Is anyone else an atheist with BC besides me?

DearLife

Magiclight, I agree that this site can be calming, especially the word games. Concentrating on word formations can be a form of meditation. Another form of ommmmm🧘🏻.

jo6359

magiclight- that's the reason I see you on the word games. I discovered the word games a few months ago. And when I need to clear my brain I go to the word games. Most of the time the word games clears my brain of noise. It's only been recently since I've had issues with insomnia.

Springflowers

I know so little about indigenous culture, I would love to know more. TB90, I see you are in WinterPeg, I hope you are keeping warm. Ontario has been bad enough, I see you have been colder there.

I need to check out the humour and games threads, so far I use Netflix, reading and exercise for the "noise". Lots going on in my brain with health, job and family stuff so need lots of distractions.

ananda8

Wikipedia has an excellent article on the plains Indians and an index to articles on other tribes and nations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plains_Indians#Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Great_Plains_and_Canadian_Prairies

moth

for anyone suffering from sleeplessness, my solution has been Sleep with Me podcast. It's essentially a ~ one hour boring story told by the most boring person. I was sceptical it would work for me and when I heard first his voice I though it definitely wouldn't, but it totally works for me. Some nights now when I'm stressed about school I have 9h of his podcasts (a mix of old favourites and new episodes) cued up in a playlist so I never run out. I wake up, he's still droning on, & I roll over and fall back asleep. I wear headphones to bed... I'm thinking of getting a headphone headband. https://www.sleepwithmepodcast.com/

Wren44

I read a book by John Kenneth Gailbreth about him being ambassador to India. Evidently he is very tall and beds in India are meant for average Indians. He went into great length saying how each place dealt with this problem. His writing was so hypnotic I would be asleep in about 1 page. I can't imagine taking a college class from him and managing to stay awake.

SoCalLisa

I had a few professors like that Wren...the worst was one I had for art history right after lunch. He turned the lights out so we could see the slides...He would turn the lights on and most of the class was sound asleep.

Wren44

I remember trying to stay awake in art history, too. I took it at night after working all day.

magiclight

Could we all have had the same professor?

SoCalLisa

too funny😁

TB90

Nan: It has been incredibly cold, minus 55 Celsius with wind chill. I worry so much about the wildlife. They do not always make it. Where in Ontario are you. Although it says Winnipeg for me, I am actually an hour and a half north in beach country. With our current temps, I cannot even believe myself when I say beach country. Found out today my thyroid needs to be removed. I hate the thought of dealing with cancer again and surgery although this is a very treatable cancer. Seems I am lucky to get the "good" ones. No pity party here, just frustration. But it could be much worse.

magiclight

TB: my thought is that there is not a good cancer, just one on the continuum of bad to %$#@ So maybe you are not at &%$# for no piece of cake.

TB90

I am very emotional tonight so sorry for this lengthy post. My surgeon felt that I had to have the entire thyroid removed, so after forcing a hose (scope) up my nose 👃 and down my throat to take pictures of my vocal chords, sent me on a "tour" of CancerCare for all my pre-op tests. Getting ready for my chest x-ray, I walked in on an elderly man in his underwear, unable to get his gown on. While helping him get gowned, the tech walked in on us and you should have seen her face! I passed him a bit later in my gown after my x-ray and he winked at me. I will never forget that moment. Then while waiting for lab work, a very nice looking elderly man with sun glasses on was obviously struggling to scratch his back. I realized his glasses were covering his yellow eyes and he was suffering from liver failure, thus the itch. I scratched his back and never felt so appreciated. Then there was the lab tech from Russia who had me laughing about a Trump (sorry) and the young male tech who gave me my EKG over my mastectomy and said the sweetest things. I hated being back at CancerCare, yet realized how much I felt at home there. The other patients and staff were wonderful. Thanks for allowing me to share that.

Wren44

Enough women get both breast and thyroid cancer that I wonder if there's some kind of link or a factor that increases risk for both. My DIL had thyroid cancer 18 years ago and is doing very well. She also had her thyroid removed and then had the radioactive treatment. Sounds like you were the good fairy helping people at the center.

magiclight

TB: You got to me with your first 2 sentences and I let out a ^%$#. Then your courageous kindness came through while coping with your own cancer scenarios. I bet the people you encountered are telling the story of your kindness.

AliceBastable

TB90, you brightened people's day there, and now more people here. ❤

DearLife

TB90 you are a sweet soul. (In the non religious sense 🙂). I am sorry you have to deal with thyroid issues too. I had part of my thyroid removed decades ago and wonder about the relationship between breast and thyroid since they are both hormonal.

I hope your kindness is returned when you go in for your surgery. You deserve it.

❤️

jo6359

TB90-your posts cheer me up. Hopefully the thyroid issue will be soon resolved.

santabarbarian

TB90 - those grace notes of gentleness and care and connection are so so sweet -- even amidst all the crap of being treated. I had a horrible port that never healed well. Long story short I felt somewhat mad at myself for getting a port, somewhat ignored by my medical team, and very, very frustrated. Plus, it hurt. When the wound reopened I went in to interventional rads and said to the nurse and doctor who were examining me, "can you either fix this Fing thing today, or take it out? I hate it. It has never been right." Kind of a meltdown over the whole shitshow I was in and a few tears.

