Dianna Edwards and Writing
  • About me
  • Short stories
    • Death in the Desert
    • Secrets
    • Airport Drama
    • Acacia
    • Two Chooks in December
    • A Darned Surprise
    • The Sunset Mermaid
    • Friend or Foe?
    • At Rainbow's End
    • Sisterly Love
    • Good Times to Come
    • Being Famous
    • Something Special for Dinner
    • Walter's Secret
    • The Visitor
  • Children's stories
    • The Red Silk Kite
    • The Singing Tree
    • Beatrice Barnfeather
    • Garth's bath
    • Little Dog Tambo
    • Flowers For a Special Day
  • Non Fiction
    • Letter to a Soldier
    • The Body
    • Autumn Saturday
    • A Year With Billy
    • Lunch
    • Harry's Story
    • 2007 bushfires
    • My Father's Kite
    • Death of a Chook
    • Gentle Heartache
    • Shopping with Sisters
    • When I am Old
    • Matilda
    • Fragments
  • Blog

BLOG

Keeping calm

2/4/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
 My sister had been experiencing headaches and was occasionally a little unsteady on her feet. She had dismissed such symptoms ‘stress’ but told her doctor about it. The doctor suggested she have some tests, including an MRI on her brain, but it was some time before she agreed to do so. It was only after she had a fall off a stool and bumped her head that she thought it might be a good idea to undergo some testing.

Some days after the MRI test she visited her doctor to discuss the results. It was then that the doctor informed her that her brain was harbouring three (THREE) tumours.

She took in the news and calmly set off home, stopping off at the supermarket to buy a hot roasted chicken and a few other supplies. Acting as if nothing was untoward, it was only much later that the information that had been imparted to her sank in and she began to wonder what was in store for her.

Why didn’t she fall to the floor in despair on hearing such news? How was it that she took in such terrible information and yet continued on as if nothing was amiss? It seems that, in that sort of crisis, the brain takes you onto a different plane and you act on some sort of auto-pilot.

A similar thing happened to me and my husband when we went to hear the biopsy results after his testing for cancer. The surgeon explained that there was a test result that provided a number on a scale from one to ten. “A score of 4 is very serious,” he said, “and I’m afraid your result score is nine.”

From that moment, we operated on auto-pilot. There was no panic, no tearing of hair in distress, just simply a calm following of any instructions offered by the surgeon and (later) hospital staff.  Quiet composure was the ‘mood of the day’ and most days that followed.

I have read stories of how people injured in accidents act normally and even walk on broken feet, seemingly unaware of injuries as they go about doing (for a short time) what they think is necessary, but I’m not sure if that is the same response as the ones I have mentioned above.

I am thinking that the mind is a very interesting part of us, enabling us to cope by taking over, so to speak, and letting us function when we might otherwise fall apart.

Most studies on personal crises or trauma quote the ‘fight or flight’ response, whereby people’s reaction is to accelerate their actions in order to handle the situation. Perhaps the examples I have offered here are not quite crises or traumas, so that they don’t elicit such dramatic response. However, I am convinced that in some situations the mind has the propensity to put a person into autopilot to enable life to go on, without the need for undue stress and (even) panic. It’s a helpful ‘condition’, in my view.

 

PS: My sister’s tumours are not malignant. They are meningiomas that are being treated with radiotherapy and steroids as they are in too dangerous a position to excise.

My husband underwent major surgery and is now perfectly well.


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author notes

    I choose to comment on social issues and write creatively on a variety of subjects -  for a variety of audiences.

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012

    Categories

    All
    Childhood
    House
    Kindness
    On Death
    Social Comment
    Writing

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • About me
  • Short stories
    • Death in the Desert
    • Secrets
    • Airport Drama
    • Acacia
    • Two Chooks in December
    • A Darned Surprise
    • The Sunset Mermaid
    • Friend or Foe?
    • At Rainbow's End
    • Sisterly Love
    • Good Times to Come
    • Being Famous
    • Something Special for Dinner
    • Walter's Secret
    • The Visitor
  • Children's stories
    • The Red Silk Kite
    • The Singing Tree
    • Beatrice Barnfeather
    • Garth's bath
    • Little Dog Tambo
    • Flowers For a Special Day
  • Non Fiction
    • Letter to a Soldier
    • The Body
    • Autumn Saturday
    • A Year With Billy
    • Lunch
    • Harry's Story
    • 2007 bushfires
    • My Father's Kite
    • Death of a Chook
    • Gentle Heartache
    • Shopping with Sisters
    • When I am Old
    • Matilda
    • Fragments
  • Blog