What Did My Dad Think and Feel in the Moments of His Death?
Promoted to an Essential Topic in Psychology Today, in the Neuroscience and Near-Death Experiences Blogs. February, 2022 Key Points: Understand the two types of death The natural physiology of the brain is to keep functioning Just before death, neurochemicals in the brain surge Even in a life not well lived, death is likely to…
Read MoreAn Against-the-Odds Story Can Be Yours
Susan Keller, Dr. Michael Craig, Johnny Shultz, and Andrea. I had it all, or thought I did. At fifty-five—happy in my marriage and at the top of my career—I awoke one morning in damp, tangled sheets. Turning to dislodge my leg, a searing pain shot up my back. I moaned, gasped, then slowly sat.…
Read MoreDon’t Let Symptom Denial Threaten Your Life
By Susan Keller From Psychology Today, 8-24-21 Key Points: People sometimes deny symptoms of illnesses—such as cancer—which can hamper diagnosis and treatment. Reasons for symptom denial include fearing the outcome and not wanting to be “weak” or waste others’ time. People should seek medical attention—even a second opinion—if they notice any of the potential signs…
Read MoreLymphoma Notes, June 21, 2021
Results of My Diagnostic CT Scan Dr. Arent, a tall, handsome doctor—who could have made good money on General Hospital—enters my room. He has the dubious good fortune of giving me the outcome of my diagnostic CT scan. “I have your results,” he says thumbing through papers before rolling them into a tube that he…
Read MoreLymphoma Notes, June 3, 2021
Sixteen Years a Survivor!
In my last post, I’d just been hospitalized for emergency transfusions only hours after being diagnosed with lymphoma.
Being hospitalized is its own crushing experience. If you’ve been there, and I’ll bet you have, you know about how your identity is smudged and blurred the moment your step into a hospital room. The first thing is the gown.
Read MoreLymphoma Notes, May 29, 2021
In 2005, I woke one morning with what I thought—courtesy of Google—was a minor kidney infection. All I needed was a bottle of antibiotics and I’d be fine. Twenty minutes after entering my doctor’s office, she told me I had Stage 4 lymphoma. Blood work revealed a hemoglobin level so low that a heart attack…
Read MoreWe Can’t Do It All—Play to Your Strengths
My memoir, Blood Brother, was accepted for publication this past spring. The tag line of the book: To survive, I had to find a brother who hadn’t been seen in thirty years. I was desperately sick and needed a bone marrow transplant from someone who had vanished. But this blog is also about you and…
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