What Goes Around, Comes Around

Some of you know that a dear friend recently gave me the gift of some downloadable university lectures (and another friend kindly provided the bandwidth for me to transfer them to my laptop). The course which I selected was Great World Religions; it’s been absolutely fascinating and what I’ve heard has led to some truly amazing conversations with friends. Normally I’d consider religion to be a sensitive subject to address, but these are friends whom I trust to converse about these issues without judgement.

The subject of karma is often brought up. Many of you may understand why I struggle with this. Over the last year and a half I’ve faced the end of my marriage/loss of my partner and most avid supporter, the loss of our home, the shutdown of my business,  and my only child leaving for university. Not to mention that whole serious illness business. All of these falling into the category of the top stressors one can face in life. And all at once. I’ve tried very hard to be a loving, honest and kind person (as like most people, at times I’ve had my failures in my attempts to be the best person I can be). Asking “why me?” seems a natural question to ask.

As I go through my course, one message seems to be abundantly clear. All religions, however differently worded seem to attempt to follow a version of the Golden Rule. Treat others as you wish to be treated. Karma as I understand it follows a similar basic concept. What you give out comes back to you. The religions vary as to whether one might expect the repercussions to occur in this lifetime or another; but it all comes down to doing the right thing. “Work hard, be kind”, to take a quote from an inspiring documentary that was loaned to me about a teacher in a Los Angeles elementary school.

Seven years ago when we moved to Burlington, I was trying to gain a foothold locally for my portrait photography business. It’s often suggested to photographers starting out in a new market to donate one’s services to a local charity; when a local clothing store mentioned that they’d gladly accept a portrait package to be auctioned off in support of the Juravinski Cancer Centre in Hamilton, I was pleased to participate.

Shortly thereafter, I had the pleasure of photographing the family of the woman who had placed the highest bid at the auction. And it was my pleasure to do so several times more over the years; this in turn led to referrals to photograph quite a few of their friends. One little donation led to many photo gigs, not to mention to new friends who might well be among those of you reading this.

It didn’t go without notice and a smile that yesterday I sat in an examination room at that same hospital, the Juravinksi Cancer Centre. I was hearing the news that upon review of the pathology of my bone tumours (I’m the first case of Erdheim Chester that they’ve seen) – they’d be happy to give radiation a try. In their opinion, I had a about an 80% chance of pain reduction. We’d start on both legs (I received confirmation that the tumours have spread to the left side in addition to the right). If successful, we’d move to where other bone tumours have grown and cause me significant pain.

The doctors had clearly done their research. The few ECD patients elsewhere in the  world who’d tried radiation treatment for pain had been administered a lower dose, and in these cases it appears that pain returned fairly soon after completion of the treatment. With my permission, they were proposing high doses of radiation in hopes that pain relief would be longer lasting.

In the next week or so I’ll be heading over to the hospital to get my marker tattoos to accurately guide the radiation beams. My vanity disappeared long ago; I’m so marked up by surgery and accident scars I’m not the least bit bothered by the permanent markings. Heck, we can even have a bit of fun playing connect the dots to see who comes up with the most creative design!

The treatment schedule unfortunately is likely to be delayed, two months out and my daughter and I are still without a home or financial support of any kind. The last thing I need is to be packing up again (albeit on a much smaller scale this time), moving and unpacking during the rigors and side effects of treatment.

But there is one huge bonus in this. For once, funding of treatment is not an issue, all radiation treatments are going to be taken care of.  Bless you karma. I’d like to believe this has come my way because the owner of a lovely little shop in Burlington gave me the chance to give so many years ago.

P.S. My mail was just picked up, my first opportunity in the last week. Nine more anonymous NYC postcards. Thank you, whoever you are! I promise that once I’m in my own place I’ll make every effort to watch all of your favourite NYC themed movies. Some of which I’ve seen (and will happily watch again) and others will be new for me. What a delightful surprise to distract me on a day full of calls and paperwork I’d rather not be tackling!