For those of you familiar with the first incarnation of The Bitch Pad, you will also be familiar with the first incarnation of me. Now that I'm in remission from my cancer treatment, I am hungrier than ever to share my message with the world.
I am still fatigued, as my immune system takes its time to rebuild from the impact of chemo. I have some neuropathy in my hands and I've lost a lot of my physical strength. But my heart and mind are stronger than ever. And that's why I wanted to share more of my story by relaunching The Bitch Pad with a new foreword, a cover to match my chemo wig, and a fresh touch to the rest of the content that you loved so much.
A snippet from The Bitch Pad
The first version of this book was written long before a diagnosis that shook my world.
In February 2023 I was told I had Stage 3 Lymphoma. I would need to undergo a regime of chemotherapy, and although it was aggressive, it was curable. The outlook was positive, and I had a future.
I was still heartbroken.
Everything I knew about my world was about to change and I was frightened. Everything I believed in was rattled. My mind was chaos. My body felt locked with stress, and my emotions ran wild.
It took a lot of energy to process what was going on, and where I was headed. I was informed of my impending condition in some insensitive ways. It made me angry, resistant and frustrated, as I searched for answers.
When a diagnosis finally came, and treatment started that March, my perception shifted.
Rather than resisting it all, I decided to greet it with the grace of knowing that something in me needed to be healed. I chose to see chemotherapy as my healer, rather than a damaging concoction to fear.
Lying in bed one night before I started treatment, I had a vision of an older man with white hair leaning over me. I relaxed with curiosity over his seemingly warm presence. Deepening my breath, I relaxed with a knowing that he’d appeared for peaceful reasons.
I felt him begin to remove what I perceived as a ribbon from my left collarbone. Lymph nodes appeared to be attached to it. He then continued either side of my sternum and continued across to my right collarbone.
I sensed the lymph nodes leave my body all the way along the length of that ribbon
A PET scan later confirmed that this was where my inflamed lymph nodes resided. It was a powerfully positive vision that served me a sense of optimism that I would eventually be okay.
It was then that I remembered something from when I was travelling in India after I’d completed my yoga teacher training in 2012... To be Continued.
To find out more...
If you'd like to find out what happened in India that provided some insights into my experiences this year, you can read more in The Bitch Pad Book.
Why The Bitch Pad?
The book isn't just about my cancer diagnosis and the signs I received for what my future might look like. I've just added that as some context as to why I've decided to relaunch The Bitch Pad and to show how glimmers of hope can appear through the darkest of times. The Bitch Paid Pad remains true to its essence, filled with meditations or Breath Tunings as I call them, with one in each chapter to support the theme, as well as the journal pages I provided before. I've also freshened up some of the content, but I've tried not to take too much away from the essence of the first edition. I know how you like to ice your slices and add some sprinkles to your life cake, and who am I to take that away from you?
The reason I've kept the key content that the book contained before, is because it works to serve its purpose. After all, The Bitch Pad aims to take you on a journey deep into your heart to support you to find all that you've been looking for. That which already resides within you. Sometimes we just need a little support to listen to the whispers of our hearts, trust what we hear, accept that guidance, and take action towards all that we truly desire. That is what The Bitch Pad is for, and she has risen again to give you all of that and more.
I look forward to hearing about how The Bitch Pad helps you as it has helped me throughout the journey of her initial creation, through a difficult time in my life, and again now that she is reborn.
Order your copy on Amazon to enjoy the magic that I hope to have weaved through the book. It was designed as a gift from me to you, to support you to open your heart to all that you are and fulfil your desires and purpose in life.
Wishing you well
Marie
If you or a loved one are facing a cancer diagnosis, you may wish to read some of my previous blog posts here.