A month ago I posted about my trip to the Mayo Clinic as Visiting Professor, and noted that the morning before my Grand Rounds lecture, I went into a video studio and recorded a reading about facing death, from my first book, Laugh, Sing, and Eat Like a Pig. (The title is explained in the video.) Here’s the video. (Email subscribers, if you can’t see the video, click the post headline above to come online.)
As I noted in the previous post, this was recorded for Mayo’s “Healing Words” program for their in-patient TV channel, produced by Mayo’s Dolores Jean Lavins Center for Humanities in Medicine (@MayoHumanities on Twitter and on Facebook). The first 25 minutes are discussion with host Jacque Fletcher about the book and about my experience of facing death. Then there’s an 8 minute reading – the section that later became my tiny second book, Facing Death – With Hope, then Jacque closes the program, talking about the therapeutic value of patients blogging.
As always, looking at it afterward, it doesn’t look polished enough – but it was done in one take, with no rehearsal, no mirror to see if my hair was okay:-), and – for those who’ve been following my fitness saga on Facebook – it’s pretty obvious that my clothes had become too big! (The shoulders on the suit are an inch down the arm, you can see air between the shirt collar and the neck… oh well!)
But it was real, and I hope it will be of value to future viewers. I’m pretty sure that those of you who lived through those months in 2007 with me will be reminded of what that time was like. Words will never express the value of your support back then – but they don’t need to, because we know it was real.
Thank you to the Humanities department for this production, and thank you especially for granting permission to present it outside of Mayo.
What a great interview, and how very powerful, from beginning to end. Thank you, Mayo and Jacque. One hopes that Dave’s words will help others to find THEIR voices, and the peace and acceptance he was able to achieve, not to mention the wonderful outcome.
OMG, my mom commented on my blog!! :-)
Those were wild days back then, eh, Mom? Happy to be en route right now for our Early Mother’s Day weekend.
Drive carefully
Clicked on this interview & it stopped me in my tracks. Had to give it my undivided attention. From the twinkle in your eye to the precision of your responses, you exemplify empowerment and engagement, Dave. In both the conversation and your reading from LAUGH, SING & EAT LIKE A PIG, your words touch hearts and minds. You are a gift. Thank you for these sincere, profound lessons to live by — to be 100% alive, realize we have choices, and celebrate our reasons to be here.
Well, thanks, LJ; it’s easy to see why you’ve been our special friend for a long long time: you agree with me. :-)
Dave. I just finished watching your video. Thank you for so eloquently expressing the emotional side of healing. Your message is very timely for me as I have now joined the club of cancer patients this year with diagnosis of two different types of cancer in my body since January. I have now gone through two surgeries, the first one caught early and believed to be fully removed, the second one hopeful for good results.
But throughout my relatively short experience with these severe health issues, one thing that has been so obvious to me is that healthy future living necessitates a healthy emotional balance. And so I rely on yoga breathing techniques to calm me down, visualizations of sailing experiences, oceans beaches, lakes, and Rocky Mountain wonders to think of the wonders of the world and my life to date. Finding ways to release stress is so important (for keeping blood pressure in range and more…)
I instinctively knew from the first diagnosis that I needed to be in the best mental and physical state I could be to get through my first ever surgery in the best way possible. And so I worked on diet and exercise in a way I’d never been able to before. I was at more than 75 lbs overweight at the time of diagnosis, but in 2 months leading up to the first surgery I dropped 26 pounds through diet and exercise (simply by means of swimming and no refined sugars put in my mouth). If I can stay with healthy eating, then I have no doubt that my future body will function better. Reducing stresses in my life is clearly an important part of this process too.
And, one way to reduce stress is to enjoy the fact that I too have been blessed with a granddaughter this winter, (whom I had the joy of holding for 2 1/2 weeks in January in Halifax.). My life now is about living to share as much as I can with my granddaughter and other future grandchildren.
Again, thank you for continuing to express your wonderful perspective to this difficult life experience.
Robin Reenstra-Bryant
Robin, how wonderful to hear from you after all these years! I’m glad to hear that your cancers seem to be going well.
It’s unimaginable (given our ages the last time we met) that you would have a granddaughter OR be 75# overweight.:-) Congratulations to you for the work you’re doing on and with yourself.
You might be interested in my post about how different the future and past look to me, having turned 65 this year (like your brother, of course). Back then getting to 65 seemed to clearly be the start of winding down, but with today’s longevity it seems time to plan for an entirely real future – our next quarter century.
Feeling so inspired from this video. Thank you!!
I think authenticity, vulnerability and impact are far, far more important than “polish” could ever be. It’s your heart and your realness that communicate so powerfully here. I don’t think you understand the impact that this video has. :)
> I think authenticity, vulnerability and impact are far, far more important than “polish”
Thanks, Karen – you’re not the first to say that about this post. Believe me, I do get that. (My other friend remarked that it was surprising I could still come across that way after talking about this for so many years.) (And I’ve gone back to listen to this several times, and yes, it’s the real thing, not at all scripted or planned.)
I have to say, it does take something to stay authentic and able to be “in the moment.” But I’ve seen that happen with many of our “patient voice” people.
AND, having said that, in parts of the Speaker Academy series I’ve talked about being conscious of one’s appearance! :-) In this case I didn’t consult a mirror, asked if my hair was okay, they said yes, and it wasn’t. Same for slouching vs sitting upright. Oh well. :) Much less important than what was said, I agree…. professionalism is on a different level than the message.