But then I came across a document that was a letter written to Parliament House from a cancer survivor who had experienced amazing healing and recovery from several cancers around her body, including 7 tumours in her brain. She listed this same Sydney Chinese doctor who I was planning to contact, as well as my lecturer at college! What are the odds of that? This was all the evidence I needed to proceed as now I knew this was the way forward.
Immediately I booked an appointment with the doctor, one way flights to Sydney and accommodation through Airbnb. Again, things fell into place when I found the most amazing hosts who work in the Natural Health industry, have a home setup like a health resort and charge only $110 per night! They will also pick us up and drop us off to the train station at no charge.
I had also been looking into a wellness retreat set up by a woman named Petrea King. Again, this information came from one of my study webinars and I quickly wrote down her name and began researching. She was diagnosed with end-stage leukaemia back in 1989 and after healing herself and writing a book, she set up a wellness retreat in Bundanoon, NSW to help others with terminal illness, dealing with grief or post traumatic stress. She still attends each retreat and takes some of the healing classes herself. Again, as luck has it (you know I don't believe in luck) the February retreat for Cancer patients was scheduled to start the following week.
My original plan was to book Mark in to the week long retreat while I fly home to Sebastian and then book a second treatment with the Chinese doctor for him, as he will initially need weekly treatments. But that meant he would need to find his way back from the Sydney central station, to the doctor's rooms, and then get himself back to the airport and fly home by himself. I felt very uncomfortable with this, but could I leave Sebastian for so long and could we really afford for me to attend the retreat as well?
The more I thought about it, the more we talked about it and finally, in consultation with Sebastian, the decision was made; I would stay with Mark and attend the retreat also. There are already many couples booked for this February retreat and it will most definitely help me to sleep better, deal with grief, if and when that should occur and give me some sound life lessons in meditation and looking inside myself. It will also mean that we will learn together and come home stronger and united, understanding the same principles that are taught at the retreat. Sebastian assured us that he will be fine and if it meant that Dad may get better, then it was worth the time apart.
So with the plans all made and booked, my next challenge was the mountain of paperwork I needed to fill in for Centrelink and our mortgage insurance. This literally took a good part of the day and I also spent over an hour with our wonderful radiation oncologist as many parts of the forms required doctor's input. It seemed like an endless number of questions that ranged from "what was Mark's schooling and qualifications", to "how many visits to the doctor" has he had to "when is he expected to return to work".
Finally, the last of the documents were completed and all Mark needed to do was sign them. He didn't need to read them as he knew that he could rely on me to do what was needed. He is starting to slow down quite a bit now, spending more and more time "resting" which is concerning. Yesterday he spent most of the afternoon either lying in the hammock or lying on the bed dosing. He is just tired a lot of the time and although he is getting some sleep at night, it is often disrupted by several trips to the toilet due to the medication.
More things starting falling into line when my lecturer also offered to help us and work together with the Sydney doctor via online consultations. I received a phone call from the Chinese doctor and he asked many questions and believed it was urgent that we come. Mark will most likely be having chemotherapy as well and this treatment will be done in conjunction with the Chinese treatment. The two treatments will work together along
with the skills and techniques learnt from the retreat. He also mentioned another Chinese naturopath doctor with over 30 years' experience, who lives in Tasmania but travels monthly to Adelaide and he would ask for her help also.
With the path to healing paving itself so effortlessly, one can't help but believe that everything is happening just as it should be. Yes it is still worrying of course. Yes, Mark has been diagnosed with a terminal illness and should not see his son grow up. But what if?? What if, with all these experienced practitioners, working together...why shouldn't we have some hope? I have no more tears, only strength and determination to move forward. There is no longer this feeling of hopelessness and grief. Sebastian now knows what is happening and he feels our strength and our hope. At first I thought he didn't understand the gravity of the situation, but when he said at lunchtime on Thursday "I hope Daddy doesn't die", I guess he really did understand. I reassured him that we were doing everything we could to try to make Daddy better again, but if he did die, then we still have each other and we have our beautiful home, our dog Else to protect us and all our friends and family who love us and will do anything to help us. "We will be alright", I assured him. "We will cry an awful lot, but we will be alright."
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| Us with Bob & Debbie at a Sprout Cooking class this week. They will be Sebastian's guardians while we are away and I know they will love him and treat him as their own family. He will be in excellent hands.
Links: Letter to Parliament House by Cancer Survivor;
Quest for Life, Health & Wellbeing Retreat;
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