Walk in park with Louie. 2 weeks post mastectomy

Some updates on progress after 2 weeks since surgery explained in some detail in video diary below.



As for the history of this illness as I learned about it --   I first noticed that a mild pain from an old injury turned into a lump after hoop dancing at the July 4th concert of  a friends' band, Kindred Spirit,  at Rider University.  I now know that  the spot that was painful was the largest of three tumors in left breast.  Also, needed to have 10 lymph nodes removed on left near underarm.  9 of them had cancer, so I will need to have radiation and chemo to clear out any leftover particles floating around lymphatic system  :(   Will meet the oncologist tomorrow who was most highly recommended of all.  There was nothing on the right even though a spec showed up on a test.  Glad they are both replaced so that I won't need more tests and surgeries in the future and having these interesting new boobs definitely helps to make this ordeal somewhat more bearable ;)

 Some little miracles have happened in the 'space between' all of my Facebook connections where I have attempted to  somewhat discreetly discuss what has been happening with me.  As part of healing, in addition to walking, I've been dancing & hooping  a lot to the music of a Kindred Spirit  CD that the lead singer, Michael, gave me when he visited last weekend.  I now have it on my phone and it's so much fun to practice hooping with while outside walking in park with Louie:)

First met Michael at a Journey Dance at Integral Yoga where I performed  a song I wrote about how healing the first Journey Dance I attended  was for me.  After hearing about his dance band, I became a fan who enjoys dancing to the music they  play. His girlfriend, Fern, helps to encourage dancing at most of their gigs and it's so much fun.    Anyway...  realized Michael is  mutual friends with another person who inspired most of the play activities that I have created based on a theory of redirecting aggressive play that she wrote more than 20 years ago when she was a graduate student at Harvard University Education Dept.   He knows her as an amazing band and dance photographer.

 I talked with Valerie  the other day about how I'd like to apply the experiment I have done with her theory over many years into a strategy to promote my own healing.  I was already exploring the healing power of the 'flow state' as a way to describe the therapeutic nature of the activities Louie and I provide as clown healers.   Incredibly, it turns out  that Valerie  once worked in the office next door to Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi who coined the term flow state!   

Walk in park with Louie. 1 week post mastectomy

Recorded a little video diary of what's been happening one week post surgery as I walked Louie in the park next to my house.  Volume gets to normal after about 15 seconds.   We walked like this during two walks for a total of 3 hours today.   I think he's happy that my surgeon suggested that this would be a good  way to heal after I showed him the stretchy belt leash I use that has made the walks so easy. Louie is the best therapy dog in the world <3  Thanks for listening!


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