Some More Cool Stuff

Found out the other day that my blog post from January 18 is linked on The Richmond Forum Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/The-Richmond-Forum/44494848534?ref=ts). Scroll down the page to "The Wall" and that is where the link appears. That's pretty cool and also quite an honor.

I've mentioned how amazing the chemo room experience is and it only gets better. On Thursday, I was seated next to a first time treatment patient who had some anxiety. The nurse attending to her was doing great explaining things to her. However, some of the names of the drugs ended in the suffix, "toxin." Anytime the patient heard that, her anxiety level increased. At one point, the nurse said to her, "See that guy next to you? This is is 5th treatment and he's doing great." That comment initiated some conversation between the other patient and I. Yesterday, when I went in for a follow up shot,the nurse thanked me for helping her put her patient at ease. I really didn't know I had done anything all that special. Honest.

As a patient, who is having a relatively easy time of chemo treatments (although today I am having a side effect that hasn't happened in the past. It's OK, not painful, one that a friend who had chemo in the past warned me about and she and I have shared some levity about it, is the reason I am awake right now, not anything really nasty, and if you have to know the details, call me or e-mail me and I will fill you in, and it is temporary), I feel if I can help other chemo patients get through what they are going through, it is a great opportunity to "pay it forward."

As I respect and admire the chemo nurses,I want to be able to earn their respect. Yesterday, I was talking to another patient after I finished my shot. He was sitting close to the nurses station and when we started talking, the nurses were having a conversation between themselves. At one point, I noticed they had stopped talking and I heard one of them say, "You seeing what I'm seeing." They didn't speak anymore until the patient and I ended the conversation. I turned to the nurses to say "goodbye" and noticed they were smiling at me.

I'm not telling you any of this to make you say "What a great guy Greg is!" I'm not a great guy. But those moments I shared are what I aspire to be, and I know that there is a lot of ground to cover to get to that point. I once heard a speech writing coach say, "Nothing is more boring to an audience than talking about yourself." Sales coaches will tell you that when meeting a prospect/client, "Talk about them. Not yourself."

The reason I told you the above stories is that it is amazing to recognize when you are in a truly sacred moment. In those moments, it is more important to listen than talk. They are out there and for me the "gift of cancer" gave me clarity to help me recognize them when they happen. You may have your own way of recognizing them.

After I finished my chemo treatment the other day, I was talking to another patient. As I was talking to her, the nurse that attended me that day came up to me and tapped me on the shoulder and said, "I have to leave the room for a short while, but I wanted to make sure I said goodbye to you before you left. If I had left the room and came back and you weren't here to say goodbye to, I would have been sad." Then she gave me a big hug. I turned to the patient and said,"If I had known life was going to be this good with having cancer, I would have done it a long time ago."

"Go Good" today, my friends!