What a nice surprise to find this enthusiastic note in our HJ email box:

I was diagnosed with MDS [Ed. Note: this is myelodysplastic syndrome. It used to be called "preleukemia" and usually leads to severe anemia and progressive bone marrow failure] last year June 2010. I started treatment in September. Belleruth Naparstek’s cd's are made available to patients. This is where/when I heard the first cds. I loved it. I was a regular at the cancer center each week and each week I would listen to the guided imagery cds.

A stem cell transplant was highly recommended for my case. I realized I needed to prepare myself. I purchased most of the cds on chemo treatment from this website. I also included a relaxation cd and the anger/forgiveness cd. My husband bought me some quality ear phones. They are very comfortable. I used my laptop as my cd player. So all of the cds, ear phones and laptop went with me to Mayo (Phoenix) in January of 2011.

Each day prior to, then during and after the chemo conditioning, I listened to Belleruth and others 4 times a day. Yes. Four times each day. I scheduled my day like a good and compliant patient to include my walking around the nurses’ station and never forgetting my guided imagery.

I cannot express my gratitude without becoming overwhelmed by emotion how this helped me during that time in my treatment. I did have some nausea on occasion and only vomited 3 times! This amazed the doctors and nurses who were caring for me. I remained in good spirits. The doctors make rounds every morning. When they came to my room with "How are you doing today?" I would inevitably respond with great! or fantastic!

I truly believe that my remarkable recovery was due to my dedicated preparations using guided imagery. I was discharged from the hospital and moved to transplant housing on campus. My time was short there and returned home at an earlier scheduled time then normal.

My life has been blessed and I have grown so much from going through this experience. And I am grateful for guided imagery and highly recommend it to anyone.

Alice from Arizona