Her Loyal and Loving Dog
How heart-achingly sad. A once-vibrant, beautiful woman, ultra-talented, reduced to a pale shadow of her robust self. This was Kathleen Petty, the celebrated CBC radio host and political interviewer who made such a huge success of two important CBC shows. Her masterful querying of guests on the Saturday morning The House, demonstrating her background knowledge of everything her guests expounded on, gained her huge respect.
Kathleen Petty and her German shepherd, Greta. The former morning host for CBC Radio just had a double mastectomy for breast cancer.Photograph by: Chris Mikula , The Ottawa Citizen
People could be forgiven for wondering - while at the same time admiring her obvious capability and the enduring qualities of her skills as an interviewer - how she could possibly maintain the momentum required to so ably balance her career as a daily morning show, Metro Morning, along with the Saturday political interviews. Immense stamina and dedication, obviously.
And there is a cost to all of that, as detailed in a recent Ottawa Citizen interview with Kathleen Petty. She had been preparing to return to her home city of Calgary, to take up another morning program there, to bring her close to her aging and ailing father, so she could aid in taking care of him. On the way to preparing to leave Ottawa she suddenly discovered, by viewing herself in the shower, that something was drastically wrong.
Medical examinations verified what she suspected. The doctor who did the initial examination found that her abdomen and breasts felt abnormal. Tests that followed confirmed that she had a very serious health issue. Requiring immediate attention; chemotherapy to shrink the size of the tumour in one of her breasts; a hysterectomy to deal with multiple growths on her ovaries; runaway fibroids.
Then finally, a double mastectomy. And a scheduled round of daily radiation to follow. Her oncologists have informed her that they anticipate a positive prognosis. "They don't know and I don't know, but I will do everything they tell me to do to increase my odds. But I am not banking on anything."
She regrets not having noticed anything amiss in her body before the situation had become desperate. "What is done is done and I have to deal with what it is." She had sold her house in preparation for returning to Calgary late last year. At age 50, another radical turn in her life. On the cusp of leaving the city, discovering her medical-health emergency.
She had previously been so tied up with her demanding on-air jobs she worked routinely up to fourteen hours each day. Leaving herself no time for much of anything. Living the life of a recluse, with very little social interaction. She found the only times she was willing to leave the house because of the press of time, was to take her beloved German Shepherd out for her daily walks.
No way to live a life. This is what we do to ourselves, with our enthusiasms and our ambitions and our inability to engage in some useful introspection when time is always tight and we heed deadlines. She has many admirers and many casual acquaintances. And she has herself, and her prospects for future health. And her loyal and loving dog.
Sometimes that has to be enough because it is all that there is. And for some, it is enough, if the promise of prolonged life comes along with it.
Kathleen Petty and her German shepherd, Greta. The former morning host for CBC Radio just had a double mastectomy for breast cancer.Photograph by: Chris Mikula , The Ottawa Citizen
And there is a cost to all of that, as detailed in a recent Ottawa Citizen interview with Kathleen Petty. She had been preparing to return to her home city of Calgary, to take up another morning program there, to bring her close to her aging and ailing father, so she could aid in taking care of him. On the way to preparing to leave Ottawa she suddenly discovered, by viewing herself in the shower, that something was drastically wrong.
Medical examinations verified what she suspected. The doctor who did the initial examination found that her abdomen and breasts felt abnormal. Tests that followed confirmed that she had a very serious health issue. Requiring immediate attention; chemotherapy to shrink the size of the tumour in one of her breasts; a hysterectomy to deal with multiple growths on her ovaries; runaway fibroids.
Then finally, a double mastectomy. And a scheduled round of daily radiation to follow. Her oncologists have informed her that they anticipate a positive prognosis. "They don't know and I don't know, but I will do everything they tell me to do to increase my odds. But I am not banking on anything."
She regrets not having noticed anything amiss in her body before the situation had become desperate. "What is done is done and I have to deal with what it is." She had sold her house in preparation for returning to Calgary late last year. At age 50, another radical turn in her life. On the cusp of leaving the city, discovering her medical-health emergency.
She had previously been so tied up with her demanding on-air jobs she worked routinely up to fourteen hours each day. Leaving herself no time for much of anything. Living the life of a recluse, with very little social interaction. She found the only times she was willing to leave the house because of the press of time, was to take her beloved German Shepherd out for her daily walks.
No way to live a life. This is what we do to ourselves, with our enthusiasms and our ambitions and our inability to engage in some useful introspection when time is always tight and we heed deadlines. She has many admirers and many casual acquaintances. And she has herself, and her prospects for future health. And her loyal and loving dog.
Sometimes that has to be enough because it is all that there is. And for some, it is enough, if the promise of prolonged life comes along with it.
Labels: Companions, Health, Human Relations
posted by Pieface @ 7:06 PM
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