Stress
Coleen was a victim of stress and she knew it. Most of her stress was job related although she did put a lot on herself in her personal like as well. Coleen was always thinking of our children and would often fret about their lives and worry about their futures. I’m sure that I caused my share of worry in her as well, especially with my heart health history and my own job stresses. Between the two of us, our job related stress factor was very high.I heard Coleen made the statement “This job is killing me,” on more than one occasion. And it was. She had an enormous amount of responsibility and workload and an ever-decreasing amount of help getting things done. Her company closed neighboring chapters leaving more area and people for Coleen to deal with. Again, that was without increasing staff to help her with her newly found overflow. She was always dedicated to her cause, to her mission of helping cancer patients find resources and comfort as they battled their disease. It became more difficult for Coleen to be true to that mission as the corporation she worked for continually raised their expectations for her and her peers nationwide.
Coleen talked frequently about quitting her job and opening up a private practice. I encouraged her to take that step knowing how good she would be for that role and also how good that role would have been for her. I should have been more persistent and persuasive with her and she should have been a better listener. Not just listening to me, but listening to her body as well. That was the vessel that was breaking down and telling her something was wrong. That was the whispering she should have heard. I know she had her regrets at the end as we will all have. I’m sure that not doing a better job with her stresses was one of them.
I intend to post links here about stress issues as they are related to breast cancer. All of the breast cancer websites and foundations list stress as a contributor to that disease and list it as a major risk factor. We all know stress as a silent killer and not healthy under any circumstance. Here are some articles and opinions:
