Julie Davey - Writing for Wellness: A Prescription for Healing

Writing for Wellness
A Prescription forHealing
Julie Davey
Idyll Arbor SmashwordsEdition

http://www.writingforwellness.com

Idyll Arbor, Inc.

39129 264th Ave SE

Enumclaw, WA 98022

(360) 825-7797

Copyright 2007, Julie Davey. All rightsreserved under International and Pan American CopyrightConventions. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in aretrieval system, or transcribed, in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-61158-000-6

License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personalenjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to otherpeople. If you would like to share this book with another person,please purchase an additional copy for each person you share itwith. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or itwas not purchased for your use only, then you should return toSmashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respectingthe hard work of this author and publisher.

All authors profits from this book will bedonated to City of Hope.

Each chapter contains writing samples,writing lessons and writing prompts to help the reader begin toheal and achieve wellness.

While we all recognize that words can readilyhelp or harm, this volume is testimony to the healing andrestorative capacity of language. There are so many elements of apersons life beyond his or her control, or even influence, that itis refreshing and liberating to realize that writtenself-expression can be a powerful reservoir of comfort.

Everyone associated with the seriously illpatient or someone who has suffered great loss or tragedy health-care providers, friends, and family instinctivelyunderstands the need for comfort and, within the limits of ourcollective capacity, we try to provide it. However, inevitably,even the most caring of us can become spiritually exhausted anddepleted of compassion. Consequently, each person in contact withthe patient has need of healing and restoration.

There are a great many sources of renewal religion, literature, music, and companionship, to name a few. Thisvolume vividly demonstrates that a potent source of restoration ofhope, compassion, and care comes through the act of writing. Thesimple, profound act of written self-expression is, in itself, aremarkable miracle.

As a medical oncologist for more than 35years, I have cared for thousands of patients. I have seen the tollexacted by cancer on patients, families, friends, and caregivers. Ihave also been impressed by how effective this writing program hasbeen and can be. I recommend it to you, the reader, as oneworthwhile outlet for the universal condition of caring intenselyabout our fellow man.

Michael A. Friedman, M.D.

President and CEO

City of Hope National Medical Center

* * * * *

As a child, I enjoyed reading thedictionary. I delighted in words and their derivation.

As a physician, I learned long ago inmedical school the power of words, as descriptors (Where exactly isthe lesion?), and as diagnoses, without which there is noappropriate therapy.

As a mother of toddlers, I learned theimportance for a child of being able to articulate feelings(Matthew, dont cry. Tell me whats wrong. Use words; words areyour friends.)

Now, as I have followed Professor Daveyswriting classes, I have seen the healing power of words, used asprecise tools, even as weapons by patients in their battle againstcancer.

Professor Davey has taught her students tothink and to articulate. For them writing has been more than anintellectual exercise.

By giving of herself and sharing her ownintegrity and loving kindness, she has inspired her students toreach deep down inside themselves, to feel, and to heal.

I am proud to have had a part of thisexperience that has helped so many.

Lucille A. Leong, M.D.

Associate Director of Clinical Affairs

Division of Medical Oncology

City of Hope National Medical Center

First and foremost, therewould be no book at all without my husband Bobs editing of themanuscript. Every contributor and reader owes him a debt ofgratitude, as do I.

Thank you to Dr. Michael Friedman, Presidentand CEO of City of Hope National Medical Center, for continuing tosupport Writing for Wellness classes on the campus and forendorsing them as an effective form of therapy.

Writing this book has been an honor. I havehad the privilege of meeting hundreds of inspirational students whoinitially attended my classes to learn writing techniques to helpthem heal, but who instead taught me innumerable life lessons. Aswe continue to interact, I witness your courage, yourdetermination, your tenacity, and your direct role in battlingdisease. You are my heroes.

Without City of Hope staff members LindaBaginski and Jeanne Lawrence there would have been no Writing forWellness class. Shirley Otis-Green and Lynn Palmer have also pavedthe way, ensuring success. All have attended the classes and havetheir inspirational writing included in this book, along with thoseof Marilyn Rhodes, RN, who has also counseled many of my ownfriends and relatives. The stirring writings of City of HopesAnnie Watson also appear in the book and reflect how sheencourages, calms, inspires, and soothes patients who arrive fortreatments each day. Thanks to Anna Escobosa, a colon-cancersurvivor, who called CBS News and convinced them to do a storyabout our class. We were on the evening news and I was named Womanof the Week in Los Angeles.

Thank you, Dr. Lucille Leong, my oncologist,for your holistic view of medicine that includes both healing meand also sending other patients of yours to be helped by theWriting for Wellness class experience. Thank you, Dr. JamesAndersen, my surgeon, for giving me my life back after you expertlyperformed the 12-hour bilateral tram-flap procedure that restoredme physically and psychologically. Thank you, Dr. Janice DaVolio,my dermatologist, for your talent and dedication in keeping myraging psoriasis from taking over my life. All three of these veryspecial physicians have dedicated their lives to making dramaticand positive differences in the quality of life of theirpatients.

Thank you, Mary Ellen Lepionka, forencouraging me to continue the quest for publication. Thanks toBill Durkee, Bill Matteson, and Joan Smith for reading variousdrafts of the manuscript and for believing in the value of thisbook. Elizabeth Terry, Rick Myers, Chakib Sambar, and Dr. Lois Neilalso deserve thanks for serving as substitute teachers over theyears and inspiring the Writing for Wellness students.

Thank you to all the contributors, those whotook a chance to write from their hearts about what they wereexperiencing as a result of cancer or other tragedies in theirlives. You did not have to share your stories but chose to do so tohelp others feel less isolated as they, too, try to heal.

For his belief in the book, his professionalediting, and creative formatting, as well as his dedication to theproject, I thank Tom Blaschko, president of Idyll Arbor

Heartfelt thanks to my former FullertonCollege student, graphic artist Vince Williams, who designed thecover. Special thanks to photographer Markie Ramirez who capturedthe spirit of the class she also attends.

Special thanks and admiration go toChristine Pechera, Elizabeth Terry, Steve Rom, Jerome Williams, andCharles Fell whose tenacity and faith continue to transform thegossamer thread between life and death into a steel rod to liftthemselves and others into the light.

Cancer and otherlife-threatening illnesses and tragedies affect us all, no matterour age, our position in life, or our education. We all knowsomeone in our family or among our friends and co-workers who hassuffered. And sometimes, for millions of us, we have been touchedvery personally. According to statistics, one out of three peoplewill be diagnosed with some form of cancer during their lifetime.For those who have not experienced it directly, there is theunspoken but nagging concern that cancer might pay an unexpectedvisit one day. This is an unwelcome, but common, bond weshare.