Transcription

• Talaya Dendy_Host

  Today's episode is a very special one. We are recording directly from the Healing Pen and a Mic Journaling Workshop on Sunday, August 2nd. This workshop is a space where cancer patients and survivors gather together to put their raw, unfiltered thoughts, feelings, and stories into their journals, connect with people who truly get it, and leave feeling heard, a little less alone and lighter than when they walked in. The voice you are about to hear belongs to someone who sat in that room today. She stepped out of the workshop and straight into our recording space to share her perspective and her heart. Before we begin, here's a gentle note. Today's conversation touches the deep and sometimes heavy parts of the cancer journey. Please take a moment to take care of yourself as you listen. Here is my conversation with Nancy. Nancy, please introduce yourself and briefly share your connection to cancer.

• Nancy Tepley-Mimbach_Guest

  My name is Nancy, and I was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia in 2018, and it was a very sudden onset.

• Talaya Dendy_Host

  Thank you, Nancy, for sharing. We spent time journaling today. Without hearing anything that you wrote, what was it like to journal your thoughts? and feelings in a room full of people who understand.

• Nancy Tepley-Mimbach_Guest

  It was a big sensation and just a validation of my experiences, my feelings.

• Talaya Dendy_Host

  Being in a room full of people who truly get it is very rare. Was there a moment today, something someone said or just a feeling in the room that made you feel a little less alone?

• Nancy Tepley-Mimbach_Guest

  Everything that Everybody was sharing things that I could connect with that I had bought or experienced going through this journey and some of it even still in the present.

• Talaya Dendy_Host

  Nancy, I really appreciate that you were able to connect with others who truly get it because that can make a huge difference. Nancy, for someone listening who is in the thick of their own diagnosis or survivorship right now, what is one? messy, honest truth about this experience that you wish more people talked about openly.

• Nancy Tepley-Mimbach_Guest

  Just the feeling of being alone, even when others are around you. When you're going through treatment, you're in a room with nurses and medical professionals and maybe your family, but they aren't going through that journey. And they don't, while they can say on the surface, or they understand, or a nurse has taken care of people like that. She may not have been in your seat, I should say, unless she's been in your shoes and had the experience. She isn't going to understand your perspective necessarily.

• Talaya Dendy_Host

  Cancer rewrites the script. Looking back at who you were before all of this, how do you define the word healing today compared to what you used to think it meant?

• Nancy Tepley-Mimbach_Guest

  I used to look at healing as, okay, get a scrape and in a few days it's gone. Now I look at it. as healing is an ongoing process that I will be doing for the rest of my life. It's not a one and done situation with cancer.

• Talaya Dendy_Host

  Thank you for sharing that, Nancy. If someone is listening and they are feeling isolated by a diagnosis, what is one piece of truth or hope you would want to pass along to them?

• Nancy Tepley-Mimbach_Guest

  Surround yourself with other people, whether they are cancer patients or medical professionals or family or friends, it's so important to stay connected to people and be social, even when you don't feel like it.

• Talaya Dendy_Host

  Nancy, what brought you out today?

• Nancy Tepley-Mimbach_Guest

  A little bit of curiosity on what this was about. And I guess because I have felt that things kind of just were done when I was done with chemo. It was like, that's kind of it. I had a couple. little after appointments, but there wasn't much. I felt like there should have been more or more, like I say, connection. with other people that could understand.

• Talaya Dendy_Host

  Thank you, Nancy, for taking some time to talk with me today. I'm so glad that you had a great experience. As we wrap up live at Avera Fitness in St. Paul, I want to give a shout out to the Valued listeners out there. Thank you so much for listening to this episode and stay tuned for more from the Healing Pen and a Mic workshop and companion podcast. Take care.