Today I was invited to join and participate in a group for Caregivers for oncology patients. Even though my King has a ton of issues – most of them come from the reality that he his missing a piece of his brain, which had to be removed along with the oliodendroglioma in 2010.
So even though he is presenting with Parkinsons, it’s actually a condition called Parkinsonism that came about because one (or more) of the post-surgical medications they used to calm his brain caused it. And while his kidneys are failing because he developed sarcoidosis in his lungs that moved to his kidneys in the last nine months, he is still a cancer survivor that is paying a price for surviving.
So today, I was welcomed into a group to talk about being a caregiver. For the first time, most of the caregivers in the group were like me: Positive, capable, and exhausted. I saw myself in the pictures they painted of their lives, heard our story in the stories they told about themselves, past and present.
As a long-time friend of Bill W, I have heard pieces of my story over the last four decades – I have identified with other recovering people, but I have never felt as seen and present as I did today. There is peace in a common space. There is hope in a common space. There was encouragement and care among strangers who seemed to already know me.
There was joy. TYG
