I read a lovely article today, thanks David for the link, which likened life to a jigsaw puzzle. The article is about a comedian who passes on his messages and thoughts through humour, apparently about anything and everything.
This is the link to the full article here and yes, I now want to watch the show now.
I have taken some of the words, portions only, added my own, and ruthlessly plagiarised for my own purposes, but the original is a much better read.
“we are all piecing together our own jigsaws with every lesson we learn and everything we experience. The catch is — we all lost the box so we must guess what the image should be like.
This “perfect” life plan. The belief that life is designed and arranged into very specific stages. ( we all know how imperfect life turns out and not to the grand plan. There is a virus around that makes us believe that life should be perfect, and so many of us are infected. – Jennifer)
I believe that working toward completing our personal jigsaw puzzle is our journey of self-fulfillment. It’s all the things we do, all the pieces that we put together that fulfill who we are. It’s the combination of our passions, our skills, our experiences, the lessons we’ve learned, and the support from our loved ones that helps us get there.
Piece by piece. Step by step.
But if each and every one of us is like a jigsaw puzzle then we are the only ones who can put those pieces together for ourselves.”
Did I ever envisage MS as part of my life ? Losing the ability to participate in some of my beloved activities at any more than a most basic level ? Making the decision to go for an experimental procedure involving chemotherapy? Not in my life plan.
However, neither was meeting people with whom I’ll stay friends for life, experiencing the amazing kindness of the nurses here, telling Dr Federenko about Muppet and he pulls out his phone to show me his beloved 13.5kg Maine Coone, in a weird way enjoying 9 days of isolation and time to just quietly exist, realising the extent of the community around me, seeing this amazing city … all part of my jigsaw now.
I got out into the autumn air again today, before being put on my last infusion, and it was lovely again to breathe in fresh, slightly chill autumn air. I sat in the little chapel again, and just enjoyed being outdoors.
Now I am on my last treatment, a five hour infusion and of course I get an IV stand with a wonky wheel so can’t wheel the thing around straight. This last treatment suppresses the last of the renegade B cells which are part of the immune system attacking my myelin sheath, it’s a treatment complementary to the chemotherapy.
I must be clear here, I have had an incredibly good experience with the treatment, with side effects as predicted but minimal only. So everything please read on that basis. I am hoping and praying that this run of fortune continues.
Tomorrow is a rest day in the hospital, then middle of the day Wednesday … the long journey home.
My Longest Journey 