Doreen McGettigan

Another Day, Another Month, Another Year…

               A personal series on medical gaslighting, cancer, forgiveness, and healing. New posts in this series will appear on Wednesdays.

I used to be such a devoted blogger. Even when life was hard, good, or too busy I was committed to those two posts a week. But the end of 2021 & 2022 nearly broke me, not nearly it did break me.

“You have a large cancerous tumor, and it is strangling you.” I was relieved to finally have a diagnosis after two years of feeling sick and numerous hospitalizations. Relief quickly turned to terror. I’ve heard the “C” word before. Recurrence can’t be good.

What happened?

For four years I had some form of abdominal pain every single day. I pretty much convinced myself I was a hypochondriac. For two years I had reflux occasionally, then once a week, and then every single night. ER doctors said it was caused by my Celiac disease, and or diverticulitis.

My primary doctor said my bloodwork was all good. He prescribed anti-acid medication. It did nothing.

Was I being Gaslighted?

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A few years ago I read Paulette Mahurin’s first novel The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap. I loved the book and looked forward to her next. His Name Was Ben was worth the wait.

Paulette has offered a kindle version of His Name Is Ben for a lucky commenter.

Hearing the words “it’s cancer,” threw Sara Phillips’ life into chaos, until an unexpected turn of events and a chance encounter with a stranger changed everything—his name was Ben. Based on real events, Ben and Sara discover that when all else fails, healing can come in the most unexpected ways. Chilling and heart wrenching, His Name Was Ben is a triumph over the devastating circumstances and fear experienced when faced with a terminal illness. In this narrative, the power of love conquers shadows and transforms the very nature and meaning of what it is to be fully alive. From the award winning, best-selling author of, The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap, comes a story filled with soul and passion that will leave the reader thinking about it for days after the last page is closed.

Meet Paulette Mahurin:

Paulette lives with her husband Terry and three dogs, Max, Bella, and Lady Luck in Ventura County, California. She grew up in West Los Angeles and attended UCLA, where she received a Master’s Degree in Science.

While in college, she won awards and was published for her short-story writing. One of these stories, Something Wonderful, was based on the couple presented in His Name Was Ben, which she expanded into this fictionalized novel in 2014. Her first novel, The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap, made it to Amazon bestseller lists and won awards, including best historical fiction of the year 2012 in Turning the Pages Magazine.

Semi-retired, she continues to work part-time as a Nurse Practitioner in Ventura County. When she’s not writing, she does pro-bono consultation work with women with cancer, works in the Westminister Free Clinic as a volunteer provider, volunteers as a mediator in the Ventura County Courthouse for small claims cases, and involves herself, along with her husband, in dog rescue.

Profits from her books go to help rescue dogs.

The Interview:

Thank you, Doreen, for having me over to your great site, for reading and reviewing my book. I’m grateful for your help.

Where did you grow up?

West Los Angeles, near UCLA. A lot of the scenes in my book, His Name Was Ben, take place in areas where I grew up in West, Los Angeles.

Did you grow up in a reading or a writing home?

No, my parents both worked and I took to writing on my own. It just happened at a young age, that I started writing in a gifted diary and found a great enjoyment for writing. That love has never left me.

The main characters in, His name was Ben are both cancer patients. Are they based on real life people or more of an accumulation of people you may have known or come across in your work?

The real Ben and Sara were a couple who I met and worked with while in college. Some of the story line about their pasts has been altered/fictionalized to protect their anonymity. They inspired me to write a short story about them while in college which won a national award and was published. After my first novel, The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap, I expanded Ben & Sara’s story into a full length novel.

What publishing route did you choose and why?

With this book, I self-published through createspace. I worked with the editor from my first book, who had many years professional experience working at Simon & Schuster. I also worked with an excellent design person and a handful of experienced authors/readers. When promoting my first book, I connected with a lot of self-published indie authors. Many have well written compelling stories, some were best sellers. This motivated me to attempt doing my second book this way and with my profits going to help rescue dogs it worked out to be more beneficial.

What are you writing now?

I’m writing a story that centers on the unjust imprisonment of Captain Alfred Dreyfus to Devil’s Island in 1895 and Emile Zola’s attempt to publish a letter in the Paris press to free him. It is known as one of France’s largest anti-Semitism scandal. I just finished reading the transcripts from the libel trial that Zola went through as a result of his heroic challenge. It’s a fascinating true story but I’m writing it from a historical fiction perspective. I’m up to chapter twenty on the first draft.

You volunteer as a court moderator- my imagination wants to believe you are taking notes and we may read about them one day.

