This is the last of my “What If” series and the 8th in the 31 in 31 blogging challenge.
Tomorrow I am going to class. I am going to class for the next three days. It will be the first time in a long time that I will be in a class and I will know no one else there. I haven’t even met the instructor before.I have a little anxiety but, mostly gratitude.
See, I am one of those people that went to massage school a long time ago. I got my first 500 hours and great training but, I became addicted to learning and questioning. 26 years ago some of the people I went to massage school with thought I was a bit crazy. They thought I didn’t get it and might not be a successful massage therapist. They didn’t understand why I kept asking where the proof was that we could spread cancer with massage or how exactly we could hurt a cancer patient if we were doing careful, thoughtful, purposeful work. They were a little grossed out when I said I wanted to work with elderly people. They thought I was being way to brave and endangering pregnant women when I agreed to work on them too.
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
Mahatma Gandhi
I didn’t go to a special class or get certified to do it either. Actually, 26 years ago there were not that many continuing education classes, and finding one to train you to work with Oncology Patients, Pregnant Women, or Geriatrics was rare if not completely unheard of. Massage Therapists were doing it though. Massage Therapists had been doing it for a long time before me. So, I took a lot of chances but, hedged my bets by creating a network I could learn from and gain experience with. No one ever suffered by my hands.
I learned and understood that those Massage Therapists that went before us and didn’t have those classes, sometimes worked a lot harder to get the information and develop the skill to work with some of these special demographics. And they did it against the grain when the myths were being strongly held as true. And they created those classes for all of us.
Not only did I get to work in a hospital women’s center and create a hospital based program in 1990, I got to do it with a Geriatric Psychiatric Unit. I have had the opportunity to help lots of Massage Therapists start hospital based programs. I even got to contract with hospitals starting massage programs, some in specialty oncology centers.
The goal is to live a full, productive life even with all that ambiguity.
No matter what happens, whether the cancer never flares up again or whether you die, the important thing is that the days that you have had you will have lived.
Gilda Radner
I cannot tell you how many cookies I baked, free massages I gave to bribe Physicians, Nurses and other health care professionals to answer my questions and help me learn how to work with Oncology Patients. They allowed me into hospital in-services and let me shadow them on the Units. Patiently answered my questions, and eventually started referring clients to me – clients with cancer.
They hired graduates of my massage school and then contracted me to design their programs and train the Massage Therapists to work there. They helped me connect to non-profit organizations and appreciated my service to those organizations as a volunteer.
I was so thrilled when I finally got to take a class in Oncology Massage. I have taken quite a few now but, they were always short, 4 hours here, 8 hours there, 16 hours there. I am so grateful to Tracy Walton, Gayle MacDonald and Diana Thompson for understanding there was so much more we wanted to learn.
So, really I could submit my patchwork of education and years of experience, and ask to get accepted to The Society for Oncology Massage, or as they call it, S4OM but, I did not want to do that way. I didn’t want to be “grandmothered” or “grandfathered”. I should have joined years ago but, I put it off. I didn’t think I had the time. I had to make the time. I knew it was inevitable and that I was committed to this, I just didn’t know when. While I respect those that went before me and did it without taking special classes or fulfilling specific requirements, I personally didn’t want to do that. I want to be a peer. I want people to see that I am not afraid to step up and do what it takes. So there is this class that is longer, (3 days) and qualifies me to become a member of S4OM. I don’t think I know everything and I am addicted to learning so I am sure this is going to be an amazing class!
If you are or know someone that has cancer or is a survivor and would like more information about my skills and experience with Oncology Massage please give me a call at 610-906-2322