Depression...what can we do?

It starts when we are thinking too much about this disease...then waiting for our next CA-125 results to come back...and if the numbers start to climb, we then start worrying more...then the "what if's" start...

Depression is sometimes hard to get out of once it takes hold of us, and it can be very debilitating. We can't think...we get very tired...we tend to want to stay at home and not get involved with life.

I just saw an interview with 32 year old Cami Walker yesterday. Here's what I got from it...

One month after she was married, she was diagnosed with MS. Eventually after 2 years, she lost the use of her hands...the sight in one eye...she was in ALOT of pain, more than the norm for people with MS...her husband was her caregiver which lent itself to emotional stress...she was in a deep depression with thoughts of suicide and called a friend for support...and here's what she said...

Stop thinking about yourself. I want you to give 29 gifts to others in 29 days.

What??? As she respected this friend enough to do just what she said, she focused every day on what opportunity she could do that day that would be nice for someone else. She went out and handed out flowers to people in a store parking lot..one day she gave a tissue to a friend who had lost her mother to MS...one day just taking a book to a friend...one day giving some clothes to Goodwill...then the one day where she cooked a meal for her husband, something she hadn't been able to do herself.

Instead of focusing on her disease, she found the power of her thinking to be affecting her disease in her body. It's that thinking that has a direct effect on both our mental and physical well being. So it was that about two weeks into it that she realized she had left her cane at home when she went out!

She's had 3 MRI's that have shown no progression of her disease. She's walking almost normally most days. She works a couple hours a day, and she has written a book called "29 Gifts..How One Month Can Change Your Life." And today she still continues her gift giving. The interviewer, Meredith Viera gave her a bouquet of roses which brought a big smile to her face and to which she replied "Thank you! I'll give them out when I leave! Here's a gift I brought for you!" and she handed Meredith a gift :)

So, here I am embarking on my own 29 days...will anyone join me?

Blessings and hugs!!!