{"id":222,"date":"2007-01-20T19:12:46","date_gmt":"2007-01-21T00:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/pleasure-and-pain-sunshine-and-rain\/"},"modified":"2009-03-05T16:49:45","modified_gmt":"2009-03-05T21:49:45","slug":"pleasure-and-pain-sunshine-and-rain","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/big-stories\/the-cancer-battle\/pleasure-and-pain-sunshine-and-rain\/","title":{"rendered":"Pleasure and Pain, Sunshine and Rain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>January 20, 2007<\/p>\n<p>Today can be described the way Ms. Debbie describes one of the horses that the girls ride.  Ms. Debbie says Brandie is the best horse she has (especially gentle and well-behaved with kids taking lessons), and the worst (she bites).  My day was fantastic, watching the girls in another horse show.  They are wonderful to watch, taking charge of animals more than ten times their size.  The bite: my shoulder pain is intolerable.  I hate to write about my negative experiences, but I guess I need to.  Pain is so transient and we&#8217;re capable of tolerating a lot of it.  If I can remember that, I can make it through.  And I get closer every day.  <\/p>\n<p>To alleviate the pain, I am on as-constant-as-practical schedule of pain-killers and heating pad.  The Ibuprofen takes a little of the edge off, but causes nonstop nosebleeds.  Since I am constantly blowing goo out of my throat and lungs, it makes for a mess.  But once the Ibuprofen wears off, the nosebleeds stop, so at any given time, I get an edge off the pain, or a blood-free nose, what a deal!  :><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s also quite true that pain is a mental beast.  If you can zen out, relax, keep it in its box, I&#8217;ve found that you can actually sleep through a certain amount of it.  Unfortunately, it has a real impact on my ability to exercise, and my mental attitude toward others and the daily grind of life (which I have temporarily left completely in the hands of poor Andrea.  Note to self: you have a lot of slack to make up.).  <\/p>\n<p>It is said that for every bit of yin you suffer through, there is an equal and opposite positive force of yang.  At the very least, suffering produces a perspective shift, in which NOT suffering is no longer a neutral state, but a positive opportunity.  Even in these times, I can feel that positive vibe, reminding me of all my life&#8217;s riches.  I don&#8217;t normally spend enough energy pondering God&#8217;s blessings.  This experience is an adjustment to that ungrateful state of mind.  As I revisit the big questions of life, I come back to a couple simple rules: be grateful, and show it through service to others.  I still have a long way to go, but we&#8217;re on the right road.  :>  Peace.<\/p>\n<p><center><a href=\"http:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/big-stories\/the-cancer-battle\/index\/a-case-of-ketchup\/\">Previous<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/big-stories\/the-cancer-battle\/\">Home<\/a>  | <a href=\"http:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/big-stories\/the-cancer-battle\/index\/good-times\/\">Next<\/a><br \/>\n<\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>January 20, 2007 Today can be described the way Ms. Debbie describes one of the horses that the girls ride. Ms. Debbie says Brandie is the best horse she has (especially gentle and well-behaved with kids taking lessons), and the worst (she bites). My day was fantastic, watching the girls in another horse show. They &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/big-stories\/the-cancer-battle\/pleasure-and-pain-sunshine-and-rain\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Pleasure and Pain, Sunshine and Rain<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":194,"menu_order":18,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-222","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9M0Zg-3A","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":239,"url":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/big-stories\/the-cancer-battle\/here-we-go-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":222,"position":0},"title":"Here we go again&#8230;","author":"m","date":"April 8, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"April 8th Happy Easter! I'm in Winston-Salem in a hotel near the hospital, prepping for my CRS with IPHC surgery. Time to get to bed, gotta get up at 4:45am, ugg. Andrea will have my cell phone if you want to get an update. Most of me will see you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Daily Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Daily Life","link":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/category\/daily-life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":226,"url":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/big-stories\/the-cancer-battle\/good-times\/","url_meta":{"origin":222,"position":1},"title":"Good Times","author":"m","date":"February 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"February 2, 2007 OK, my mum insists that I keep her updated. So... here we go again... :> The last couple days have been great. The fewer the good days, the sweeter they are. We had our second snowfall, just an inch or so, but enough for the girls to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Daily Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Daily Life","link":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/category\/daily-life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":246,"url":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/big-stories\/the-cancer-battle\/the-final-relapse\/","url_meta":{"origin":222,"position":2},"title":"The Final Relapse?","author":"m","date":"May 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"May 6, 2007 I have been to Hell, and part of the way back. Be grateful for your digestive system, that ever-cycling engine you take for granted, that pumps bile and acid through you at an alarming rate, ready to consume whatever you throw down your gullet. :> I am\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Daily Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Daily Life","link":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/category\/daily-life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":213,"url":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/big-stories\/the-cancer-battle\/bad-week-not-so-bad\/","url_meta":{"origin":222,"position":3},"title":"Bad Week, not so bad","author":"m","date":"December 19, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"December 18 Felt great in the morning, ran a couple of fast miles - 2 fast miles were harder than my longest run of 4. I guess I have to say I \"jog\", not \"run\", from here on out. :P Pump day. Went in at 1pm. Just thinking of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Daily Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Daily Life","link":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/category\/daily-life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":217,"url":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/big-stories\/the-cancer-battle\/a-case-of-ketchup\/","url_meta":{"origin":222,"position":4},"title":"A Case Of Ketchup","author":"m","date":"January 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"OK, I lost a couple weeks somewhere along the way... in a bit of a daze... hence the case of catch-up... and it's not even very tasty... oh well. :> Jan 17, 2007 I've been busy dealing with the chemo as the side effects seem to be cumulative - my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Daily Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Daily Life","link":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/category\/daily-life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":243,"url":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/big-stories\/the-cancer-battle\/the-final-streeetch\/","url_meta":{"origin":222,"position":5},"title":"The final stre&#8230;e&#8230;e&#8230;tch&#8230;","author":"m","date":"April 19, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"April 17th I came home yesterday from the hospital. But before I left, we took this snapshot of me and the crew. I don't remember his name, but the coatless doctor kept lending me his lab coat, just goofing around. We tried to fool Dr. Levine about who was the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Daily Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Daily Life","link":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/category\/daily-life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":359,"href":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/222\/revisions\/359"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitpost.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}