Your Dying Spouse 468 - Don't Stop

I've become convinced that part of longevity with cancer is simple...don't stop, and stay on your feet.

It's not just the physical effort, that maintains muscle and increases one's metabolism, giving the body the better chance of fighting back.

It's also the intentional act of seeing life from the point of view of a participant. Standing because I can, and moving because I must, I'm still part of my world. An agent, not a supplicant.

Sure, it hurts. Yes, it's tiring. And sometimes it seems futile; there are moments I would love to sink into a big chair in an opiate-fueled stupor, and let the pain and nausea drift away.

But I've been there, and that's a road where, you go far enough, and you don't come back.

I have help. foremost from the dogs; there are a lot of them, they need to be walked, or at least let out, and I need to be there for them. And they know I need to walk, too.

And I have dreams. Today I could stand, and so I could walk, and so I could go to the workbench and saw out a couple of steel plates that will be a part of the aeroplane I'm building. It's all manual work...attacking a 3/16" plate clamped in a vise with a worn-bladed hacksaw. It hurt abominably, but now there are two pieces liberated from the steel, that may one day be useful. It was worth the blood I spit up.

A halting step is still a step, and limping toward your dreams brings them closer.

Stay upright, keep your eyes open, keep moving, and don't look back.

It can be the most painfully expensive prescription you ever fill...and the one that gives you tomorrow.

Music from Fleetwood Mac, with Don't Stop.

Please pardon my slow response to comments. I do my best, and your comments are really precious to me. Barb is answering many of them now. I'm running on fumes, if you don't mind a macho metaphor.

I'm grateful for the energy to have written this. I'm so glad Barbara's stepped in for many of my posts. I'm really not doing well at all.

Thanks to Carol Ashby, Blessed Are The Pure Of Heart is back on Kindle, and will be available in paperback soon.

Friends are everything. I couldn't have done it.

Marley update... been moved to a sanctuary, and Bay County will revise their 'dangerous dog' codes.

WE MADE A DIFFERENCE!

And marley has a Facebook page! Please drop by to see how happy he is today.

If you can, please do leave a comment. I am trying to answer all, and I am failing, but please know this - I read and treasure each one.

Below are my recent releases on Kindle -please excuse their presence in the body of the blog. I haven't the energy to get them up as 'buttons' in the sidebar. You can click on the covers to go to the Amazon links.