Time Out

I made it back. We live in an incredible place here in central Oregon. In the spring, summer and early fall there are so many options available to those who like the outdoor life. And, I love being outside. I actually don't need to be doing anything even remotely important. I can read a book, drink a Dr. Pepper while eating Frito's and watching the darting and daring hummingbirds who drink from our many feeding stations. And I can go hiking or kayaking or work on the many projects produced by a house, greenhouse, firewood pile, four cats and "stuff".


For example, I mow our small grass lawn, then go get the weed wacker, which needs gas, and a new string, and it won't start right away so I putter with that, finally get it started, finish the lawn and edge and around the tree with the weed wacker, then clean up the grass clippings and before you know it, my tiny lawn has taken 4 hours to finish.


At any rate, we also did a lot of hiking and kayaking this year, so time just flitted away and before I knew it, the summer had been anticipated, had come and is now in the process of going. We got a lot of "major" projects done this year as well as the fun outdoor stuff, we just got wrapped up in life.

Which leads me to the point of this post, and yes, there was a point to this circuitious process of telling you what I did this summer and why I never seemed to come back to my blog and post new entries. I had promised myself that I would be a good poster on the blog, but, as I said earlier, life just seemed to get in the way. And, perhaps I just didn't have much to add. I did a lot of thinking. Or sitting and staring at things, claiming it was thinking.


This blog, and the reason for starting it was to share information about surviving after a major medical issue. A place where I (and you if you want) can exchange my (our) views and, hopefully receive feedback or comments. Well, I sure am and do exchange my views but I just seem to be getting little feedback. However, all good things come to those who wait.


There were other things taking place as well, specifically more time spent with my friend and fellow coach, Shannon. Shannon is local, that is one of us who lives and loves Bend, a coach, a social worker and, a survivor. However Shannon is not a cancer survivor, she is a transplant survivor. Which, in the discussions Shannon and I have had over coffee, lunch and in meetings, has given me a whole new outlook on the issue of who, and what a survivor may be.


There are so damn many cancer survivors (up to about 11 million I believe) and it seems that we have taken over the concept of survival, or thriving if you perfer. Yet as the summer progressed and I spent even more time with Shannon, I came to the realization that there is a much broader base of survivors than those of us with cancer who seem to have taken over that term. There are the whole range of transplant survivors, and with Shannon's help, once I went beyond cancer, I realized that there are a whole range of people who could fall into this "survivor" description, each of us with a number of issues which are far more similar than different, all of which can be discussed in this blog. As a matter of fact, as Shannon and I went through my Survivor's Workbook, we realized that there are even more similarities than differences between the various survivor groups once you begin to think about it. Over the next few months we will try to spend some quality time with the general issue of surviving, and thriving with little attention paid to any particular diagnostic grouping.

Sometime in the next few days, you are going to meet Shannon and get to know her and her story. I think you'll enjoy her attitude on life and living and her approach to dealing not only with our survivor group but with her very active and far ranging life. Shannon is a unique and very cool lady, with great opinions and good insights.


So, expect more from us over these next few months as we begin to look toward an even more exciting future for all of us, no matter our situation, who are surviving, and thriving and, on occassion, having a bit of chocolate.