About Me

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I'm an oncology certified registered nurse, a leukemia survivor, wife, mother and caregiver to my elderly parent. My passion is caring for others and helping them adjust to new cancer diagnoses, advising them about how to live with cancer and how to navigate through the system to get the care they need. Perhaps I will help somebody who stops by to read this page. Helping and healing and hoping you are thriving, Gail Goodell Munzing.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

A big belly laugh is the BEST medicine


How often do you laugh? Double that, triple it.


I belong to a leukemia support group. When I was invited to join the group, I declined. I couldn't bear to think about sitting around with a bunch of dying people crying in their beer. My friend, Gail S., made me promise to give it a try.

Ha! You should meet this group of poor, weak, sick, fatally ill people. They are a riot!!!! Together, we tell jokes, pull pranks on one another, make irreverent comments about our evil foe, the cancerous white blood cell and his devious sidekick, the Philadelphia chromosome. We are cancer patients who are embracing life, laughter and the pursuit of happiness in the midst of very difficult circumstances.

Laughter releases endorphins and stimulates the body's immune responses. The best medicine?? If I could, I would bottle it and sell it.