Sunday, February 2, 2020
Cancer scenarios are apparently the topic of choice for all the shows I watch this week (not just the doctor shows). I caught up with the current season of Grace and Frankie on Netflix yesterday. The Ranch has finished its run, and I do not know how many more seasons for Grace and Frankie there will be. I have decided these will likely be the last rated M shows I will watch on Netflix; the profanity is too extreme for me to completely enjoy the episodes, despite the funny storylines. I will not get invested again.
The premise of Grace and Frankie is that two senior-citizen, law-partner husbands tell their wives they are gay and want divorces so they can marry each other. It stars Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Sam Waterston, and Martin Sheen. In one of this season’s episodes, the men go to the doctor. Sam Waterston’s character, Sol, is told he has prostrate cancer and is advised by his doctor to do nothing because of his age. Sol decides he does not want to risk the complications of surgery and does not want to tell anyone else the news.
Martin Sheen’s character, Robert, tries to convince Sol to have surgery and finally prevails. Sol tells Robert he does not want to tell anyone else until after the surgery. Robert goes to Frankie’s house to pick up a fondue pot and she pulls her ex-husband’s diagnosis out of Robert. Sol and Robert are hosting Sol’s sons that evening for a dinner party when Frankie comes over to “cleanse” the house to make Sol better. Eventually, the cat is let out of the bag and now Sol’s family members all know.
On the next episode everyone is treating Sol differently. His family is trying to change his diet and are constantly checking on him and asking how he is feeling. Sol tells Robert he is going to a cancer support group which Robert supports because he thinks Sol is “properly” dealing with his cancer. Robert offers to go, but Sol says it is for patients only. Robert later finds out Sol is playing games with friends at a diner instead of going to the group. Sol explains he was tired of being smothered with cancer concern and wanted time to not be focusing on cancer, which is why he did not want to tell anyone until after his surgery.
I am fortunate I do not have a smothering family. My family is concerned, but none of them are surfing the Internet for ovarian cancer diets and trying to drown me in information overload. My family knows I am an informed, independent woman who asks questions and, even though I do not want people sending me unsolicited article or video links, I do have an open mind to options presented to me by people who are qualified to offer advice. I am not going to send you a link about how to design a robot because you program robots. I do send my friend who sells honey articles about bees because I know she is interested.
Some people do need help when making life changes. It took me a while to build up to the amount of protein I need to take in to heal wounds and I did need the support of my family. I asked to not be served any food that did not contain protein for six months a few years ago when I was healing a wound that opened down to my bone. My significant other bought pasta that had protein in it to help vary my diet. My older daughter looked up protein levels for nuts, fruits, and vegetables so we got the best protein bang.
When a friend of mine found out her husband had diabetes, the whole family changed their eating habits and they were already avoiding processed food and dyes. Family and friends are needed when you start making changes in your life, but when you are someone’s support, find out how they want to be supported. Do they want you to check if they took their meds, or do they want you to walk around the mall with them?
My piece of advice to you is ask questions when offering support. I am trying hard to ask my older daughter how I can help when she has a bad day instead of simply jumping in with advice and it is not easy. I want to make her feel better right away, yet how can I effectively help if I do not know what she needs from me?
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.
Cancer scenarios are apparently the topic of choice for all the shows I watch this week (not just the doctor shows). I caught up with the current season of Grace and Frankie on Netflix yesterday. The Ranch has finished its run, and I do not know how many more seasons for Grace and Frankie there will be. I have decided these will likely be the last rated M shows I will watch on Netflix; the profanity is too extreme for me to completely enjoy the episodes, despite the funny storylines. I will not get invested again.
The premise of Grace and Frankie is that two senior-citizen, law-partner husbands tell their wives they are gay and want divorces so they can marry each other. It stars Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Sam Waterston, and Martin Sheen. In one of this season’s episodes, the men go to the doctor. Sam Waterston’s character, Sol, is told he has prostrate cancer and is advised by his doctor to do nothing because of his age. Sol decides he does not want to risk the complications of surgery and does not want to tell anyone else the news.
Martin Sheen’s character, Robert, tries to convince Sol to have surgery and finally prevails. Sol tells Robert he does not want to tell anyone else until after the surgery. Robert goes to Frankie’s house to pick up a fondue pot and she pulls her ex-husband’s diagnosis out of Robert. Sol and Robert are hosting Sol’s sons that evening for a dinner party when Frankie comes over to “cleanse” the house to make Sol better. Eventually, the cat is let out of the bag and now Sol’s family members all know.
On the next episode everyone is treating Sol differently. His family is trying to change his diet and are constantly checking on him and asking how he is feeling. Sol tells Robert he is going to a cancer support group which Robert supports because he thinks Sol is “properly” dealing with his cancer. Robert offers to go, but Sol says it is for patients only. Robert later finds out Sol is playing games with friends at a diner instead of going to the group. Sol explains he was tired of being smothered with cancer concern and wanted time to not be focusing on cancer, which is why he did not want to tell anyone until after his surgery.
I am fortunate I do not have a smothering family. My family is concerned, but none of them are surfing the Internet for ovarian cancer diets and trying to drown me in information overload. My family knows I am an informed, independent woman who asks questions and, even though I do not want people sending me unsolicited article or video links, I do have an open mind to options presented to me by people who are qualified to offer advice. I am not going to send you a link about how to design a robot because you program robots. I do send my friend who sells honey articles about bees because I know she is interested.
Some people do need help when making life changes. It took me a while to build up to the amount of protein I need to take in to heal wounds and I did need the support of my family. I asked to not be served any food that did not contain protein for six months a few years ago when I was healing a wound that opened down to my bone. My significant other bought pasta that had protein in it to help vary my diet. My older daughter looked up protein levels for nuts, fruits, and vegetables so we got the best protein bang.
When a friend of mine found out her husband had diabetes, the whole family changed their eating habits and they were already avoiding processed food and dyes. Family and friends are needed when you start making changes in your life, but when you are someone’s support, find out how they want to be supported. Do they want you to check if they took their meds, or do they want you to walk around the mall with them?
My piece of advice to you is ask questions when offering support. I am trying hard to ask my older daughter how I can help when she has a bad day instead of simply jumping in with advice and it is not easy. I want to make her feel better right away, yet how can I effectively help if I do not know what she needs from me?
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.