Update: Star Trek Medicine
Lately I’ve been thinking of the scene in the movie “Star Trek: The Voyage Home” when McCoy accuses local doctors of using Medievalism as they prepare to drill into Chekov’s skull. Instead, McCoy applies a small piece of equipment to his crew member’s forehead and, voila, he’s cured. In the theater I remember thinking, “Yea, I want that!”
How awesome would it be to have a quick (and painless) fix so that it’s all over fast and everyone could get on with theirs lives? But that’s not how it works - and for good reason. A quick fix negates the purpose of why the disease is here in the first place: to force us to pause so we can learn something important about ourselves.
It may seem unrelated but it’s human nature not to grow until we’re challenged. If it wasn’t cancer it would be something else. But, for many people, cancer seems to be the agent for this process right now. The way I see it months of chemo is giving me the time to uncover and, let go of, all the buried emotions that I didn’t even know I had.
Anger, rage, guilt, fear, you name it - we all have the full range of emotions. It’s what makes us human. And we are very complex beings. But no one ever teaches us what to do with those emotions. Plus, many of us were programed to ignore those emotions because they were “un-lady like” or, worse, they showed weakness.
Not understanding emotions or, carrying inherited belief systems, is the basis for Jacqueline Kane’s work. And it’s powerful. If I wasn’t working with her right now I know I’d be in the same scenario as a lot of other chemo patients. Instead, when I walk into the infusion room, I still have a sense of who I am and I don’t define myself as a cancer victim. I simply recognize that I’m experiencing something very powerful.
As a spiritual counselor, I know that my soul is expanding with awareness as I go through this. But Jackie’s work is helping me re-frame what is happening on a human level. Together we make a good team so, ultimately, we can better help others. But, right now, it’s her work that is helping me feel like the captain of my own star ship. And I am forever grateful.