[TriciaK]

A really good idea, Rhonda! I feel like you do about all these ladies, they are special friends and it is fun to see pictures and hear about family and life styles. As most of you know, I am semi-retired from private practice in psychology with my psychologist husband. He still works 2 days a week and we share some of his cases as we have always been full partners. My specialty was working with women who had been abused as children and I worked especially with multiple personality disorder, now called disocciative identity disorder. I still have one patient who has a strong need to stay in contact with me by phone and email. DID is a horrendous but very effective way a small child copes with unthinkable physical, emotional and sexual abuse, and working with it was extremely time consuming and exhausting, but also very, very rewarding. It is not a typical mental illness, but an incredible coping skill. Some of the ladies have become lifelong friends, which isn't the usual expectation when a therapist really tries to stay totally objective with patients. These are very special people, though, and they cannot be successfully treated without absolute trust between them and the therapist. It is interesting that several of my patients 20 years ago were sure they had somehow caused my cancer. We had to work through all of that and maybe I had to get well for their sakes as well as my own! Now I do a lot of writing, genealogy, art, scrapbooking and keeping track of 9 children, 36 grandchildren and twenty-plus great-grands. During my second mets I took time off to get well and my husband and I wrote a book called "Intimate Marriiage". I have had a full and rewarding life inspite of fighting cancer for 20 years! My heart really goes out to all of you, especially those of you with small children. Each year gives a little more hope to overcome this challenge.My thoughts and prayers are with you everytime I check into the website, which is at least once a day. Hugs, Tricia