Therapy Thursdays: The Mindy Effect

When I asked you girls for suggestions for a new Therapy Thursday Post, so many of you sent some great responses. One of them really touched me. I just want to say that I have the most amazing readers. You women inspire me with your strength, courage, and I am so happy to say that I consider all of you my buddies. One particularly strong reader sent me the following letter.  I literally just copied and pasted it, so please read about The Mindy Effect.

Dear Milly,

Since you were asking for suggestions for therapy Thursday, I thought maybe you could talk about women and health. I have cancer, I just turned 41. I am a Hispanic married mother of three kids.   Many times, women can be so busy taking care of everyone in their life that they just don’t take care of themselves. I also think this is even more prevalent in the Hispanic community where women are strong and stoic. So, I would like to share with you something I wrote and shared with a dog rescue group that I belong to:

·          

o    The Mindy Effect.
Mindy was a 35 year old high school teacher, wife and mother of three (11, 7, 1). Mindy had a persistent cough for months. She kept saying it was allergies, slight bronchitis, or stress coughing. She took many over the counter meds. She did not go to the doctor. You see, she was busy grading essays, writing school curriculums, taking kids to dance and swimming and soccer. She was busy going to the grocery store, and busy making dinner. She was busy taking care of her husband. She was even busy taking the dog to the vet. Months passed and the cough was still there. Mindy was still busy taking care of everyone else. Finally after too many appointments that were put off, she went. She had cancer in her lungs, and she had cancer in her liver. I met Mindy at the Cancer Care Center in San Antonio. She died September 1, 2011, she was 37.
Her friend made up the phrase The Mindy Effect.
The Mindy Effect pledges that we will take care of ourselves. That we as busy women take care of everyone else and we ignore ourselves. We ignore symptoms in us that if we saw in our spouses, in our children or in our pets we would make sure that they received medical attention. Yet if we are gone who is left to take care of our household? We leave devastation behind. We leave grieving spouses, parents, children, siblings and pets.
I had symptoms for months, I just did not have time to go have it looked at. Now I may not have time. So, make your mammogram appointments, your pap smears, have your moles looked at, have your colonoscopies… don’t wait, don’t ignore. Remember Mindy."

To my lovely reader, You, Mindy and her family are in my thoughts.

And to all of my readers/friends, it is so important to take care of your family, but  remember to take care of yourself as well. 

Hugs, 

Milly