around us when we needed it most. So now we pay it forward. Just amazing to witness how the goodness of the human spirit comes to those in need.