I feel like a prize fighter!

I’ve just completed round 6 of Chemo treatments, and in case you like to keep score, it’s Gaydon 6, Cancer 0!

It’s been a long haul and with each new round unexpected events occur. Like my feet. I know this sounds crazy but I have developed “hand/foot syndrome”. My oncologist told me it would likely happen, but as he had recently cut the strength of my Chemo in half, I thought I would be lucky and not have to deal with this. But it happened anyway.

Ha!

What a surprise when I woke up one morning with red, blistered and peeling feet! As I tip-toed around my house, leaving tell-tale signs of where I had been (my skin!) I thought to myself “I’m just like a snake. I’m shedding my skin”. Of all the crazy things to happen so far in this cancer journey, this one has to take the cake.

So what does one do when one can’t walk around because of the pain? One becomes a Princess.

For a few days, I indulged myself, stretched out on the couch, reading, watching old movies, and meditating. To add insult to injury I had also developed laryngitis which made voicing my wants and needs very difficult. How does one be a Princess when no one can hear you? Being a Princess was not working so I had to give it up.

Then one day as I was reading “The Book of Awakening” by Mark Nepo, I came across a meditation called “The Gift of Shedding”.

“This has got to be for me”, I thought.

What were the odds of this? Some one knew the meaning of shedding! I wasn’t alone!

What I read made me sit up and take notice. It had to do with the willingness to change. But change what, I wondered.

As I read on the author talked about how “shedding dead skin” takes many forms. It can mean shedding a dead way of thinking, a dead way of seeing, a dead way of relating, a dead way of believing, or a dead way of experiencing.

Since I was shedding all over the place, I decided to work on this concept by asking myself “what am I being called to shed, to put to rest?”

I haven’t quite got a handle on that yet, but I think I’m getting close. How do I know? I’ve stopped shedding!

Isn’t life amazing? Just when you least expected it, it can grab you, shake you around and change your perspective. I am just like a snake. I am working on shedding my old ways for a new way of living! What a great way to start the Spring!