when you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras

Ockam's Razor: The simpliest answer is most often the correct answer.
A straight-forward common sense approach to most situations and one of two thoughts that pervaded my mind in the middle of the night, a source of which I believe is truly divine.

Everything is not about the chemo.

Or, to quote Freud, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

I awoke this morning feeling slightly nauseous, but instead of giving in to the slight anxiety I took a deep breath and reminded myself that this time of year I'm often congested and wake up with a slightly "off" stomach.  So I got up, made some tea and got moving.

As I began my day, again my stomach become upset, and (warning - tmi moment) I ended up spending the better part of the next few hours in the loo.  Again, I took pause and reminded myself that with all my food allergies, and abdominal issues, was this really all that unexpected?  Really, who knows how they "bind" all those pills I've been taken, probably with wheat or corn starch.  So, I moved on.

Later in the day some of the restlessness I've know too well over the last few days began, and a small headache came on.  But instead of reaching for the tylenol, I took another deep breath and recalled other times when I had been inactive for days how restless I became.  So I did laundry, and dishes, and bills, and other normal things.  And I felt better.

It's easy to start attributing everything to illness once someone tells you you have cancer.  But I was feeling perfectly normal before my diagnosis, so I know that not everything is about the cancer, and not everything is about the treatment.  Sometimes, the little things are just the normal things.

So, when I hear hoofbeats from how on, I'm going to think horses not zebras... and I'm going to power through.