Glioblast-O-Cast: Episode 023: Do I have a brain tumor bucket list?

Episode 023: Do I have a brain tumor bucket list?

Jan 22, 2018

TRANSCRIPT

This is Episode 023 of Glioblast‑O‑Cast. Do I have a brain tumor bucket list?

Hello, and welcome to Glioblast‑O‑Cast, the podcast about my life beyond glioblastoma. I'm your host, Meg Turecek.

In this episode I answer the question, Do I have a brain tumor bucket list? Be sure to check my show page for some links.

Being hit by a terminal diagnosis with the super lousy prognosis for somewhere around 14.6 months average survival—thanks to the American Brain Tumor Association for that statistic—well, it’s not always easy to not panic and think about all my life dreams, my goals, my wishes for adventures and experiences with the people that matter to me.

No, in Episode 015, Do I have plans for my journey to the great beyond?, I talked about getting my affairs in order. That’s all good, but this episode is about pusuing life when facing the end.

I started thinking about all my professional goals—which have been definitely halted as I just can’t work as a graphic designer.

And my other goals—my youthful dreams of writing for movies and television—well, I know that business is ever complex and finding success is hard without a glioblastoma diagnosis.

So I’ve had to adjust my dreams to my new situation.

This podcast is a big part of my new future. It’s helped me prime myself for my step into my dream pursuits. To move my focus and attention to my other dreams, I will be adjusting Glioblast-O-Cast to a monthly schedule rather than a weekly. All my episodes will still be available anytime.

One of my dreams is to finish and self-publish my novella.

Another dream will be publishing a collection of my short stories.

A third dream will continue with my LibriVox volunteering of reading/voicing public domain books into audio books that are free to listen to.

Along that line, I’m looking at reworking a pilot TV script I wrote and converting it to a radio play. I actually have several projects that can work for that dream.

Now, not all my dreams are writing related. Like most people, my bucket list also includes some travel get-aways.

Where would I like to go?

There’s more to see and experience in Spain. And Portugal.

Australia and New Zealand have always been on the travel list.

I would love to add Florida, New York city, Louisiana, Alaska, and more time in Hawaii.

Other locations include Patagonia, Costa Rica and Jamaica.

I know that most of this probably won’t happen. But that’s not the point. The point is to keep dreaming and doing. And me announcing my little dreams to the world set me up for accountability. If I’ve told you, then I need to work to follow-up on my plans.

Some dreams, like my writing, don’t cost anything. Just my time and effort. And being on disability retirement leaves me with much time on a day to day basis to go at my own pace.

But my travel dreams, they need a lot of planning and budgeting.

Of course, there is always the crowdfunding option to help make a dream happen. We did that to have my sister visit when things weren’t looking so good. See my Episode 008, Did I try crowdfunding?

I can say that crowdfunding doe take a lot of effort to manage.

For others, there are organizations like the Make A Wish Foundation which is for terminally ill children to experience a great life dream.

There are similar organizations for adults with terminal illnesses. I have a list on my show page that can help glioblastoma warriors have that wish.

Please check out my show page for links to organizations that fulfill wishes for terminal adults.

Thanks for listening. This has been Glioblast-O-Cast Episode 23.

Theme music for Episode 023: “Sunflower Dance Party” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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Organizations for life wishes and dreams for adults (in alpha order):

Clare’s Wish Foundation (Ireland): http://clareswishfoundation.com/

Crossing the Finish Line: http://www.crossingthefinishline.org/

Dream Catchers USA: http://www.dreamcatchersusa.org/

Dream Foundation: http://www.dreamfoundation.org/

Epic Experience Beyond Cancer: https://www.epicexpereience.org

Eternal Wish Foundation: http://www.eternalwish.org/

Fill Your Bucket List Foundation: http://www.fillyourbucketlistfoundation.org/

Reeling & Healing Midwest: http://fishon.org/

Second Wind Dream: https://www.secondwind.org/

Stella’s Wish Foundation: http://www.stellaswish.org/