by Marty Coleman | Mar 29, 2013 | Marty Coleman, Take Your Medicine! - 2013 |
You are finally finished with your 5 day dosage of ‘Take Your Medicine!’ week.
Trauma
Last summer we watched ‘New York Med’. It followed doctors, nurses, & patients at 3-4 hospitals as they go through various aspects of their lives and medical procedures. I remember one of the Drs. saying that the number one indicator for a successful recovery was the love and support the patient had from family and friends. With no support there was a lower chance of the patient having the physical and mental courage, determination and attitude needed to recover well. People can do it, but support made it much easier.
Drama
Years and years ago a friend of mine had her husband in the hospital for an extended stay. She would visit once or twice a day, but not stay long at all. When I asked why not she said she couldn’t do anything for him so why stay. I asked if just being there helped him? She said she was there twice a day many days and that was enough. I remember having the feeling he was going to have a long recovery.
Karma
However, most of our friends and family aren’t in the hospital, right? But many of them still are hurting or afraid or doubting about something in life. Maybe it’s a break up, a big life transition or something unexpected and frightening happening. Why should our response be any different? It shouldn’t.
We should give physical and verbal support. We should pat them on the back, hug them and kiss them. We should whisper, say and yell if I have to, that we believe in them and that they can make it through whatever the hard thing is they are in the middle of.
And most of all we should do what we can to help them make it happen. but it all starts with just being there.
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Drawing, quote and commentary by Marty Coleman, who was the beneficiary of great support in the hospital and is still grateful 40 years later.
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by Marty Coleman | Mar 28, 2013 | Take Your Medicine! - 2013, Voltaire |
The Mystery Healing Game
I have often times in my life had a twitch or some other ailment that just won’t go away. I then, finally, go to the Dr. to see if it’s eyelid cancer or just a twitch. So, the medicine man (or woman) looks me in the eye and says, ‘It’s just a twitch.’ There isn’t anything for them to do about it so they just send me on my way. They did nothing to help stop the twitching at all and yet, the twitching is gone by the time I get to the car. What’s that all about?
Maybe it was the doctor mollifying me, or entertaining me with an intellectual explanation, or distracting me like a person getting scared when they have the hiccups. Whatever the reason, their technique often works. No medicine, but a healing technique nonetheless, right?
Has this happened to you? You know, where you go from Dr. to Dr. and nothing helps, then it just ups and heals itself out of the blue? It’s such a mystery when that happens, isn’t it. But I have to admit I like it!
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by Voltaire, 1694-1778, French wit
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Literary Question from Yesterday Answered:
Question: Where did the saying, ‘Fit as a Fiddle’come from?
Answer: It first appeared in 1616 in ‘Englishmen for My Money’ by William Haughton, “This is excellent, i’faith; as fit as a fiddle” Fit meant appropriate, as in fitting or proper, as a fiddle fits perfectly with a fiddler’s pose. It did not originally refer to one’s fitness, that came much later.
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by Marty Coleman | Mar 27, 2013 | Marty Coleman, Take Your Medicine! - 2013 |
It’s about time day #3 of Medicine Week showed up!
Redeeming Reasons
Why do we want to be healthy and live a long life? It seems pretty obvious, right? I mean, who doesn’t want both those things. But have you ever really stopped to ask yourself what you are doing with the health and years you have? Are you redeeming them for something or are they both just for their own sake?
Layers of Reasons
I understand health for it’s own sake. After all, being healthy feels better than not. Being fit feels better than not. We don’t really have to defend our desire to be healthy beyond that, do we. It’s its own reason. But is it the only reason? Is it the ultimate reason?
I remember when I got divorced and started going to the gym to get back in shape. I looked around and wondered, what are all these people going to be doing with all this fitness they have? Then of course I had to turn the question back to myself. What was I going to do with it all? Obviously I was getting in shape to be more attractive to the opposite sex, since I planned on dating.
My Ultimate Reason
But besides getting a mate, I thought farther down the line, what other reasons were there? I wanted to be in shape for that mate into the future, for my kids into the future so I could travel to visit and support them, so I could teach people, so I could help others, so I could be of service to whomever would need something from me, so I could enjoy life and sha
So ultimately, for me, it then and now comes down to one essential thing. I want to be in good health so I can love the best I can. That is the whole of it. That’s why I want to live a long life as well.
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Drawing, quote and commentary by Marty Coleman, who is fit as a fiddle. But how fit is a fiddle anyway?
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Literary Question of the Day
Where did the saying, ‘Fit as a Fiddle’come from?
Come back tomorrow for the answer.
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by Marty Coleman | Mar 26, 2013 | Robert Burton, Take Your Medicine! - 2013 |
There is no cure for it being day #2 of ‘Take Your Medicine!’ week.
Can vs Can’t
People spend a lot of money, time, effort, emotion, worry on trying to change things that can’t be changed. But it is also true that many people settle for things always staying the same when they could change if they just put out the effort. I have seen it in a friend who stayed in an abusive relationship saying ‘There is nothing I can do about it.’ What she really said was ‘I am afraid to make the move (take the pill in medical terms) that will be the cure.’
Can vs Shouldn’t
But there are also situations where people want a cure for something that isn’t really a problem. If the treatment is no big deal, teeth whitening for teeth that are already pretty white, for example, then no harm, no foul. But what about a treatment that could be dangerous, to ‘cure’ something that is more based in a self-misperception or a greedy sales pitch, than it is in reality?
I have seen it in a friend who had a face lift while still very young with no visually significant signs of aging. But they were convinced that because they didn’t look like they did at 25 they need to get the procedure done. I thought the natural aging process should be ‘endured’ in that case, because the ‘cure’ didn’t seem to really be a cure and the ‘disease’ didn’t seem to really be a disease. The dangers however seemed just as significant as if the disease was life-threatening.
Can vs Won’t
And then there are those who could be cured if they actually would go to the doctor. Many people die every year because they refuse to go to a doctor. When they finally get sick and do go, it’s found they have a stage 4 colon cancer that could have been treated if found in time. Instead they die.
I had a physical 7 years ago and kept putting off getting another one because I felt healthy. My wife Linda’s mother died of colon cancer and Linda went to get a colonoscopy shortly thereafter. I didn’t. Finally, this past year I did get a full physical. And luckily no cancer, no heart problems, no signs of anything negative as of now. But why did I wait 7 years? I don’t know, but it was stupid.
Can vs Never Will
And we are left with those for who there truly is no cure. I am not saying there might not be a cure, but it is not likely to happen in their lifetime and they will go to meet their maker with the issue they have. It will never be taken away from them.
We watched the Bachelor TV show this past season and one of the most compelling stories for me was of one of the contestants, Sarah Herron. She was born with only half of her left arm. She will never grow an arm.
Sarah Herron from The Bachelor – 2013
More than Endure
A future Sarah, in 10 or 100 years, might be able to, but this Sarah will live all, or at least most, of her life just as she is, with half an arm. She tried a prothesis for a while as a child but didn’t like it and instead just got adept at using her half arm to do what most people do with a full one. It was obvious from watching her that she is willing and able to do most anything, even compete in a Roller Derby match.
This is true of many others who are not going to be cured of whatever it is that has befallen them. Some do endure, but many do much more than just endure. They prosper in the face of pretty daunting barriers. They have more than a small mark to complain about, they have big issues that will never go away and yet they overcome, they endure and the prosper. If they can, then you can, whatever your issue.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who is never going to be without burn scars on much of his body, and is not just fine with it, but happy to have them.
Quote by Robert Burton, 1577-1640, British scholar, author of ‘The Anatomy of Melencholy’, which might explain why he would write the quote.
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by Marty Coleman | Mar 25, 2013 | Marty Coleman, Take Your Medicine! - 2013 |
Sick Sucks
A kid won’t usually say being sick sucks. they more often will say it’s no fun. Why is it no fun? Because they are used to having fun and aren’t now. They have something to compare it to. What about us adults? If you don’t have fun in your life, then being sick isn’t that different than not being sick.
Copping an Attitude
Obviously, it’s not easy to have fun when you are sick or taking serious medicine. Even the most fun people can get way down due to an illness. But they don’t stay down for long. Even in the hospital they will find a way to have fun, maybe by being sassy with the nurses or cracking some jokes with their grandkids. But at the root they do so by realizing the fun is in the attitude, even in the midst of the sickness. And guess what? It’s pretty well proven that that attitude in turn actually helps the person get healthier. But if you can’t have fun when you are healthy, you certainly won’t be able to when you are sick.
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Drawing, quote and commentary by Marty Coleman
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Answer to yesterday’s photo question:
Yesterday I posted about speaking at Social Media Tulsa and included 2 photos, one a camera phone pic, the other a DSLR photo and asked which one was which. Here are the two photos and the answer.
The top photograph was taken with my iPhone, the bottom with my Panasonic G1 camera. I did the same minimal manipulation on both. The iPhone image I converted to sepia and slightly adjusted the brightness and contrast using the Photoshop Express App in the phone. It took about 2 minutes to take, process and post. The G1 image I did the exact same thing, but did it on my Mac Pro desktop after downloading from my camera.
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