Once upon a time I went for my yearly checkup only to be told by my doctor upon my review, “Well we have good news and bad news”! Which do you want to hear first? I responded “Bad” and he told me that I have prostate cancer and the good news is that it’s treatable! WELL!! HOOP DEE DO???
A cancer diagnosis is a life shattering experience! For anyone that has been told this news, you need to move through the initial diagnosis and make the best choices that you can. It can cause you to relinquish control over your decisions regarding your care and treatment. My doctors know what’s best for me? HOGWASH!!! I had no signs of anything not working “down there” and all my parts are doing what they are meant to do? How can I have cancer? Well in my blood work they found that my PSA is at a level that tells there is cancer in my prostate. So I went online and started my research for what I needed to do. Tons and tons of stuff is there for you, but just like anything in this world, you have to get to the truth and not let every body get into your wallet!
Every where I went I overheard conversations of men and families talking about how they finished treatment or getting ready for some type of treatment! Barber shops, car washes and out to dinner you now hear people talking about Cancer and repeating stories. What if I did nothing till “it” stopped working? What if I just waited for some other signs of things not working? What if? Pain? Discomfort? Wheelchair? Maybe it will spread to other parts and make my life just horrible? What about my wife? Family? Then I remember a book that my mother in law got from her sister by Gerry White about “Guided Imagery?” It came with a CD! Started reading and listening to the story!
My Granddaddy always said”When your “knower” knows, You better act upon it!!” I know that things don’t happen by accident! Well my ” knower” knew this was my answer sent to me for my healing. Guided Imagery Exercises seem to make so much sense. I can see the images with my brains eye! Like Gerry says in his book, If don’t take charge of your care and treatment, somebody else will and you probably won’t be happy with the results. So I took Charge and I listened to the message every morning and in the evenings as I would doze off to sleep. I had to choose from a few options for treatment.
1. Remove the prostrate.
2. Brachytherapy. Treatment with rice size radioactive seeds that get placed in and around the prostate tissue.
3. Radiation from an External beam. This is where you lie on a table while a machine the size of a VW moves around your body , directing energy
beams, such as x-rays, to your prostate cancer. 5 days a week for 7 weeks. 42 to 45 treatments.
Of the above, I chose #3 , but I continued the Guided Imagery exercises morning and night. As the treatments progressed, I could say the imagery exercises ver batim as I underwent the procedure. In addition was Prayer – my own and others! That what I felt I needed and I got my church lifting me up and put on prayer lists all around the world. I now sing with a group know as “The Brotherhood” A good Ol Southern Gospel Quartet.
In closing I just want to say that our Lord God does not want us to suffer. He said that life would be an easy journey, but he did say that he would be there to walk with us every step of the way! Today, that cancer is history!! My PSA is below .001 and is considered unmeasurable. There are those who say the treatment did it as well as those who say the guided imagery was the key. I say WHO CARES? I am rid of the disease which was the objective. As for the guided imagery, it gave me peace of mind to fight the disease from the day I started it. I would not want to take on cancer without it, knowing what I know now. And it is a fact that after all the good things it did for me, nobody ever sent me a bill for it. AMEN!!
Mel Hopkins
Winter Park, Florida 32792