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Editor's note: In more than 26 years on staff at The Mining Journal, Renee Prusi has written stories about everything from politics to education to police news to sports. Over the next few months, she will be writing from a different perspective ... as a person battling cancer.

MARQUETTE - When I was a little kid, my brother Eric tagged me with the nickname "The Walking TV Guide."

Which was pretty amazing considering in my youth, our Negaunee Township home received at first only one channel, WLUC-TV6. When I was in late elementary school, WJMN out of Green Bay was added along with WNMU, the Public Broadcasting Service station based at Northern Michigan University.

Eric gave me the nickname because, despite our lack of channels, I could list the shows available on TV at any particular moment just about any day of the week. He'd say Tuesday at 8 p.m. and I could tell him what was on each of the broadcast networks plus the "big" cable stations.

So I have had a lifelong love affair with television. However my recuperation time after cancer surgery led me to break up with TV, for the most part, anyway.

Convalescing, with a row of staples in my belly, I was recliner-bound at first, so the television was on a great deal. What "cured" me from wanting to watch the tube in the daytime were things like "Cash for Gold," "Shamwow" and any Billy Mays commercials.

Plus daytime dramas are not what they used to be and held little appeal. And watching reruns of "7th Heaven" nearly sent me into sugar shock.

Which leads me to the good news. I resumed my love affair with reading, which had been somewhat dormant in recent years.

And I intensified my romance with music.

Some of what I read during my home recovery were cancer books. Many kind people gave me books to help me cope with the disease and they were invaluable.

It would be tough to touch on all of them, but some included "Here and Now: Inspiring Stories of Cancer Survivors" by Elena Dorfman and Heidi Schultz Adams; "The Power of Healing" from the Editors of Readers Digest; "Now That I Have Cancer, I Am Whole," by John Robert McFarland; and "Livestrong: Survivorship Stories" from the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

After a while, though, it was wearying to only read about cancer. That's when I reached back to books from my reading past. Growing up in a family of book addicts, that came naturally.

Because my job involves so much reading and writing, I had gotten away from books because at the end of the day, the last thing I want to do many days is delve into a work of fiction or non-fiction.

Magazines are a different story. They are quick reads, usually, and I have maintained my magazine "junkie" status launched when my parents subscribed to just about any magazine one could in the 1960s and 1970s.

But I had drifted away from books, mostly because I never seemed to finish them.

During the time when I wasn't able to move around a whole lot after surgery, the books from my younger days were something I returned to ... "Instant Replay," "The Outsiders," "To Kill a Mockingbird."... and my dear sister Chris mailed me a book, "Hawkes Harbor" from my favorite author, S.E. Hinton, which I hadn't read before.

The books brought me to a place where I could forget, even for a few minutes at a time, that I am a cancer patient. What a gift that is.

Music has always been a gift in my life as well. Back in high school, I was fortunate enough to sing under the tutelage of Miss Mary Trolla, Negaunee High School's amazing vocal teacher of that era. Not that I would have ever been a candidate for a solo, but singing choral music was a wonderful experience.

And many of the songs Miss Trolla taught, I still sing. Sounds a bit strange to anyone eavesdropping, I reckon, since I sang alto or tenor which often meant harmony, not melody.

I sing anyway. It gives me joy, so during my home recuperation, my cats were serenaded with tunes like "50 Nifty United States." Don't believe they were impressed, but they didn't flee in terror, either.

Of course, those who know me understand one of my favorite pursuits on earth is getting out to local venues to listen to live music. There was a short period after surgery when I was unable to do so, which is when my iPod came in handy.

Nothing lifts my spirits as much as music. One song in particular became my anthem for when I was feeling a bit blue. My dear friend Michael Hauswirth has been mentioned in this column before and the song to which I refer is his original. It's called "The Mountain" and it's beautiful (see sidebar).

It's something I recommend to my fellow cancer patients or to anyone who wants a boost.

There's another song I must mention. The lyrics have been posted on my work computer since just before I headed for surgery in November. It's by a national band and I heard it during a visit to a local live music performance when the band was on break.

These lyrics hit me as being apropos to my situation. Now, when I feel my resolve waning or feel a bit overwhelmed, these are the words that bring me peace.

The song was a hit for the band The New Radicals and it's called "You Only Get What You Give." Here are the lyrics that I posted:

"But when the night is falling, and you cannot find the light. If you feel your dream is dying. Hold tight. You've got the music in you. Don't let go. You've got the music in you. One dance left. This world is going to pull through. Don't give up. You've got a reason to live. Can't forget. You only get what you give ... "

Family and friends have been a terrific source of strength for me. Prayer has as well.

However sometimes a good book or a beautiful song serve that purpose when one is all alone. I highly recommend that to anyone in crisis, be it cancer or just the economic blues.

Whatever it takes to bring oneself to a better place, that's my candid opinion.