Forum Discussion
Doing what you LOVE to do - before, during & after BC! What's YOUR favourite?
Hi guys
I am really lucky in that I have 2 BIG passions that consume a lot of my time ..... and (no surprise to some of you ....)
Ukulele Playing - this was a library gig we did last year .... (I am 4th from left, front row.) Our ages range from the 50s - 80s. Every 4-6 weeks we play 'gigs' at 4 Nursing Homes - and we practise weekly at another nursing home ... so I guess you can call us 'volunteers'?? Some of our members are older than the people we are playing for! LOL
and
Kayak Fishing - I love nothing more than hitting the lake with a bunch of buddies.
Yesterday, I was getting cabin fever from lack of fishing (wet & windy here for the last week), so I grabbed a warm jacket
& walked the edge of the Boat Ramp .... I was busted off on the first fish :( (a good sized Flattie from the power of it's head shakes!) then dropped the next few that spat the hook .... then finally landed another nice one, that came home for dinner!!
So WHAT IS IT that puts that 'gleam in YOUR eye' - is it Golf (I play it badly), Playing Bridge (never tried it - I think you have to be 'serious' to play Bridge), Singing (that goes hand in hand with Uke Playing), Community Groups/Volunteering, Tapestry, Running (I couldn't run round the block to save my life!), ..... that gets you out of bed quicker in the morning if you know you are going to 'do it' ........
How has your surgery/treatment impacted on you doing 'YOUR TIME" stuff? Have you had to stop doing it or can't do it as often due to your treatment? Do you find you find you are still expected to do EVERYTHING ELSE at the expense of 'Your Time'?
Prior to my surgery, my uke group were amongst my greatest allies - I had to tell them straight away as we were gearing up for a big performance at the Blue Mountains Uke Festival - and I didn't know if I would be there for them!! After my surgery, I was back playing again 2 weeks later - but was very mindful of where my uke sat - as it was right across the affected boob!! The Blue Mountains gig was 3 weeks after my surgery - and luckily, I made it!! 4 of my Uke group have had BC & were able to offer info & support.
My Fishing Buddies were also an immense support to me as well (as indeed they were when Hubby was going thru his cancer in 2010) - I've caught up with a fair few of them since I was diagnosed & it has just been terrific. A bunch of my kayak fishing ladies had also had BC and were a wonderful source of info & advice!
Part of my philosophy to recovery is to try & keep 'busy' with 'stuff' so that your mind is kept active & is a 'happy thing' compared to what we are going thru daily just now (Hmmmm - tho I REALLY should be decluttering our home - but that doesn't excite me as much! LOL)
SO, let's get a list going of all your favourite pastimes ..... then, if anyone on the forum is living near you or passing thru - you may be able to share your passion with them to help them 'while away' the time!!
I am really lucky in that I have 2 BIG passions that consume a lot of my time ..... and (no surprise to some of you ....)
Ukulele Playing - this was a library gig we did last year .... (I am 4th from left, front row.) Our ages range from the 50s - 80s. Every 4-6 weeks we play 'gigs' at 4 Nursing Homes - and we practise weekly at another nursing home ... so I guess you can call us 'volunteers'?? Some of our members are older than the people we are playing for! LOL
and
Kayak Fishing - I love nothing more than hitting the lake with a bunch of buddies.
Yesterday, I was getting cabin fever from lack of fishing (wet & windy here for the last week), so I grabbed a warm jacket
& walked the edge of the Boat Ramp .... I was busted off on the first fish :( (a good sized Flattie from the power of it's head shakes!) then dropped the next few that spat the hook .... then finally landed another nice one, that came home for dinner!!
So WHAT IS IT that puts that 'gleam in YOUR eye' - is it Golf (I play it badly), Playing Bridge (never tried it - I think you have to be 'serious' to play Bridge), Singing (that goes hand in hand with Uke Playing), Community Groups/Volunteering, Tapestry, Running (I couldn't run round the block to save my life!), ..... that gets you out of bed quicker in the morning if you know you are going to 'do it' ........
How has your surgery/treatment impacted on you doing 'YOUR TIME" stuff? Have you had to stop doing it or can't do it as often due to your treatment? Do you find you find you are still expected to do EVERYTHING ELSE at the expense of 'Your Time'?
Prior to my surgery, my uke group were amongst my greatest allies - I had to tell them straight away as we were gearing up for a big performance at the Blue Mountains Uke Festival - and I didn't know if I would be there for them!! After my surgery, I was back playing again 2 weeks later - but was very mindful of where my uke sat - as it was right across the affected boob!! The Blue Mountains gig was 3 weeks after my surgery - and luckily, I made it!! 4 of my Uke group have had BC & were able to offer info & support.
My Fishing Buddies were also an immense support to me as well (as indeed they were when Hubby was going thru his cancer in 2010) - I've caught up with a fair few of them since I was diagnosed & it has just been terrific. A bunch of my kayak fishing ladies had also had BC and were a wonderful source of info & advice!
