Please help me. I don’t understand……

It’s all about those six words.  Maybe it was yesterday, a year ago, or a decade ago, but do you remember when a small sentence changed your life or your view of the world?  Actually for me, the reason for this blog all starts there, with those six words, fifteen years ago. She had one of the most beautiful souls I had ever met.  She helped me through one of the biggest trials of my life.  And one day, fifteen years ago, she called me and asked me to sit with her while they biopsied a tumor.  And then a week later, she asked me to sit with her to review the results with her husband.

She got devastating news.  She had cancer.  She had an evolving conflict between her conventional medicine and natural medicine beliefs.  She asked me if I would listen to the doctor’s recommendations and would I listen to her.  No matter what I thought … Would I explain it to her?  Would I respect her choices? Would I explain all her options, and what they might mean?

It all starts at the moment fifteen years ago.  She had a fifteen year battle with that horrible disease.  She had hormone issues.  She lost her hair.  She lost her identity as a woman.  She faced long-term side effects that cut years off her life.  And, through the whole journey, one theme never changed – she wanted to understand options – to live life on her terms.  She never wanted to repeat that treatment again.  Once was enough for her.

Her doctors at the time didn’t always respect her opinion.  I didn’t always agree either, as a conventionally trained medical professional.   But when she wanted to know if an alternative treatment sounded legitimate, I did the best I could to find any scientifically sound data regarding her question.  I presented it to her, and she decided what she wanted.  Always.

About three years ago, on a girlfriend-only weekend trip, she asked me to make her a promise.  She told me that she respected my training and my intelligence.  But my real talent was to be able to translate information and to do so in a nonjudgmental way.  I promised her that I would educate others about options, that there may be legitimate choices outside the traditional medical environment. There is legitimate medical literature out there about alternative options. But, you need to be able to interpret it and weed out the false promises that are aimed at desperate people.

She died a year ago from a long-term side effect.  As I said goodbye to her, I reflected on my promise to her.  It has taken me a year to conceptualize what that looks like.  It starts with this blog and website.  As different medical subjects and questions come up, I will write about them.  I’ll supply you with the best valid, legitimate, research that I can find and analyze.  I’ll do my best to put it in plain English for you.  If you have a question, I will do my best to answer it.  My hope is to walk this journey together; that you and I become more educated together so we understand our choices, because I want that for myself as much as I want it for you.

This is me.  A mindful medicine girl.  Trying to keep my promise.