Sturdy...

Hellebores are often prized in the garden for their unusual colors and exotic-looking flowers.  What I love best about this particular flower is that they are sturdy.  This flower is sometimes called the Lenten or Christmas Rose, because it is frost-resistant.  They come back, year-after-year, blooming when other flowers are just thinking of sprouting and even the deer leave them alone for the most part.  Even when all else is still brown or covered over with snow, the leaves of the hellebore are a surprising burst of emerald.  These flowers are no ephemeral crocus with blossoms that disappear seemingly overnight, but last sometimes for months.  These plants are survivors.

I want to thank everyone for their well-wishes and positive encouragement in the post titled, Speed Bumps.  I definitely feel as though all the good vibrations helped heal me and guide me through a particularly rough time.  I appreciate all the comments and the emails.  They mean so much to me!  Since I wrote that post, the bump has decreased in size and the discoloration has faded.  The "scab" has healed over and it is well on its way to disappearing completely.

One of the things that I have had to let go of was the fear that the cancer could return at any moment.  Every time I get a pimple or an ingrown hair, I can't run to the hospital to get samples sliced off... nor do I really want to.  (I don't think my doctor wants to see me every time I get a pimple either!)  This does not mean that I think I'm invincible... far from it... but it does mean that I am going to have to be more proactive about my health.  I can do things like improve my diet and exercise and get more sleep!  It's all about prevention.  Monitoring.  And if need be... treatment.

A positive that came from this scare is that I have been looking into alternatives to traditional surgery and have come up with some interesting and promising results!  There's a doctor named Dr. Mercola who has developed a skin cream from eggplants (believe it or not) that effectively targets and kills certain types of skin cancer cells.  It's pricey, but a lot less expensive than my last treatment and a heck of a whole lot less invasive than having a half square foot of skin removed.

My last encounter was what you'd call... less than stellar.  It was stressful, painful, and they only treated the cancer.  Spiritually, emotionally, and financially I was left in ruins.  So... I want to embrace a different path to wellness that addresses the facets that were neglected previously.