Think pink: how to return to life after a long treatment

On By Inese, visual artist, writer and life sciences bloggerIn gratitude, happiness, health, hope, life, lifestyle, nature photography

A few suggestions which work for me

If you just took the last pill, are still struggling with the treatment medications, are just getting in or out of a long treatment, I know where you are coming from.

The treatment of my current health issues lasted for 1349 days so far. It hasn’t ended yet, but I am getting back to life and back to normal everything. 1349 is just a number. It is just a number that has resulted from many months, weeks, days, hours and minutes spent trying to feel better. Did you know that every minute in pain lasts longer than an hour doing pleasant things?

I have tried everything. I am not saying that my personal experience is going to work for everybody, but some parts might.

The inevitable side effects

Many people go through very long treatments and use medications that also destroy them along with a cure. Side effects manifest on our body and on our mind in many very different ways. The cure of bad issues and severe conditions always comes with undesirable effects. Always, that is the nature of chemicals which can be extremely harsh at times.

I just downloaded some beautiful pictures of flowers and could not resist sharing them. I attached them below text.

Looking at, thinking of and seeing beauty in nature helps me relax and makes me forget pain and bad feelings. Does the beauty have the same effect on you?

If it does, you should put yourself together as much as you can and get out there and look at flowers, trees, listen to bird songs and watch wild animals like squirrels or rabbits, chipmunks or similar creatures. Watching undisturbed flow of a very simple life supports the weak, recovering body and certainly gives more strength.

The first suggestion is: do not put pressure on yourself. Just don’t do that. Treatments are always accompanied by strict schedules, doctor’s appointments, nurse visits, meal times and sleep hours. Everything is scheduled. When we start feeling better and when it seems we are strong enough to do absolutely anything and embrace the globe, we should take things easy. Especially at this moment. We should move step by step, not rushing, not exhausting ourselves even more.

With recovery and as the undesirable effects wear off, we are experiencing unusual additional energy. Small bit of willingness to open our eyes. A desire to breathe very deeply. An intention to walk without concerns about getting dizzy and shaky. Wow! That is success!

That is the hugest success we can only imagine. We never think it is such a pleasure to simply walk without pain. Well, it is. I know how it feels to suddenly wake up after long months of being in a subdued mood, blundering around half-asleep, having no willpower to even want something. Recovery after a long treatment is similar to being reborn.

Colors regain brightness. Sounds become clear. Light is blinding. Sun is so intense. Yes, we probably have to wear sunglasses.

The other suggestion is as follows. Many medications require specific approach: staying out of sunlight, not consuming some particular foods or drinks and so on. We cannot forget about these warnings after the last dose of medication because its activity may continue way beyond this point. Being cautious is a good habit when starting or discontinuing medications. Alcohol does not work with any medication: it either inhibits the positive side or enhances it. I believe staying away from alcoholic drinks is a basic when recovering or while using meds.

The most often observed side effect must be nausea and feeling sick. It is unfortunately that our body wants to alert us, and we know we are wrong and the body is right, but we have to continue with meds. I had extreme episodes of nausea. To the point when I could not even think clearly. Nausea did not allow sleeping or resting either. I somehow found aloe vera juice. The stuff that worked for me was with pomegranate flavour. I am extremely sensitive to any substance, and regular anti-nausea pills never did what they were expected to, but with aloe vera juice I achieved a state when I was feeling practically normal. I took it after quite a lot of water on empty stomach and then as prescribed: 4 full large spoons.

The third suggestion is moderation. Moderation in everything. No extreme foods or entertainments, no extreme physical loads or exercises. Living around the neutral zero isn’t that bad at all. Overdoing with physical exercises can through you back, so can eating out too much or having too many drinks.

It’s a heavy work for the body to return to normal daily routine without strong pills, injections, i/v pumps or i/v lines. While it is such a relief to get off meds, there is an in-between period. It is better to get back to life slowly than destroy everything that was achieved through so much suffering.

Meanwhile, the last suggestion is think pink! Soft and dreamy colors in the environment work their magic. Pictures drawings and paintings of beautiful things in calm colors do the same: relax the tension, make our mind happy and that’s when we are really back on track.

Think pink: create happiness

Think pink: troubles go away

Think pink: send and receive love

Think pink: beauty has so many faces

Think pink: no other color speaks so loudly about feeling good 

Think pink: it is a good color to make face and soul look fresh

22 thoughts on “Think pink: how to return to life after a long treatment”

    1. Thanks Cindy! To my knowledge almost every 4th person is taking some not that easy to tolerate medications, and frequently that is for a long time. It comes with dangers. We have to learn avoiding harm as much as possible. I hope I will be done with this soon, but I am not there yet.

