Episode 038: Finding Peace of Mind In Your Quest for Life
Nov 07, 2018•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Episode description
In her quest for life, Petrea has come through cancer to really find herself again. She has discovered a unique approach to find peace of mind during the craziness and the certainty that comes with cancer. Here are some things we cover today:
Finding peace of mind during cancer
Responding rather than reacting to crisis situation
How commitment to living makes you more resilient
The best definition of forgiveness you are likely to come across
4 key characteristics that help you get through cancer
The path to forgiveness and freeing yourself
and much, much more!
Links
Quest for Life and Petrea King Programs and Workshops
Petrea King Books
Quest for Life - A Handbook for People with Life-Threatening Illness
Spirited Women (for women with breast cancer)
Your Life Matters - The Power of Living Now
Petrea King and Quest for Life Foundation
Episode 036: How To Be More Resilient During Cancer with Michael Carr-Gregg
Full Transcript
Joe: Petrea, the first thing I really wanted to ask you is, when did you first come across cancer?
Petrea: When I was nursing. When I was 17, I went into nursing and so I nursed a lot of people with cancer at that time. Also, before I went into nursing, it’s a much longer story, but I’d grown very quickly 23cm in one year and my knees had started dislocating when I was 13. I spent three years in hospital having my femurs cut and my lower legs turned out and my tibias cut, and my lower legs turned in. In those days, they’d just invented portable x-ray machines, and because my bones wouldn’t unite, they sometimes x-rayed me two or three times per week. I think in hindsight, that might have been the reason why I developed cancer then in my 30s.
Joe: Wow, what was that like?
Petrea: Which bit, being in hospital for three years?
Joe: Well, being in hospital for three years and then getting cancer in your 30s?
Petrea: Well, when I was diagnosed, I knew something was wrong because I was covered in bruises. I would bruise very easily. I went to my doctor who referred me to another one. When I had all of the blood tests, I was actually living in California at the time. When I had all the blood tests, it came back as my white blood cell counts were completely skewed. Then I had bone marrow biopsies and finally, I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in September of 1983. I was told that I wouldn’t see Christmas of that year. My brother had just taken his life, as well, so it was a very painful time for our family. I have to say, I didn’t feel like I fought for my life. I’m a little bit against this idea of battles and fighting the disease and people lose their battle with cancer. I just don’t think that’s helpful. We use such a warm mentality and yet, this is something within our own body. Being at war with a part of your body doesn’t sit well with me.
Joe: That’s such a great perspective, Petrea. How did you see it? How did you react when you found out and how did you deal with it? That it wasn’t that and it was a part of you? How did you approach it all?
Petrea: Well, those three years in hospital as a teenager had given me a lot of time to focus on the deeper questions about existence that I was already preoccupied with. Why are we here? What’s the purpose of human life? How do you know you’ve lived a good life? Like a lot of people, I had a split façade where I had a highly polished one for everybody outside but had a very private inner life. I’d also grown up with my mad, chaotic brother who was the one who did finally take his life. He told me before he was ten that he knew that he had to take his own life by the time he was 30.
That’s when I remember thinking, “I have to grow up really quickly, so I can look after Brendan.” That finally gave me a sense of why I was alive.