Part of my philosophy to recovery is to try & keep 'busy' with 'stuff' so that your mind is kept active & is a 'happy thing' compared to what we are going thru daily just now (Hmmmm - tho I REALLY should be decluttering our home - but that doesn't excite me as much! LOL)
SO, let's get a list going of all your favourite pastimes ..... then, if anyone on the forum is living near you or passing thru - you may be able to share your passion with them to help them 'while away' the time!!
184 Replies
- Always feel free to vent your rage here, ladies (and gents) - I certainly do.
- Have been to Derby - we left there to go to the horizontal waterfalls. Tides are amazing and a lovely place. We sat through a mud football game which was terrific. Basically a footy oval filled with water, at the end there was a comp to see which four wheel drive could make it through the mud. Have been there a few times along the Gibb River Road. Lovely spot.
- Yes kmakm. It is bloody hard work staying afloat. It shows how strong we are and we can pat ourselves on the back for each step up. Being positive when it's so hard to do so is my lifeline. I have to find a way out.. I really feel when people are down
- AllyJay. My stomach flips at the thought of heights. At least you can look back and know you did those things rather than wishing you had. Love the face thing. Sometimes putting on the happy face lifts us up. The meltdowns never stop but best to let it out and move on rather than bottle it up. Gave my hubby a voucher for one of those indoor skydive. Crikey it cost 129 which I didn't mind, however I felt pretty ripped off when all he got for it was two 50 second goes. We spent 3 hours travelling there and back home for it.
- WOW! @Annie C What an amazing place you live in!! It will DEFINITELY be on my list when we do The Big Lap!! hahaha looks like my tide watch won't be any good up there for the tides!! My brother lived in Nhulunbuy/Gove for many years & had the same problem. He is also a yachtie & has sailed the Kimberley a few times. I'll have to give your golf course a shot too! LOL haha If I owned a new agency, I'd be reading ALL the fishing mags, all the Gold Fossicking mags .... half the books ...... there wouldn't be enough time to work! ;)
Great pic, @Blondy Great to know there's another singer or two out there!! Yep, when I am playing uke & fishing (and most of the time) all my cares fall away. Losing your voice (or some of your range) would be devastating - just take it easy & don't strain it - it should come back. xx
We are having a fundraiser for a buddy just diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia & I am donating a set of 10 ukulele lessons & the use of a uke for the period of the lessons (worth $300-500) and hope someone puts in a bid for it!!
@AllyJay OMG! You'd NEVER get me up in ANY aircraft with the intention to jump out of it - tho my niece did!! She did hundreds of jumps out near Camden. hmmm, tho I 'could' almost see me in a hot air balloon .....
You are totally right about the Eleanor Rigby face .... you put on whichever one suits the occasion or how you are feeling at the time. Usually it is my 'happy face' .....so feel free to RANT AWAY here, where we all totally understand what is going on! xx ;) - I am one of those people who has spent some days crying all day in the depths of despair. Mid-life, the last few years have been derailed by cancer diagnoses, cancer deaths, and tremendous disruption to my way of life as a result. My life has not panned out the way I thought it would. My cancer diagnosis did not interrupt a settled life filled with activities I enjoyed, a fulfilling career or successful business. So it's not been possible for me to defy cancer and be determined to not let it rob me. It has comprehensively changed my life and much of the time I have a stressful home as a result. It does impact on my recovery I'm sure, but there's nothing I can do about it. It is what it is and I just have to get on with it as best as I know how. I have big responsibilities as a result of cancer, and then the responsibility to myself to live as strong and as useful life as I can after my own diagnosis. And yes, there has been white hot rage and the black dog has arrived to lurk at my side. I have been taught that ignoring these emotions is not healthy. You have to go through it to come out the other side. Emotionally as well as physically, if you are lucky to have a good prognosis. I am doing my best.
And that is all any of us can do, our best. For some of us it will be doing our darndest to proceed with our lives as normally as possible. For others it will be accepting that the vicissitudes of treatment will throw us off track, and to attempt persevere, tears, anger and all. For some it's to keep doing what they've always done, for others it means giving up what they've loved and finding something new, and for me it's going to be finding new things to love as a way to find a way back to myself.
The pressure to be the 'good patient' is at times very intense. There is no right or wrong way to 'do cancer'. If tears and anger are part of your reaction, your treatment and recovery then you should be allowed to express that without shame or restriction. Like @AllyJay, here is where I let it all out. I'll never be able to convey how much it's helped. - The question was posed of what we did before, during and after. Well for some members here, you will know that back in the not so distant past, my passion was altitude. Plenty of altitude. Spent my weekends on the dropzone packing and cooking on Saturdays and jumping on Sundays. Skyvans, Twin Otters, Nomads, Cessnas, Bell Jet Ranger Helicopters, Hot Air Balloons, anything than could get me up and I was in it...then out of it. That part of my life is over and now I knit. Somewhat of a difference, one might say. Sometimes I also rage at what my physical life is now...sometimes I too feel like Eleanor Rigby...wearing the face that I keep in a jar by the door. Put on the happy face, put on the peaceful face, put on whichever face is needed for that day...perhaps the compliant, brave. cancer lady one today dear? And sometimes I just let it all out and I do it here. Here because it's a safe place to do it. I don't freak my family out and cause them further despair, I vent here where by brothers and sisters in arms get it. They get that sometimes that pressure cooker valve just has to let of steam, or else it is going to explode off that lid and fly through the ceiling and the contents of that pot are going to follow in a steaming, gushing blast, scalding all who are in that kitchen. So if sometimes I put down my Nanna needles and let my tongue loose for a bit of a trot, please allow that to happen freely.
