Survivor's Blog April 7, 2013.. Setting up your home environment to get through this Cancer stuff!

I am a person who naturally likes to be positive and optimistic. I live my life that way. I am also very, very independent ( some might say wickedly stubborn) and I like to do things my way. However, I find that my way has had to change to accommodate days when I cannot leave my bed and days when I cannot be more than a few feet from a bathroom.  When you are diagnosed with something as life changing as cancer, you have to expect the best and prepare for the worst.

One of the things I recently did was have my office in the front room moved and reorganized. Since I have worked at home for years, my home office was tailored to my needs and it is in the room farthest away from our bedroom. I cannot sit in my office chair for long periods anymore, so I picked up a second laptop super cheap on eBay and have it in my room. Now my bedroom has a shelf that is dedicated to my laptop and office items. This makes it easy for me to work from my bed on days when I cannot get up.

I also organized my extra shelf to house all my medicines that I might need when I don't feel well. This keeps me from having to use my energy running to collect everything I need when I get sick from the pantry or the bathroom.

Finally, I organized my kitchen so that I have a bunch of easy to prepare options at hand. I have individual servings of things frozen so that if I need a meal and do not have the energy to cook it  I can just grab it out of the freezer.

 

I know this may sound silly but, when you are dealing with an illness it is the little things that sometimes make the biggest difference. For me it was letting go of my idea of how my home should function and just bowing to what works for now. I know the minute I am well there will be no "office" in my bedroom but, for now it works for me.