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  3. “Recovery after a long treatment is similar to being reborn…. Colors regain brightness. Sounds become clear. Light is blinding. Sun is so intense. Yes, we probably have to wear sunglasses”.
    ~~~💫~~~💫
    Those lines truly resonated with me… What a beautiful way to put it down in words, dear Inese. I agree with you as to how Beauty in its many shapes might cheer us up… Naature has such effect on me, when I feel down or stressed.
    Great tips here. The pink flowers are beautiful too… I wish you the best in your recovery. Much love, strenght, good wishes to you. ❤

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    1. Thanks so much Aquileana! Well, I am somewhat ok, I just would like all these issues to go away. Permanently. I cannot believe I haven’t still found a useful theme for my art blog. Just spent the last 2 days on exploration. There are so many themes, but when I look closer, nothing really fits perfectly.
      I hope you have a great summer or what’s left of it!

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      4. Doing that all the time. Since the first treatment week. Well, it can look better or worse some times. Having less pain is already good. Walking is a big deal. Doing something is so great, strong pain prevents it, and I am able to walk more and do more already. I was digging the soil all on my own regardless of pain this spring. I would cry a small bit and then go back to digging. I am extremely stubborn and I never give up anything I have intended. My dad taught me that. No wining, no complaining, just go ahead with whatever you have decided. I think people are getting very weak, too. We need to be strong. Just like really strong, not crying about every smallest issue and even when people do not understand you. I fight my battles alone, and I am used to rely on myself because deep down when we are facing bad issues we must face that on our own and be able to do so without damaging the healthy part of ourselves.

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      6. Thanks! I simply don’t want to devote lots of space writing about my conditions since it always sounds like complaining and wining. However, I believe I should write more about type I diabetes because people do not know the difference between type I and type II. As strange as it sounds doctors at hospital DID NOT KNOW that. If something happens we should be aware how to help a person with type I diabetes not to get into coma. It’s not that complicated, but there is not much knowledge about that. On a plane, usually no flight attendant knows how type I diabetes is very different from type II. So on.

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      7. Very good point.. we had training in this and how to use the pens to inject.. And what foods are good to keep BMs in control over night..
        I remember one support worker not understanding this, And gave salad only for tea, no supper. ( these were people with learning disabilities we supported ) I was on sleep in came on shift at 8pm to Ipm the following day.. I was the only one on duty over night looking after 12 people in 4 houses on one street.. Luckily for the person concerned and woman sharing that home who was not as bad with her disabilities as the others came to knock me up saying her friend was making noises .. I went to find her in a hot sweat, testing her BMs they were way below 2.. I called the emergency services, straight away ..( You are trained not to give a drink in case they choke She was not capable of drinking .. She was almost out of it..) They put her on a glucose drip straight away.. and stayed with us until her BMs were more or less normal.. Yes People need educating xx

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      8. See, you know the difference, but most people don’t. There is such a thing as glucagon injection which raises blood glucose rapidly, too, when somebody is almost ready to pass out. I don’t allow it to fall to 2 or below, but anything can happen in sleep. I am seeing the biggest danger with sudden drops because that happens a lot with more than 1 insulin. Juice is way too slow in such cases, not to mention eating sweets won’t raise blood glucose rapidly. There is now liquid glucose which I find very useful for example at the airport. I wish airport employees had better training in this, emergency workers, ambulance workers because as strange as it sounds those guys once didn’t even think it was necessary to have a meter with me. It is really amazing how treating physician can have no clue how many units are needed, plus they don’t want to listen to patient, as a result patient goes low which was expected. I have seen over years such a lack of knowledge in this field, also among medical workers, that’s here in Canada, that it really raises concerns.

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      9. Yes we had a glucose jell we could put on gums, but the box had not got any in,, which is probably as well, for it may not have acted as quickly .. The ambulance arrived in 5 mins flat.. I was amazed at how quickly it arrived.. And all the while I was talking to the support crew on the emergency line.. . That is bad.. More awareness should be made public..

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      10. Definitely. While most people know how to act in cardiac failure or similar issues, I have noticed that most people think low blood glucose is as simple as eat some chocolate or drink some juice. They cannot imagine what the feeling is when the glucose drops rapidly. It is quite terrible.

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  5. theburningheart

    Except for early childhood never got sick, until, three years ago, now nothing seems the same, it’s like facing continuous deterioration day, by day, no I don’t feel bad, or any particular part of my body hurts that much, it’s just a sense of feeling all the years gone by, now are really starting to count, and, do not know if it’s the adding up of the years, or a countdown of time left..! 🙂

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  6. theburningheart

    I hear you Inese, I do some great salads, I will email you a picture, I do not how to attach my pictures into blogs except mine, so I will use your email address, so you can see it. 🙂

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