I’m seeing a lot of very interesting things and mediating some even more fascinating things being in the courtroom setting. Unfortunately, I can’t keep the notes or talk about anything that goes on in the mediation as it’s all confidential. That’s the beauty of mediation, you get to have your say and come to your own mutual agreement of how you want your court case to be ruled and with that signed agreement as a defendant nothing goes on your record against you, credit report, etc. The benefit for the plaintiff is you don’t have to have the burden to prove your case to the Judge.

What is the last book you read?

“Tempesta’s Dream” by Vincent B. LoCoco is a wonderful love story that centers around operas and the love of opera. I was hooked on it right away, had trouble putting it down, and didn’t want it to end; it was that good.

My Review of His Name Was Ben:

Author: Paulette Mahurin

My apprehension of reading a cancer related story dissolved quickly as I fell in love with the characters Paulette crafted with such depth.

I want to call the book a bittersweet love story, a love that developed between two people that happened to have cancer, after they met by chance in an oncologist’s waiting room.  This is more a story about life and living than it is about illness and dying. It is a life story.

This story left me surprisingly uplifted and reminded me that love will find us when and where we least expect it and that there are absolutely no coincidences in this world.

I recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a good love or life story.

LINKS

FOR HIS NAME WAS BEN:

BEN AMAZON:     http://www.amazon.com/His-Name-was-Paulette-Mahurin/dp/0692264698/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411266674&sr=8-1&keywords=His+name+was+ben+by+paulette+mahurin

BEN AMAZON UK:     http://www.amazon.co.uk/His-Name-was-Paulette-Mahurin/dp/0692264698/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1411271225&sr=8-2&keywords=paulette+mahurin

BEN GOODREADS:     https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23255291-his-name-was-ben

BEN SHELFARI: http://www.shelfari.com/books/38013543/His-Name-was-Ben

BEN FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/pages/His-Name-Was-Ben/277140049142291

AUTHOR’S BLOGSITE:

http://thepersecutionofmildreddunlap.wordpress.com/

AUTHOR’S TWITTER:

https://twitter.com/MahurinPaulette

PRESS ARTICLE ON PAULETTE MAHURIN DONATING PROFITS TO DOGS:

http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/sep/08/ojai-authors-historical-novel-teaches-tolerance/

PROFITS FOR HIS NAME WAS BEN GOING TO CANINE ADOPTION RESCUE LEAGUE: http://carldogs.org/purchase-name-ben/

For the month of April I am participating in the annual A-Z Blogging Challenge. The Challenge was started by author/blogger, Arlee Byrd. http://tossingitout.blogspot.com

Each day of the month (except Sundays) we will post something based on that days correlating letter. Some of us chose a theme and others are winging it. My theme is the A-to-Z’s of Mental Health, Raising Awareness. It is a topic that is very close to my heart. I hope you find the posts interesting and you will comment and share the posts everywhere. To see a list of all of the participants or for more information-click on the badge over there to the right>

Today’s letter is the Letter Y

Young Binge Drinkers and Mental Health

Binge drinking is a pattern of drinking that brings a person’s blood/alcohol concentration up to high levels, quickly. For men it would take five-drinks in a two-hour period and for women it would be four-drinks per two-hour period.

Binge drinking is common among the eighteen- thirty-four-year-old – age group. In fact ninety-percent of drinking in this age group is done in the form of binging.

Young drinkers may be the most common binge drinkers but those over sixty-five years of age binge drink more often usually five or six times a month.

This type of drinking is also much more prevalent among households that earn more than seventy-five-thousand-dollars a year and men are two-times more likely to binge drink than woman.

Excessive alcohol use can cause all sorts of medical problems including but not limited to liver cirrhosis, cancer, cardio vascular disease, gout, pancreatitis, nerve damage, infectious diseases and more.

Having one drink may give you a relaxed feeling due to the chemical changes the alcohol causes in the brain. It can relieve anxiety. If you continue to drink a negative emotional response can occur. You can become angry, anxious and or depressed.

It can also complicate mental health disorders. Alcohol use has been linked to depression, self harm, suicide and psychosis. It can be extremely difficult to diagnose psychiatric disorders when alcoholism and mental health disorders co-exist. In fact people that have a mental health issue and use alcohol excessively are at great risk of suicide.

Someone who is taking anti-depressants, anti-psychotic or anxiety reducing medication should NEVER binge drink. It can be fatal.

Occasional binge drinking is not going to cause a mental health disorder. Excessive binge drinking can cause mental health problems, physical problems and medical problems.

