10/31 in the 31in31 Blogging Challenge – Day Two Oncology Massage Class
It isn’t always easy going with the flow. Being in class, learning, remembering and having fun is easy compared to real life. Paying attention to the synchronicity of a myriad of things on email, phone calls and just life can be easily ignored. Taking the time to stop, watch, witness and be part of it can be a challenge but, one that is completely worth it.
Sometimes we have to…
Admit we do not know.
Hold space.
Keep pace.
Remember our place.
Be present and listen.
Be real.
Even keel.
Be willing to feel.
So today I went with the flow. I went from the flow of class to the flow of home to the flow of watching a movie that really set the tone. The movie 50/50 came on just as I was sitting down to write a blog. Not this blog which is late but, another one that doesn’t seem to matter now. I was just going to watch a few minutes but, it got me. There were no Massage Therapists in the movie but, I kept thinking how the story could have changed if there had been.
Christopher and I are so grateful for all of our training and those times that we went against the seeming flow to tell someone that they should see a physician. It is a difficult thing for a Massage Therapist to recognize and admit sometimes. No one wants their client to have cancer. No one really wants to think they suck because their client isn’t getting better. It is a big risk to suggest that something may be a miss and that someone should see their physician. What if you are wrong?
“There is only one things in this world shittier than biting it from cancer when you’re sixteen, and that’s having a kid who bites it from cancer.”
― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
The risk is worth it. Trust me when I say I would rather be wrong and that it completely sucks when you are right. It is one of those times you would rather not be right. Oh the clients love you and respect you and are so impressed and grateful when this happens but, it really sucks because when you live in that moment, you realize you would always rather be wrong.
I kept thinking what if the guy in the movie got massages from a Massage Therapist that had went through the training I am going through. Surely they would have noticed sooner. How much better would it have been if the guy had a Massage Therapist that sent them to the physician earlier?
Cancer is something that touches everyone’s lives. ~Ellen Pompeo
We all have a heavy commitment to our clients. We must keep them safe, educate them, to do the right thing and make that call, in the flow, against the flow, for the benefit of the client.
Massage Therapists that want to work with Oncology Patients should of course take additional training. Please check out www.S4OM.org and start with a Foundational Course. You will not regret it.
And I will go a step further and say that even if you never want to work with Oncology Patients you should still consider taking a Foundational Course. You probably already have cancer survivors on your appointment book, you need to learn to work safely with them. Even if you do this just so you can become educated enough to keep your clients safe and know when to make that call and refer a client to their physician, it will be more than worth it.
So please, if you are a Massage Therapist on the planet Earth and have massage clients that are human beings please check out www.S4OM.org and watch the movie 50/50 and let me know if you think you might have made the call sooner if you had been the guy’s Massage Therapist.