- Such a great topic, because my Mantra had been to not let cancer rob me of anything ever. I have from time to time seen angry ranting posts and read about people crying all day and being in the depths of despair. Stress is the last thing we need. I feel for these people who are having a hard time and ultimately it won't make for an easy recovery. So on a lighter note it's wonderful to see what others love doing. I'm sure this makes for an easier recovery. Yes we suffer crappy side effects but it's nothing we weren't told about and we just have to adjust to it. Doing what we love takes us out of ourselves. I have single handedly run a busy boutique hairdressing salon for 33 years and been hairdressing for 53 years. I organised a friend to look after my salon one day a week until I could take up the reins after all of my treatment. 2 weeks after surgery I returned on a Friday and helped out until chemo. I had chemo on a Friday and went the following 2 Fridays for 4 cycles of chemo. I also fitted in a few days I did on my own. It did my heart and soul good. A few weeks before radiotherapy started I took back the reins. Luckily I had no fatigue. It was exhausting at first but now it's like nothing happened. Doing hair and sending clients out looking and feeling much better than when they came in is so rewarding. I sing with a barbershop Chorus on the Central Coast for the last 17 years. I took a leave of absence as I live in the Macarthur area. The proximity of singing with a compromised immune system and the distance to travel etc was out of the question. The Chorus girls kept in constant touch as we are all like sisters. I returned to singing this week in excellent health. I also sing a bit in my husbands band and I only missed a few gigs during chemo and a couple of times I didn't sing but did attend the gig.. The boys in the band were asked not to talk about the cancer as we went to gigs to have a good time and I felt better when not talking about it About 6 weeks after chemo my voice went all stringy and broken. Devastating as some songs I can't '. sing at the moment However I feel it is starting to get a bit better. Life is good. Keep doing what you love.
- @kmakm all help greatfully received fabric wise. And I HATE pink!
@Sister I am so glad that you travelled through the Kimberley pre children. It has not changed much. Just as lovely. And yes there are always boabs near water.
@Harvey1903 we are somewhat "close" to Katherine. Just a tad down the road (1400 kms). But hey, distance is relative.
You simply must play a round of golf on our course. Just to make the course interesting there's a great big boab tree on each tee - usually just where you are. My husband was involved in creating the depressions in the greens back in 1993. He used a D4 Dozer! You also have to dodge the Agile Wallabies! So cute.
@Artferret before retirement days my husband and I owned the best little newsagency in town - or so our customers told us - they were being kind. Inspirations magazine was my must read. That is, I read it and then put it back on the shelf, as all good newsagents do! Need to know the product! And you are right who cares about the cost. Life's short and mine is a little shorter now.
Now all - I had better come clean on exactly where I live. My home town is Derby Western Australia in the Kimberley region.
We are 221 kms northeast by road from Broome. Derbyites call Broome our seaside suburb. There's a "little" animosity between Broome and Derby.
We are a warts and all town. We are not pretty. Except for our main street. The centre islands of Loch Street are planted with boab trees. Many times I see tourists standing in the centre islands taking wide angled photographs of the avenue of boabs.
We are just us. A mixed town - 50/50 aboriginal and white but we all try to get along. Like other country towns we have our share of social problems.
Geographically we are at the bottom of the King Sound surrounded by mud flats. Hot and very humid. The wet season storms are electrifying and stunning. Great for photographers who live lightening shots.
We have the highest tropical tidal range in the southern hemisphere. High tide is 13 metres with low tide at 0 metres. It is awe inspiring to stand on our jetty which juts out into the sound 250 metres and watch the tide racing in and out.
Isolation is what you make of it. At times it can be overwhelming. However the sense of community, the care and concern and the help is always there.
Will we ever leave? With good fortune smiling on us we hope not. To leave would break our hearts.
When I am welcoming newcomers I tell them that Derby is a town that you absolutely love or absolutely hate. There's nothing in between. - @Annie C The embroidery workshops I'm going to are held every two years in Glenelg, Adelaide (it's by the beach and not far from Adelaide just a short tram ride) and is called Beating round the Bush. We have tutors and fellow embroiderers who come from all around the world for eight days of fun. There are 1,2 and 3 day workshops. Check it out online and have a look at what's on offer workshopwise this year. It's held at Immanuel College and you can stay there as well or find your own accommodation. The company who run it through Inspirations embroidery magazine also do deals with some of the big accommodation places there and run shuttle buses to the venue. I have to admit it's not cheap by the time you tote up flights, accommodation, cost of workshops and kits but i figure it's only every two years so what the hell! I fly in from Melbourne with my sister, mum and a friend so we rent a house and spread the cost that way. Check it out and see what you think. And if you haven't come across the Inspirations magazine before it's the best embroidery mag I've ever drooled over.
Cheers Cath
