I really appreciate all the warm, sympathetic and supportive responses you have sent to my blog. These are a huge source of comfort and strength to me – Thank you so much.
I want to assure everyone that (apart from a short period when I was very ill and nobody seemed to care) it doesn’t feel like a terrible trauma or ordeal – it’s the way things are.
I am well, much better physically and mentally than six months ago, in good spirits, finding plenty to do and, despite the lock down, keeping in contact with family and friends. There is more to life than cancer and so far I am well enough to focus on the “life” bit. Long may this continue.
The WG’s strategy for coping with a catastrophic event
I have had plenty of practice at dealing with seemingly catastrophic events of my own and helping other people through theirs (as we get older, we all have).
For many years I have worked with the Wandsworth Carers’ Centre and the Mental Health Trust to try to help family carers coping with severe mental illness. My dear friends Catherine and Jaqueline (senior clinicians) Paul and Simon (experts by experience) and I have co-produced training for mental health professionals. With Ana, Sofia and Rachel, I have co-written and presented training for carers at the Recovery College. I have learnt so much from all this, and from my colleagues. I have no doubt that the experience is helping me to cope with the challenges I am facing now.
Here is the WG’s strategy:
- Be gracious and courteous to everyone at all times, no matter what, and accept their help, because they usually mean well.
- I am not Superwoman. (intellectuals among us might prefer: “I am not as clever as George Elliott”)
- Everyone has to deal with their situation in their own way and their own time. Nobody can do it for you.