Be selective about who you chose to be in your life.
This can be very difficult when your trying to launch a brain cancer campaign from the ground up.
Please understand that I want to reach out to as many people as possible but I will only allow a select few into my inner circle. This doesn't mean that I don't want to connect with everyone, just realize it means certain details need to be kept private.
Everything I have done to this point essentially came down to my attitude. Yes, Ive asked for medical advice; business help, spiritual guidance, and every person that Ive come in contact with has been fantastic in one way or another. Everyone has a story and advice.
Ive also had "close friends" ignore me, make plans, cancel, apologize, make plans again, etc. etc. You get where Im going. Thats just the way the world works and everyone is always busy. I respect that. A lot of people do not know how to interact with you once you're diagnosed and thats something the patient and the other person have to deal with on a daily basis. As Eric Thomas says: "You ain't got but a few people in this world who actually care about you."
The one thing I never wanted from anyone was money. I continue to live on ramen profit and personally think its complete bullshit that I should even consider the thought of applying for disability to continue living. Disability is there if you are disabled. I walked 10 miles yesterday and played 36 holes the week before. Do you call that disabled? Neither do I.
4 1/2 months after my surgery I tried working again. Although I was still taking chemotherapy, I just wanted to interact with people and contribute to society. After two days of training as a server at a sports bar, it was too much. The old things I were capable of doing were no longer part of my instincts.
Forcing myself to focus was foreign to me. It was hard to move at the speed I once had. Constantly adapting to new situations, I had to fall into a new routine where my brain was not ready for that type of change. My intentions and attitude were always correct but my body said differently. After my second training shift I went home, fell on the bed with all of my clothes on and passed out.
The next day I called the manager and thanked him for the opportunity. Two weeks later $135 was in my bank account. At least the cell phone got paid and I made a few friends in the process.
When you have severe surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, it takes about a year for your brain to return to "normal" according to my Radiologist Dr. Emad Youseff. Attempting to work that early was a very unique learning experience that I will never forget.
Forcing myself to focus was foreign to me. It was hard to move at the speed I once had. Constantly adapting to new situations, I had to fall into a new routine where my brain was not ready for that type of change. My intentions and attitude were always correct but my body said differently. After my second training shift I went home, fell on the bed with all of my clothes on and passed out.
The next day I called the manager and thanked him for the opportunity. Two weeks later $135 was in my bank account. At least the cell phone got paid and I made a few friends in the process.
When you have severe surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, it takes about a year for your brain to return to "normal" according to my Radiologist Dr. Emad Youseff. Attempting to work that early was a very unique learning experience that I will never forget.
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