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I would love to hang out with you here too:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bristol-boyzStomp/113804488656243

http://www.twitter.com/doreenb8

For the month of April I am participating in the annual A-Z Blogging Challenge. The Challenge was started by author/blogger, Arlee Byrd. http://tossingitout.blogspot.com

Each day of the month (except Sundays) we will post something based on that days correlating letter. Some of us chose a theme and others are winging it. My theme is the A-to-Z’s of Mental Health, Raising Awareness. It is a topic that is very close to my heart. I hope you find the posts interesting and you will comment and share the posts everywhere. To see a list of all of the participants or for more information-click on the badge over there to the right>

The temporal lobes are the parts of the brain that are involved in the retention of memories, sensory input, understanding language, storing new memories, emotion and understanding. They are located behind the ears.

There are several disorders that can cause damage to this part of the brain. Picks Disease, epilepsy and Lou Gehrig’s Disease can all damage the brains temporal lobes.

The number one cause of damage to temporal lobes is Traumatic Brain Injury.

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By the time Friday rolls around my mind is so full of ½ thoughts, lists and ideas but lucky for me, the lovely, Mrs. 4444 over at Half Past -Kissin Time came up with the solution for all those Fragments. Friday Fragments is the place to unload all of those great ideas that just are not enough for a full post…yet.

The best part about Friday Fragments is without a doubt, the friends.

To learn more about Friday Fragments, how you can participate and the news on the BIG anniversary coming up:

http://www.halfpastkissintime.com

We are more than half way through this year’s A-Z Blogging Challenge. I have posted on time and have visited at least ten other blogs, each day of the challenge so far. I am still so excited that my ‘theme reveal’ post has eighty + comments.

If you have time I hope you will visit the A-Z’s of mental health awareness. Today’s post is on PTSD.

https://doreenmcgettigan.com/?p=4868

My editing on the book has suffered. I am going to try to catch up on that today.

I took a much needed break last Saturday and spent a glorious day with my daughters and grandkids. We had breakfast at Applebee’s with the Easter Bunny, to support my cousin’s little girl’s gymnastics team. The gymnasts actually served the breakfast and cleared the tables. They are a very impressive group.

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For the month of April I am participating in the annual A-Z Blogging Challenge.

The Challenge was started by author/blogger, Arlee Byrd.

http://tossingitout.blogspot.com

Each day of the month (except Sundays) we will post something based on that days correlating letter. Some of us chose a theme and others are winging it. My theme is the A-to-Z’s of Mental Health, Raising Awareness. It is a topic that is very close to my heart. I hope you find the posts interesting and you will comment and share the posts everywhere. To see a complete list of the participants or for more information-click on the badge over there to the right>

 Today’s Letter is the letter M and the letter M represents

 our ½ way point in the A-Z Challenge!

Medical Marijuana

The Cannibis Plant has more than one-thousand -years of history as a medicinal plant.

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I entered the A-to-Z Challenge for the first time three-years-ago to keep myself busy because the month of April is always a sad one at our house. My brother was murdered in a random road rage attack and my husband’s seventeen-year-old son died from suicide on the same April date, different years.

This year, in January I lost my father and a good friend and then in February I lost a very dear friend after a seventeen-month battle with cancer.

So this year I am really looking forward to the challenge, to visiting old friends and making new friends and being extremely busy doing what I love, writing.

For the first time, I actually have a theme and guess what? Today is the much anticipated A-to-Z Challenge Theme Reveal…

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Friday is the day I link up with Friday Fragments. What are Friday Fragments you ask? Stop over and visit our lovely host, Mrs.4444. You will find everything you need to join in there.

http://www.halfpastkissintime.com

This is a very sad Friday for me. My sweet friend Joelle passed away on Monday surrounded by her family and Tina and I. Her service is tomorrow. I am so sad.

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http://www.halfpastkissintime.com

Have you signed up yet for the April A-Z Blogging Challenge? This will be my fourth year of participation and my first year as an ambassador. Check out my last post for all of the information. I hope you decide to give it a try.

I am in North Carolina. My friend Joelle is in a Hospice Facility and I cannot even explain how sad I am and at the same time how happy I am that her pain and suffering will soon be over and she will wake up in Heaven. It really sucks for her husband, children, family and so many friends.

The weather has decided to make a difficult situation even harder for this family.

It got deeper. The issue here is the lack of equipment. No plows, no salt not even many shovels…

I have seen photos from Philadelphia and oh my, that is a lot of snow.

Is it bike week yet? I am so ready for some Florida sunshine.

Have a blessed weekend and please keep Joelle’s family and friends in your prayers.

Doreen

http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

Every writer needs a support group and one of my favorites (yeah I need several) is the Insecure Writers Support Group. If you need a place to share your insecurities, ask questions or perhaps you have something positive to share with your fellow writers then this is the place for you…

http://www.insecurewriterssupportgroup.com

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