CANCER: Music heals the soul

February 20, 2015 was going to be a long day.  I woke up nervous about the thought of having another bone scan.  I felt nervous about having nuclear medicine pumped into my body. But that morning was different.  I started listening to my brother's music.  Most of you know that my brother CP died almost five years ago.  My brother is my most favorite male singer of all time.  He knew that I loved it when he sang.  Wherever he performed, I was there cheering him on.  He trusted me to sometimes accompany him on piano. Anything I could do to help him in his singing career I would do just for him.  After his death, I had a difficult time listening to his music. It made me so sad I could hardly stand it.  But slowly, I couldn't help but once again listen to his soothing and magical voice. When I was diagnosed with cancer, I felt his presence and love near.  When I listened to his songs, I started to feel peace and a healing to my soul.

I want to share with each of you some of my favorite songs that CP sang. He also has many other recordings that I will probably share in the future.

First, I love his cover of "Remember When It Rained" by Josh Groban.  Wait until he belts it out at the end!

Second, no one and I mean NO ONE could imitate Neil Diamond better than CP! Check it out when he sings his cover of "Hello Again" by Neil Diamond. You really won't believe it!

Finally, the last song he recorded was "I Know That My Redeemer Lives."  When my mother passed away of cancer exactly two weeks after CP died, we actually played this song at her funeral.  She always wanted him to sing this song at her funeral.

Music is a big part of my family.  As I prepare to start an additional treatment on Monday, February 23, I'm going to prepare my day through once again listening to my most awesome brother inspire me and help me endure what lies ahead.  Thanks for listening.

Photo by Josh Haney

Some blessings do come with cancer

One of the things I remembered most was when my oncologist said, "You need to eat healthy and exercise."  I thought to myself, "Oh dear, I'm going to have to make some BIG changes in my life!" When my daughter Jenna first heard of my cancer diagnosis, she came right over with a Huron Juicer 100 and convinced me that I needed to start juicing carrots, apples, and you name it. After she showed me how to use it, I slowly put the cup to my mouth as if she was feeding me poison and I REALLY loved it!  It tasted so fresh! Then I introduced all the different juices to the rest of my family and they loved it too!  The next big step was to eliminate most sugars from my diet.  This was kind of easy because sugar makes me sick anyway.  Now to think that I would no longer drink diet Dr. Pepper was too much to handle.  But I personally felt that soda should be eliminated from my life. Oh this was HARD!  I was even at Costco the other day and saw that they were selling 32 cans for only $5.99!!  But I just kept walking on down the aisle. (Even though I wanted to go back several times and put the case in my basket!)

Not only is eating a healthy diet important, but so is daily exercise.  I have to admit that exercising is not my favorite thing to do.  I do like a good game of racquetball (even though I haven't played for years) and I like to dance for fun with my daughters (which is very embarrassing when you catch them videoing you) but changing my exercise lifestyle is a must!  I can't do anything too crazy like trying to balance on a trapeze or Fencing because the treatment I'm on causes brittle bones. However, walking 30 minutes a day is definitely important. Who knows, maybe I can go back to Fencing one day. Hey, back in the day, I was a pretty good Fencer at BYU!

Isn't it interesting that sometimes we can have something hard happen in our life that makes us change for the better?  I feel blessed to have an excellent oncologist, surgeon, treatment plan, and now a healthier life style that includes eating well and daily exercise. Wish me luck!!

Freshly juiced carrot and apple juice!