They were both SO nice. We'll take this right out and we are sorry your have been suffering and it will be over in 30 minutes. Zipped me right in and got rid of the port.

After, however, I had to go back to receive wound care ~3x a week.... for a month... because of the way it needed to heal and risk of infection. I was so bummed to have to hit the hospital 3 extra times during the week, while feeling like shit and undergoing chemo... But they were super super nice to me, both the docs and the nurses in that dept and specifically two or three of them who tended to be on duty when I went in and took care of me a lot. Gentle, caring, funny lovely team. When I finished w wound care the nurse who had admitted me came in to hug me goodbye.

I was smack in the middle of chemo, bald, exhausted, and having to go in 2-3x a week for this wound B.S. but they made it very sweet and a a weird kind of 'plus' of my experience.

wanderweg

TB90 - That’s a lovely story and really underscores for me how important small kindnesses and human connection are. When this whole ordeal first started for me, the young radiologist who did my (astoundingly painful!) biopsy called me himself the next day to tell me that they weren’t expecting it, but had found invasive cancer. He sounded like he genuinely regretted having to give me that news and told me the next many days would be a whirlwind, but I’d be getting a call to set up an MRI and an appointment with a surgeon. After my BMX, I sent him a card telling him that his kindness had made a difference in a very difficult time and that I knew he was early in his career, so I wanted him to know just how important that was

DearLife

My heart overflows to read these stories and recall the staff who were good to me. It meant the world to me when the radiologist held my hand as I wept after the biopsy and the rad techs remembered what I had planned for the weekend.

Yes, there were some idiots along the way, but most were caring human beings who wanted to ease human suffering and anxiety.

With small acts of human kindness, I don't need any higher power. Love is all around.

Springflowers

TB90, so nice to here humor in difficult situations. You brought a smile and a laugh to me. I live in Waterloo Ontario. I am sorry you are dealing with cancer again. I have an ultra sound tomorrow on another breast lump, a little nervous, and a uterine biopsy coming up. So much waiting it drives me crazy. I am glad to have met some wonderful people in our cancer centre here, have had some, well just say interesting experiences, makes for great conversations lol.

I have been trying meditation to help me be calm with everything going on, it is hard, my mind has so much chatter. Breathing definitely helps. I understand it takes a lot of practice so will keep working at it.

Yaniza

Ladies, I come here to read thoughtful, inspiring insights. I've never been disappointed. I wish I had the energy to contribute.

Cheers, and thank you.

jo6359

Nan- I hope your ultrasound goes well tomorrow.

TB90

Nan: Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could be there for each other in any corner of the world? I love my family and friends, but just might pick one or all of you to be there instead. My most positive and hopeful thoughts and wishes are there for you. ❤️

AliceBastable

DearLife, I love that line, "With small acts of human kindness, I don't need any higher power." Beautiful.

When I was getting prepped for a nephrectomy in September, I was getting a little overwhelmed and panicky. Most surgeries I've had, they've conked me out right right after I got in the OR. This one, besides the parade of medical people in the regular room, I had to be awake in the OR for a while. The workers all seemed rather robotic (and I'm sure they had done it hundreds of times), and the male nurse in my line of fuzzy sight (no glasses makes me even more nervous!) looked so efficiently grim as he was reciting my readings to the anesthesiology team. But just before they started to pump in the gas, that nurse went to the side that didn't have all the IVs and tubes, and just held my hand and gently rubbed it as I drifted off. As scared as I was, this small kindness meant the world to me. And now that the pain and fear and panic are some months behind me and fading into a blur, what I remember most distinctly was that nurse holding my hand.

ananda8

NanfromOntario,

Hugs to you.

HikingLady

I'm glad to have just stumbled on this forum. Reality-based!

I love the hand-holding nurse story that AliceBastable just shared. And the other stories about kindnesses that mean so much to us when we're suffering. My husband is a hospice nurse. He's supported me super-compassionately through my 2018 year of awfulness!

I had foot-rebuilding surgery in February of 2018, then all the breast cancer TX, and then hardware removal (screw in fusion--started causing discomfort, had to remove it) in December, right before my breast implant surgery in January. Non-stop fun! I'm recently finished with all that, and recovering my mental equilibrium and strength.

I love the sharing and support on this site. I am perfectly fine with explaining that I'm an atheist to people who want to talk about religion. At that point, I also try to add that I'm a strong believer in morality and ethics; a Secular Humanist. Somehow, religion has co-opted all the rights to have morality-based tenets for living and treating each other. I enjoyed Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion. As I recall, he points out that if it takes the threat of fire and brimstone to make people behave, how is that morality?

Warm wishes to you all.

DearLife

Nan I am thinking of you with your ultrasound today. I hope for the best results for you! 💐💕🌷

magiclight

I am in awe of all you wonderful people. Your stories. Your truth. Your compassion. Your words spoken to support, nourish, enrich, to let the light in. To bring smiles where there was anguish and to bring tears from readers like me, that express emotions I cannot name.